Lancet
First Claim
1. A lancet, comprising:
- a needle having a pointed tip;
a support body enclosing the needle such that the pointed tip projects beyond the end of the support body;
a removable guard located over the pointed tip of the needle, said guard having been integrally moulded from plastics material with said support body and connected thereto by a breakable neck portion;
said removable guard portion having an outer peripheral thickened rib describing a generally U- or C-shape, a central region of thinner section than said rib and partly surrounded by said rib and a further tip encasing region encasing the tip of the needle, the tip encasing region being of thicker section than said central region and being spaced from adjacent ends of the peripheral thickened rib such that there are respective gaps therebetween bridged only by said thinner central section, said thinner central section and said peripheral thickened rib substantially surrounding said tip encasing region and the tip.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Plastics material injected through an entry point of a mould at the location (8) is caused to deflect around a pin which creates the hole (14) in a guard (5), so as to increase the balance of flow of material to either side of the pin (9). In order to minimize the tendency for the plastics material to bend out of shape the tip of the needle embedded within an enlarged portion (13) the mould is formed such that the mould material is initially encouraged to divide and flow through outer thickened regions (10) surrounding a thinner portion. At point (12) the plastics material is therefore caused to slow down resulting in greater equalization of the flow speed of the plastics material to either side of the needle tip.
8 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A lancet, comprising:
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a needle having a pointed tip; a support body enclosing the needle such that the pointed tip projects beyond the end of the support body; a removable guard located over the pointed tip of the needle, said guard having been integrally moulded from plastics material with said support body and connected thereto by a breakable neck portion; said removable guard portion having an outer peripheral thickened rib describing a generally U- or C-shape, a central region of thinner section than said rib and partly surrounded by said rib and a further tip encasing region encasing the tip of the needle, the tip encasing region being of thicker section than said central region and being spaced from adjacent ends of the peripheral thickened rib such that there are respective gaps therebetween bridged only by said thinner central section, said thinner central section and said peripheral thickened rib substantially surrounding said tip encasing region and the tip. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A lancet, comprising:
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a needle having a pointed tip; a support body enclosing the needle such that the pointed tip projects beyond an end of the support body; a removable guard located over the pointed tip of the needle, said guard having been integrally moulded from plastics material with said support body and connected thereto by a breakable neck portion; said removable guard portion having an outer peripheral thickened rib describing a generally U- or C-shape with ends of the peripheral thickened rib being disposed laterally adjacent said needle, a central region of thinner section than said rib and partly surrounded by said rib and a further tip encasing region encasing the tip of the needle, the tip encasing region being of thicker section than said central region and being spaced from the adjacent ends of the peripheral thickened rib such that there are respective gaps therebetween bridged only by said thinner central section, said thinner central section said peripheral thickened rib substantially surrounding said tip encasing region and the tip.
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6. A method of forming a lancet, comprising:
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holding a needle in a mould formed to create a support body for holding a base portion of the needle and a removable guard about a pointed needle tip and to form a breakable neck portion between the support body and the guard, the mould having an entry point for plastics material, at an end of the guard remote from the needle point, leading to an outer peripheral thickened hollow rib of generally U- or C-shape which in turn leads to a thinner hollow section approaching the needle tip and a further enlarged hollow region encasing the needle tip, the hollow region encasing the needle tip being of thicker section than said thinner hollow section, the further enlarged hollow region being spaced from adjacent ends of the peripheral thickened hollow rib to leave respective gaps therebetween that are bridged by said thinner hollow section, the thinner hollow section said peripheral thickened hollow rib substantially surrounding said enlarged hollow region encasing the needle tip and the tip; and injecting plastics material into the mould via the entry point to create the guard about the needle tip. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8)
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Specification