Plastic incision blade

• US 5,782,852 A
• Filed: 09/19/1997
• Issued: 07/21/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Technidyne Corporation (Sphingotec GMBH)
• Original Assignee: International Technidyne Corporation (Sphingotec GMBH)
• Inventors: Mawhirt, James A., Feldman, Gerald, Kuklo, Anthony F. Jr., Foggia, Donald
• Primary Examiner(s): Buiz, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lewis, William W.
• Application Number:
  US08/934,212
• Time in Patent Office: 305 Days
• Field of Search: 606/166, 606/167, 606/181-183, 128/753
• US Class Current: 606/182
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/0814 Preventing re-use
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150022 for capillary blood or interstitial fluid
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150427 Specific tip design, e.g. for improved penetration characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150916 by blocking components, e.g. piston, driving device or fluid passageway
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15144 comprising driving means, e.g. a spring, for retracting the piercing unit into the housing

Abstract

An apparatus for implementing a skin incision has an incision blade having at least three facets and at least one sharpened apex. Each of the facets narrows down to one of the apexes. A housing having an exterior surface adapted to be placed flush against the skin and an elongated slot located on the exterior of the surface housing the incision blade. A blade pivoting mechanism located in the housing guides the incision blade through the slot. The blade pivoting mechanism has a first end and second end wherein the first end is pivotally coupled to the housing and the second end supports the incision blade. An actuatable depressing mechanism, located within the housing means, engages and holds the blade pivoting mechanism in a set position, preventing the pivotal movement of the blade pivoting mechanism within the housing. When the depressing mechanism is actuated, the blade pivoting mechanism disengages and transverses the sloped surface, displacing the second end of the blade pivoting mechanism toward the elongated slot, such that the multiple facets of the incision blade emerge from the elongated slot and incise the skin.

Claims

1. A blade for making a skin incision, the blade comprising:

a three-dimensional plastic member having a pyramidal outer peripheral surface defined by at least four individual facets, each facet being oriented in a different plane, and wherein at least two of the facets converge at a terminus to define an incision-making area, wherein the incision making area is oriented in a plane intersecting and relatively transverse to the planes of the at least two converging facets.

2. The blade according to claim 1, wherein the incision-making area comprises one sharpened apex point, and wherein all the facets narrow down to and meet at the one apex point.

3. The blade according to claim 2, wherein the facets are generally triangular in shape, and the vertices of the triangular facets converge at the apex.

4. The blade according to claim 1, wherein the terminus is formed by adjoining lateral edges of at least two of the facets such that the incision-making area comprises an edge running substantially parallel to the base of the blade.

5. The blade according to claim 4, wherein the terminus of the blade has a width of about 0.01 to 0.02 inches.

6. The blade according to claim 1, wherein the at least two facets that converge to define the incision-making area of the blade have opposing planes that are disposed at an angle of approximately 30 to 45 degrees relative to each other.

7. The blade according to claim 1, wherein the plastic member has two sets of facets, wherein each set of facets contains at least two facets;

wherein one set of facets comprises cutting facets that join at the terminus to define the incision-making area, and wherein the second set of facets comprises supporting facets, wherein each one of the supporting facets terminates at an edge of a cutting facet thereby serving to buttress the cutting facets.

8. The blade according to claim 7, wherein two of the cutting facets are substantially the same size and shape relative to each other, and two of the supporting facets are substantially the same size and shape relative to each other.

9. The blade according to claim 7, wherein the cutting facets comprise two trapezoidal-shaped facets that join to form a wedge-shaped point at the terminus.

10. The blade according to claim 7, wherein the cutting facets comprise two rectangular-shaped facets that join to form a chisel-shaped point at the terminus.

11. The blade according to claim 7, wherein the plastic member further comprises

four cutting facets that are generally triangular in shape and disposed in two pairs of two facets such that the facets in each pair share a common edge and have two opposing side edges, and wherein all four cutting facets narrow to a common sharpened apex point for making an incision;

and

two supporting facets, wherein one supporting facet is sandwiched between both pairs of cutting facets, such that each supporting facet bridges an opposing side edge of one pair of cutting facets to an opposing side edge of the other pair of cutting facets and thereby completes the circumference of the outer peripheral surface of the blade.

12. The blade according to claim 11, wherein the two supporting facets are generally triangular in shape, and wherein each one of the supporting facets extends from the base of the blade and terminates at a point located along an opposing side edge of a cutting facet, such that the terminus of one supporting facet defines an intermediate apex point disposed along one side edge of the blade and the terminus of the other supporting facet defines an intermediate apex point disposed along the other side edge of the blade.

13. The blade according to claim 12, wherein the width of the blade at the base of the facets is about 0.02 to 0.065 inches;

wherein the length of the blade from the base to the apex is about 0.10 to 0.12 inches; and

wherein the intermediate apex points are spaced apart on either side of the blade by about 0.01 to 0.02 inches.

14. The blade according to claim 7, wherein the plastic member further comprises

two cutting facets each having an upper edge and a lower edge;

wherein the upper edges of the cutting facets converge at the apex such that the incision-making area of the blade comprises an edge running substantially parallel to the base of the blade;

at least four supporting facets comprising a front facet, a back facet, and two side facets, wherein the front facet extends from the lower edge of one cutting facet to the base of the blade, and the back facet extends from the lower edge of the other cutting facet to the base of the blade; and

wherein each side facet joins a side edge of the front facet to a side edge of the back facet such that the two side facets complete the circumference of the outer peripheral surface of the blade.

15. The blade according to claim 14, wherein the cutting facets are trapezoidal in shape and join to form a wedge-shaped terminus defining the incision-making area;

and wherein each side facet comprises a pair of generally triangular-shaped facets sharing a common edge; and

wherein each side facet extends from the base of the blade to the wedge-shaped terminus.

16. The blade according to claim 14, wherein the cutting facets are rectangular-shaped and join together at their upper edges to form a chisel-shaped terminus defining the incision-making area;

and wherein the front and back supporting facets each comprise a plurality of triangular-shaped facets.

17. The blade according to claim 7, wherein the plastic member further comprises:

a front and a back cutting facet, wherein both cutting facets are trapezoidal in shape and extend from the base of the blade to the terminus to form a chisel-shaped edge at the incision-making area, the chisel-shaped terminus having a first and second corner; and

two pairs of triangular-shaped side supporting facets, wherein each pair of side facets share a common side edge;

wherein one pair of side facets extends from the base of the blade to the first corner of the chisel-shaped terminus, and the other pair of side facets extends from the base of the blade to the second corner of the chisel-shaped terminus; and

wherein each pair of side facets is disposed between the front and the back cutting facets thereby completing the circumference of the outer peripheral surface of the blade.

18. A blade for making a skin incision, the blade comprising:

a plastic member having a pyramidal shaped outer peripheral surface defined by six individual facets, each facet being oriented in a different plane;

wherein at least two of the facets comprise cutting facets that are substantially the same size and shape and converge at a terminus to define an incision-making area, wherein the incision-making area is oriented in a plane intersecting and relatively transverse to the planes of the cutting facets; and

wherein at least two of the facets comprise supporting facets that are triangular in shape, are substantially the same size and shape, and terminate at an edge of a cutting facet thereby serving to buttress the cutting facets.

19. An improved finger-stick device for making a skin incision of the type having a housing means with a slot adapted to be placed flush against the skin, a blade support arm for holding a blade within the housing means, and a biasing means for resiliently guiding the blade through the slot in the housing means to prick a person'"'"'s finger, wherein the improvement comprises a plastic blade disposed on the blade support arm, the plastic blade comprising:

a plastic member having a pyramidal shaped outer peripheral surface defined by at least four individual facets, each facet being oriented in a different plane, and wherein at least two of the facets converge at a terminus to define an incision-making area, wherein the incision making area is oriented in a plane intersecting and relatively transverse to the planes of the at least two converging facets.

20. The improved finger-stick device of claim 19, wherein the plastic member further comprises two sets of facets, wherein each set of facets contains at least two facets;

wherein one set of facets comprises cutting facets that join at the terminus to define the incision-making area, and wherein the second set of facets comprises supporting facets, wherein each one of the supporting facets terminates at an edge of a cutting facet thereby serving to buttress the cutting facets.