BURSTABLE SEAMED HYPODERMIC APPLICATORS

• US 3,736,933 A
• Filed: 12/02/1970
• Issued: 06/05/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bela G. Szabo
• Original Assignee: Bela G. Szabo
• Inventors: Szabo, Bela G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaudet, Richard A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): McGowan, J. C.
• Application Number:
  US05/094,381
• Time in Patent Office: 916 Days
• Field of Search: 128/216,231,232,239,272,224,234,235,221,DIG.5 206/47A,56AA 222/92,94,106,107,207,211,215,213,494
• US Class Current: 604/200
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/002 Packages specially adapted therefor, e.g. for syringes or needles, kits for diabetics needle protection, e.g. caps, A61M5/3202; for sharps A61B50/3001
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/282 by compression of deformable ampoule or carpule wall
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/284 comprising means for injection of two or more media, e.g. by mixing
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/286 upon internal pressure increase, e.g. pierced or burst A61M5/283 takes precedence

Abstract

Single-use hypodermic applicators are formed of single or multiple chambers containing liquid medicaments of all types. These low-cost applicators are formed from synthetic plastic tubing in flattened form with a sterile hollow needle sealed therein and projecting from the front end of the applicator body with the inner end of the needle enlarged and sealed within a chamber formed in tubing forwardly of the medicament chamber. A normally heat-sealed seam between chambers is adapted to be ruptured by finger pressure imposed on the outer walls of the medicament chamber to force the medicament from the latter into the forward chamber and through the hollow needle for ejection through the pointed end thereof when the same is inserted into a receiving body. The applicator body is formed with one, two or more medicament chambers separated by burstable seams extending in straight lines transversely of the longitudinal axis of the tubing and provided with critically dimensioned and oriented weakenings so that finger pressure applied selectively to these chambers will control the dosage of medicament forced forwardly towards the enlarged end of the hypodermic needle. The needles are designed to be packaged compactly and dispensed conveniently for use in large or limited number. Also, the only two components of the applicators, namely, the needles and the plastic medicament containers, may be salvaged and processed for re-use.

Claims

1. A single-use burstable hypodermic applicator comprising a. a flexible flat tubular plastic body of chemically inert material having at least two contiguous flattened sealed chambers of the same width, one behind the other along the length of said body with permanently sealed ends at the opposite ends thereof, b. a hollow needle of non-corrodible metal having an enlarged flattened end sealed within the forward flattened chamber and laterally extending substantially in the central flat plane of said body with the shank thereof extending from the medial portion of said front sealed end of the body and terminating in a pointed end adapted for hypodermic injection, c. a heat-sealed burstable seam at the rear end of said forward chamber to separate said last-mentioned chamber from the chamber rearwardly thereof, d. said rearwardly disposed chamber containing a medicament in a liquid vehicle, and e. said burstable seam being of uniform thickness but of differential depth in the longitudinal direction to provide a critically dimensioned narrowed area at the medial portion of said seam in alignment with the longitudinal axis of said hollow needle adapted to be forced open by the pressure of the liquid contents of the rearward chamber produced by a predetermined force of finger pressure applied to said rearward chamber, for forcing said liquid contents into the enlarged end of said needle and the ultimate ejection thereof from the pointed end of the needle.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the enlarged flattened end of said needle comprises a pair of arms integral with the needle and diverging therefrom towards said burstable seam and disposed substantially in the central flat plane of said tubular body to facilitate manipulation.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the enlarged flatten end of said needle comprises a pair of arms integral with the needle and diverging therefrom towards said burstable seam and disposed substantially in the central flat plane of said tubular body, and a third integral arm projecting longitudinally from the end of the needle in the plane of said pair of diverging arms.

4. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the enlarged flattened end of said needle comprises a cylindrical hub affixed to the outer surface of said needle adjacent the inner end thereof and a pair of arms integral with said hub and diverging therefrom in substantially the central flat plane of said tubular body.

5. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said needle is formed of stainless steel and said hub is of metal affixed to the stainless steel needle through the intermediary of a metal junction.

6. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said flexible flat tubular plastic body includes at least two sealed chambers disposed rearwardly of said forward chamber containing the inner end of said hollow needle, with a burstable seam therebetween similar to said burstable seam between the forward chamber and the chamber adjacent thereto.

7. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said flexible flat tubular plastic body includes three sealed chambers disposed rearwardly of said forward chamber with two equidistantly spaced burstable seams between the opposite ends thereof, to control selectively the quantity of liquid medicament adapted to be ultimately ejected from the pointed end of the needle.

8. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said flexible flat tubular plastic body is of substantially uniform width.

9. A device as set forth in claim 8, wherein said tubular plastic body ranges in internal diameters from 0.2 inches to 0.8 inches and with corresponding variations in wall thickness ranging from 0.005 inches to 0.015 inches.