APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING A PERCUTANEOUS AND DIGITAL BLOOD SAMPLE

• US 3,626,929 A
• Filed: 07/18/1969
• Issued: 12/14/1971
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/1968
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ICN Micromedic Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Georges Revillet, Manuel Sanz
• Inventors: Sanz, Manuel, Revillet, Georges
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaudet, Richard A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Howell, Kyle L.
• Application Number:
  US04/843,016
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• Field of Search: 128/253,329,333,314,315,253,2,DIG.5,275 119/14.24,14.25
• US Class Current: 600/583
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150022 for capillary blood or interstitial fluid
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150068 by tissue compression, e.g. with specially designed surface of device contacting the skin area to be pierced
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150175 Adjustment of penetration depth
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150343 Collection vessels for collecting blood samples from the skin surface, e.g. test tubes, cuvettes sampling from within body cavities A61B5/150015, A61B5/150045
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150412 Pointed piercing elements, e.g. needles, lancets for piercing the skin blade-like piercing elements A61B5/150442
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150442 Blade-like piercing elements, e.g. blades, cutters, knives, for cutting the skin
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150748 Having means for aiding positioning of the piercing device at a location where the body is to be pierced means for aiding positioning of devices for bringing media into the body A61M5/427, locating blood vessels A61B5/489
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150977 Arrays of piercing elements for simultaneous piercing
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15113 Manually triggered, i.e. the triggering requires a deliberate action by the user such as pressing a drive button
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15117 comprising biased elements, resilient elements or a spring, e.g. a helical spring, leaf spring, or elastic strap

Abstract

Apparatus for automatically obtaining a percutaneous and digital blood sample in conjunction with a blood collector device having a resiliently crushable mouthpiece housing a pair of incisor lancets, the apparatus including a mounting for the collector device, clamping means for holding the tip of a finger on the crushable mouthpiece, a mechanism for striking the collector device in the mounting to drive the lancets into the finger, and means for massaging the finger to cause blood to flow out of the resulting incisions.

Claims

1. An apparatus for obtaining a percutaneous and digital blood sample from a human finger in conjunction with a blood collector device comprising a tube in the mouth of which is fitted a resilient funnel member fitted with at least one incisor lancet directed towards the open end of the funnel member, said apparatus comprising a housing, a mounting in said housing, said mounting formed with a through passage in which a tube can be removably inserted, said through passage having a predetermined length and a top and bottom opening;

a striker mechanism mounted in said housing and having a releasable striking member facing the bottom opening of said through passage, means for releasing said striking member to propel it toward said bottom opening, said striker member adapted to strike, when released, the inner end portion of a tube, in said through passage, thereby to tend to propel a tube out of said through passage;

a clamping means mounted on said housing and adapted to clamp a finger on said housing in line with said top opening of said through passage and means for periodically varying the clamping action of said clamping means whereby at least part of the tissues of a finger in said holder may alternately be constructed and released.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said clamping means comprises a supporting block adapted to support a human finger and a movable shackle adapted to be applied on to the part of a finger opposite to that which is meant to lie on said block, a lever, a motor, an eccentric on said motor, said lever drivingly connected at its one end to said motor through the intermediary of said eccentric and connected at its opposite end to said block, wherein said motor is adapted to rotate in a direction such that said block may be caused to move from the back of a finger towards the front thereof while at the same time compressing the tissues of the finger, and wherein the plane in which the eccentric motion of the block-carrying lever takes place contains the axis of said through passage, the relative positions of said through passage and of said block being such that the bottom opening of said through passage opens in a mean plane substantially equidistant from points, along the eccentric path followed by the block, respectively corresponding to maximum and minimum compression of the finger tissues when a finger is placed on said apparatus.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said shackle comprises a lever which is mounted for pivotal movement in said housing in the plane of eccentric motion of said block-carrying lever and at a location opposite to that occupied by said block in relation to said through passage, said shackle being movable between a first extreme position in which it is adapted to be applied to a finger and a second extreme position which is sufficiently far removed from the first to provide free access to said block and to the funnel member of a blood collector device when inserted in said through passage, said apparatus further comprising a means for locking said shackle in said first extreme position and a return member for moving said shackle away from said first position upon being released from the action of said locking means.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, including first and second switches and an element on said shackle wherein said motor is supplied with current through at least said first switch adapted to be closed by said element carried by said shackle when said shackle is moved towards said first extreme position, and through at least said second switch controlled by an element adapted to be actuated by a blood collector device when inserted in said through passage to close said second switch.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, and further comprising a light source arranged to project a beam of light across said through passage, a photoelectric detector located opposite said source in relation to said through passage to receive said beaM after crossing said through passage, a photoelectric detector located opposite said source in relation to said through passage to receive said beam after crossing said through passage, electronic amplifying means controlled by said detector, a relay having a winding armature and core and controlled by said amplifier to actuate said locking means into releasing said shackle, the arrangement being such that when, during operation, the blood accumulating in a tube reaches a level such that it interferes with the light beam directed towards said detector, said locking means releases said shackle whereby said return member may move said shackle away from said first extreme position to open said first switch and hence stop the motor.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the free end of said shackle is provided with at least one arm having a saw-toothed longitudinal edge comprising teeth and said locking means comprises a lever which is mounted for pivotal movement between first and second end positions, a return member, said lever having a stem, said lever adapted to be subjected to the action of said return member tending to hold it in said first position and said stem adapted to come into meshing engagement with said teeth on said arm when said lever is in said first end position and said shackle has been moved to said first extreme position, said second end position being such that said stem cannot come into meshing engagement with said teeth on said arm when said lever is in said first end position and said shackle has been moved to said first extreme position, said second end position being such that said stem cannot come into meshing engagement with said teeth, and wherein the lever of said means carries the winding and the core of said relay and further carries the armature of said relay for pivotal movement between a first angular position remote from said core, which it occupies when said winding is not energized, and a second angular position in contact with said core, which it occupies when said winding has been energized, said apparatus further comprising a cam associated with said block-carrying lever, which is so positioned as to come into contact with one end of the relay armature, when said relay has been energized, and which is adapted to move said armature in a direction such as to cause the lever of said mechanism to be rocked into its second end position.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, and further comprising a manually actuatable push button cooperating with the lever of said locking means and adapted, when pressed, to rock said lever into its second end position against the action of the return member associated therewith.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein said mounting lies between said block and the pivotal axis of said shackle and is formed with a pair of limbs, and wherein said striking member includes a rocking lever which extends between said limbs, which is pivotally mounted to the side of said mounting furthest from the pivotal axis of said shackle, and which has a projecting free end portion to the side of said mounting nearest the pivotal axis of said shackle, a spring means, said rocking lever freely resting in an inoperative position on a support which is subjected to the action of said spring means tending to return said lever to said inoperative position when it has been moved away therefrom in the direction of the base of said limbs, and wherein the striking lever has a length such that, upon being rocked, the path traveled by the tip of its free end portion may intersect the circular path traveled by an actuating member associated with said shackle when said shackle is about to reach said first extreme position, so that, upon said armature being pivoted from its second extreme position to its first extreme position, said shackle will cock said striking member against the action of said spring means, said cocking action lasting for as long as the respective circular paths traveled by the tip of said free end portiOn and by said actuating member intersect one another, said striking member being released from the action of said actuating member as soon as these paths cease to intersect one another and then being subjected to the sole action of said spring means which thus propel it towards the bottom opening of said through passage in said mounting.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said free end portion has a rounded surface whose center of curvature coincides with the pivotal axis of said shackle when said striking member has been moved into an intermediate position lying between said inoperative position and a position adjacent the rear end of said through passage, the radius of said curvature being slightly greater than the distance between the pivotal axis of said shackle and the portion of said actuating member farthest from said axis.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said finger holder comprises a stationary block for supporting the fleshy part of a finger, and a U-shaped shackle having limbs straddling said block on opposite sides thereof and a transverse portion adapted to engage the topside of a finger, said shackle being movable in a plane which is parallel to its limbs and which contains the axis of said through passage, a motor and eccentric and said shackle being drivingly connected to said motor through the intermediary of said eccentric underneath said block whereby it may exert on a finger a pressure during that part of its motion when said eccentric moves away from block and to relax said pressure when said eccentric moves towards said block, the direction of rotation of said motor being such that said shackle is caused to move from the back of a finger towards the front during that part of its motion when it exerts on a finger a compression.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said clamping means comprises a finger-supporting block and a movable shackle adapted to be applied onto the part of a finger opposite to that which is meant to lie on said block, a motor mounted in said housing and an eccentric, a lever drivingly connected at its opposite end to said motor through said eccentric, said block being mounted on one end of said lever wherein said motor is adapted to rotate in a direction such that said block is caused to move from the back of a finger clamped in said clamping means towards the front thereof while at the same time compressing the tissues of the finger, and wherein the plane in which the eccentric motion of the block-carrying lever takes place contains the axis of a tube when it is in the said through passage, the relative positions of a tube and of said block when a tube is in said mounting means being such that the rear portion of the tube is adapted to open in a mean plane substantially equidistant from points, along the eccentric path followed by the block, respectively corresponding to maximum and minimum compression of the finger tissues.

12. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said clamping means is associated with said means for releasing said striker member whereby said striker means is released when a finger is clamped in place on said housing.