Patient-fillable hypodermic jet injector
First Claim
1. A self-contained, patient-fillable ampule for a jet injector, comprising:
- an elongate ampule body having an injection orifice at a first end, a propellant at a second end, and a hollow portion therebetween;
a piston slidably and sealingly mounted in said hollow portion of said ampule body; and
an auxiliary access opening in said ampule body in proximity to said piston.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A hypodermic jet injector employing self-contained, patient fillable, thin-walled disposable ampules. Each ampule includes an elongate plastic body with an injection orifice at a first end, an internal propellant at a closed second end, and a double piston slidably and sealingly mounted within the body entirely between the orifice and the internal propellant, and also includes an auxiliary access opening in the ampule side wall. An ampule chamber with a corresponding access opening in its side wall is provided to receive and support the thin-walled ampule. The main body of the ampule is molded with draft angles, and the double piston construction includes a soft rubber plunger and a relatively hard plunger to the front and rear, respectively, of the auxiliary access opening in the ampule, with the two plungers interconnected by a connecting rod spanning the central section of the ampule. The ampule chamber is provided with a draft angle in the front section of its bore adjacent to the soft plunger in the ampule, and a straight bore in the rear section adjacent to the hard plunger in the ampule. The injector includes a high-resolution metered filling device located parallel to the ampule chamber and including a piston engagement member which is laterally movable into contact with the connecting rod, which consequently moves under control of the filling device. The metered filling device includes a digital dosage display including a drum bearing a plurality of dosage values in integer form arranged in a spiral pattern on its surface, and a dosage selection window positioned so as to expose a single dosage value at a time.
114 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A self-contained, patient-fillable ampule for a jet injector, comprising:
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an elongate ampule body having an injection orifice at a first end, a propellant at a second end, and a hollow portion therebetween; a piston slidably and sealingly mounted in said hollow portion of said ampule body; and an auxiliary access opening in said ampule body in proximity to said piston. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A self-contained, disposable ampule for a jet injector, comprising:
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an elongate ampule body having an injection orifice at a first end, a propellant at a second end, and a hollow portion therebetween which is internally tapered along its longitudinal axis, said hollow portion having an expandable wall structure; and a first plunger slidably and sealingly mounted in said hollow portion of said ampule body. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A self-contained disposable ampule, comprising:
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an elongate plastic body with an injection orifice at its first end and an internal propellant at a closed second end; and a piston slidably and sealingly mounted within said body entirely between said orifice and said internal propellant, said piston and said body together defining a medicine chamber and a combustion chamber within said ampule, said medicine chamber and combustion chamber having expandable sidewalls of insufficient strength to independently withstand normal peak operating pressures developed during an injection.
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11. A hypodermic jet injector, comprising:
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a self-contained disposable ampule, said ampule having an elongate plastic body with an injection orifice at its first end and an internal propellant at a closed second end, and a piston slidably and sealingly mounted within said body entirely between said orifice and said internal propellant, said piston and said body together defining a medicine chamber and a combustion chamber within said ampule, said medicine chamber and combustion chamber having expandable sidewalls of insufficient strength to independently withstand normal peak operating pressures developed during an injection; and an ampule chamber having rigid body means for receiving said self-contained ampule and supporting said expandable sidewalls.
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12. A patient-fillable hypodermic jet injector, comprising:
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an ampule chamber, said ampule chamber having a rigid body defining an elongate bore with forward, central and rear sections, a front opening smaller in cross-section than the central section of said bore, and an auxiliary access opening into said bore; and an ampule piston engagement member movably mounted with respect to said auxiliary access opening, said ampule piston engagement member having a portion movable through said auxiliary access opening into said bore and into operative engagement with a piston in an ampule loaded in said ampule chamber. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A high-resolution metered filling device for a hypodermic jet injector, comprising:
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a rotary-to-linear filling actuator including a linear drive member threaded to a rotary drive member; a digital dosage display connected to said actuator and synchronously responsive to said rotary drive member, said display including a drum bearing a plurality of dosage values in integer form arranged in a spiral pattern on its surface, and a drum cover threadedly connected to said drum with a thread pitch matching the pitch of said spiral pattern, said drum cover extending over said drum and having a dosage selection window therein slightly greater in size than one of said integer values and in registry with said spiral pattern, whereby a single dosage value is visible at a time through said window during rotation of said drum relative to said window. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification