Medical syringe

• US 6,083,200 A
• Filed: 05/25/1999
• Issued: 07/04/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SSE System Services Establishment
• Original Assignee: SSE System Services Establishment
• Inventors: Grimm, Edgardo, Moro, Olinto
• Primary Examiner(s): YASKO JR, JOHN D
• Application Number:
  US09/308,794
• Time in Patent Office: 406 Days
• Field of Search: 604/110, 604/218, 604/228, 604/187, 604/238
• US Class Current: 604/110
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/508 Means for preventing re-use by disrupting the piston seal, e.g. by puncturing

Abstract

The invention concerns a medical syringe comprising a tubular body, in which slides a plunger comprising an opening, the plunger comprising a sealing piece, movable in the plunger and which closes the opening of the syringe before it is used. The assembly is arranged such that, after the syringe has been used, the sealing piece no longer closes the opening permanently, so that the syringe cannot be used again. All the parts of the syringe are designed for being produced by moulding and automatically mounted in series by axial jointing.

Claims

1. Medical syringe comprising a tubular body, in which a piston slides, the piston having an opening, a blocking unit blocking said opening before the syringe is used, the blocking unit being arranged to cooperate, when the piston reaches the end of its path, with a counter-piece integral with the tubular body of the syringe, so as to expel said blocking unit out of the opening in such a way that after using the syringe the blocking unit definitively no longer obstructs the opening so that the syringe cannot be re-used, wherein the piston is arranged in such a way as to constitute an rigid inner chamber inside which the blocking unit is housed, the whole being arranged so as to impose a predetermined path on the blocking unit, where the blocking unit has at one of its end a blocking head engaged in the opening and at least one element arranged to prevent its returning to its blocking position, said element resting prior to the injection against the inner wall of said inner chamber, in such a way as to generate a force of friction which is added to the force exerted by the edge of the opening on the blocking head, so that the pressure of the liquid acting on the blocking head during the injection is insufficient to expel the blocking head out of the opening, all the elements of the syringe being designed to be produced by moulding and assembled on an automatic production line by axial fitting.

2. Syringe according to claim 1, wherein the rigid inner chamber comprises an intermediate element and a socket hooked with a notch to the intermediate element, wherein the blocking unit is provided at its rear section with locking elements capable of engaging on an inner shoulder of the intermediate element when the piston reaches the end of its path, thereby placing the locking elements in the active position, and wherein the dimensioning of the assembly components is such that, when mounting the assembly, the head of the blocking unit can engage axially into the intermediate element, the socket can be hooked to the intermediate element after positioning of the blocking unit and the joint device once so assembled can be fixed to the piston by forcing a cylindrical sleeve of the intermediate element in a corresponding bore of the piston.

3. Syringe according to claim 2, wherein the locking elements comprise at least one fin accommodating elastic deformation, whose free end is directed towards the base of the body of the syringe and cooperates with the wall of the inner chamber, said wall being designed so as to allow the free end of the fin to slide against the wall of the inner chamber when the blocking unit moves inside the chamber after having come to a stop against the counter-piece but to then prevent the sliding of the free end of the fin in the opposite direction.

4. Syringe according to claim 3, wherein the inner chamber comprises a first space whose dimensions are chosen in order to maintain the fin folded back along the blocking unit when the blocking head of the blocking unit is blocking the opening and a second space whose dimensions are chosen in order to allow the deployment of the fin when the blocking unit has been moved inside the piston after coming to a stop against the counter-piece.

5. Syringe according to claim 1, wherein the counter-piece comprises at least one element forming a projection in relation to the base of the tubular body of the syringe.

6. Syringe according to claim 2, wherein the counter-piece comprises at least one element forming a projection in relation to the base of the tubular body of the syringe.

7. Syringe according to claim 1, wherein the counter-piece is made up of at least three lugs which project from the base of the tubular body of the syringe, on the periphery of the orifice intended for the injection of the liquid contained in the syringe.

8. Syringe according to claim 1, wherein the counter-piece consists of a crenellated annular projection bordering the orifice intended for the injection of the liquid contained in the syringe.

9. Syringe according to claim 1, wherein the counter-piece consists of a washer with radial arms having, in the centre of the aforesaid washer, a limit acting as a stop for the blocking unit.

10. Seal joint device coupled with the piston of a medical syringe comprising a blocking unit which causes, by coming up against a stop placed in the bottom of the syringe body, when the piston reaches the end of its path, an irreversible deformation of the device so as to exclude any possible reuse of the syringe, said blocking unit being mounted into a guiding assembly coupled to the piston, wherein the assembly itself comprises an intermediate element and a socket hooked with a notch to the intermediate element, wherein the blocking unit is provided at one end with a head provided with locking elements capable of engaging on an inner shoulder of the intermediate element and at the other end with a terminal part which, in active position, closes an opening in the socket, but which is forced back by the stop when the piston reaches the end of its path, thereby placing the locking elements in the active position, and wherein the dimensioning of the assembly components is such that, when mounting the assembly, the head of the blocking unit can engage axially into the intermediate element, the socket can be hooked to the intermediate element after positioning of the blocking unit and the joint device once so assembled can be fixed to the piston by forcing a cylindrical sleeve of the intermediate element in a corresponding bore of the piston.