Lancet for blood collection and puncture needle unit

• US 8,372,104 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Issued: 02/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PHC Holdings Corporation
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Iio, Toshiaki, Amano, Yoshinori, Kurokawa, Koya, Shinohara, Noriyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TUAN VAN
• Application Number:
  US12/644,445
• Publication Number:
  US 20100100113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,148 Days
• Field of Search: 606/181, 606/182, 600/573, 600/583
• US Class Current: 606/181
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150022 for capillary blood or interstitial fluid
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150183 Depth adjustment mechanism using end caps mounted at the distal end of the sampling device, i.e. the end-caps are adjustably positioned relative to the piercing device housing for example by rotating or screwing
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150435 Specific design of proximal end
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150587 by friction fit
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150717 manually removed
• 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 5/15128 comprising 2D- or 3D-shaped elements, e.g. cams, curved guide rails or threads comprising tooth-shaped elements A61B5/15132
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15186 Devices loaded with a single lancet, i.e. a single lancet with or without a casing is loaded into a reusable drive device and then discarded after use; drive devices reloadable for multiple use
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1519 comprising driving means, e.g. a spring, for propelling the piercing unit
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15194 fully automatically retracted, i.e. the retraction does not require a deliberate action by the user, e.g. by terminating the contact with the patient's skin

Abstract

A lancet having a slider with a puncture needle holding mechanism at one end thereof, and having a cam ring with a continuous cam groove, rotatable about a support shaft, and with a cam ring claw and an anti-return claw restricting the rotation. The lancet also having a ring spring applying a force to rotate the cam ring, having a rotatable stopper arm holding and releasing the rotation of the cam ring, and having a rotatable ratchet restricting the direction of rotation of the cam ring. A puncture needle unit including a puncture needle body integrally molded with a protrusion fitted to the lancet, a rotation stop rib, a puncture needle, and a puncture needle cap lightly pressed into the puncture needle body.

Claims

1. A lancet for puncturing a human body to collect bodily fluids from the human body, comprising:

a puncture needle;

a slider which is able to hold said puncture needle at one end, and is reversibly slidable in a linear direction so that a puncture operation by said puncture needle is carried out;

a cam ring which is flat-shaped and rotatable about an axis thereof, has a cam groove that is engaged with a cam follower provided on the slider within a rotation plane of the cam ring, and slides the slider by the rotation of the cam ring;

an elastic force application member for applying a rotation force in a predetermined direction to the cam ring to slide the slider in a puncture direction;

a stopper arm for stopping the rotation of the cam ring to which a force is applied by the elastic force application member, or releasing the stopping; and

an anti-reverse-rotation mechanism which is implemented by a ratchet mechanism for preventing reverse rotation of the cam ring after the puncture operation.

2. A lancet as defined in claim 1 wherein

said anti-reverse-rotation mechanism releases the stopping of rotation of the cam ring to which a force is applied by the elastic force application member, by the releasing operation of the stopper arm;

and

when the slider moves with the rotation of the cam ring and thereby a puncture operation is carried out and then the slider moves in a direction that goes apart from the puncture direction with further rotation of the cam ring, the anti-reverse-rotation mechanism restricts the rotation of the cam ring in one direction so as to prevent the slider from moving in the puncture direction again.

3. A lancet as defined in claim 1 wherein

said stopper arm has a stopper claw that contacts a cam ring claw of the cam ring, in a puncture-ready position where said puncture needle is backed off into the lancet, and a rotation force applied to the cam ring by the elastic force application member is active;

when the stopper arm is pressed and rotated in the above-mentioned state, the contact of the stopper claw of the stopper arm and the cam ring claw is released, whereby the cam ring rotates in a predetermined position; and

when the slider slides in the puncture direction by the rotation of the cam ring and thereby the cam ring rotates exceeding a maximum protrusion position of said puncture needle, an anti-reverse claw of the cam ring passes over a ratchet claw of the ratchet mechanism while bending the ratchet mechanism, and catches the ratchet claw to prevent the cam ring from rotating in the opposite direction.

4. A lancet as defined in claim 1 wherein

said stopper arm has a stopper for restricting an amount of rotation of the stopper arm toward the cam ring;

and

said ratchet mechanism has a stopper for restricting an amount of rotation of the ratchet toward the cam ring.

5. A lancet as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

a set ring which is rotatably provided on a same axis as the cam ring; and

a force transfer mechanism for transferring a rotation force of the set ring only in one direction;

wherein the rotation force of the set ring is transferred to the cam ring through the force transferring mechanism.

6. A lancet of claim 1 wherein said elastic force application member is implemented by a ring spring.

7. A lancet as defined in claim 1 wherein said puncture needle has a safety claw which is engaged with the inner surface of an external case of the lancet to prevent said puncture needle from dropping when said puncture needle is detached from the lancet.

8. A lancet as defined in claim 1 wherein

said slider has a fitting and fixing hole for fixing said puncture needle;

and

said puncture needle is a puncture needle unit comprising a puncture needle body and a puncture needle cap, and the puncture needle body has

a puncture needle main part having a needle at a front end thereof,

a protrusion to be fitted and fixed to the fitting and fixing hole, at an external surface of a base portion of the puncture needle main part, and

a rotation stop rib for the puncture needle cap that covers the puncture needle body, at a side surface of an upper portion of the puncture needle body, and

the puncture needle cap is fitted to the rotation stop rib and is lightly pressed into the puncture needle body to cover the puncture needle body.

9. A lancet as defined in claim 8 wherein

in said puncture needle unit, the puncture needle main part is snugly fitted and attached to the lancet with the puncture needle cap being attached to the puncture needle body part;

and

after the puncture needle main part is attached to the lancet, the puncture needle cap is removed from the puncture needle main part.

10. A lancet as defined in claim 8 wherein

in said puncture needle unit detaches the puncture needle main part from the lancet as follows:

the puncture needle cap is pressed in and snugly fitted to the puncture needle main part after performing the puncture operation; and

the puncture needle main part is removed together with the puncture needle cap from the lancet body together.

11. A lancet as defined in claim 8 wherein said puncture needle cap is cylindrical in shape, and has protection slots for protecting said puncture needle after performing the puncture operation from the lancet body, which slots are formed from both of an end and the other end of the cylindrical shape.

12. A lancet as defined in claim 8 wherein said puncture needle cap is cylindrical in shape, and has a protection slot for protecting said puncture needle, which is formed from an end of the cylindrical shape, and a disposal slot for taking said puncture needle after performing the puncture operation from the lancet body and discarding the needle, which is formed from the other end of the cylindrical shape, and fitting of said puncture needle to the disposal slot is easier than fitting of said puncture needle to the protection slot.

13. A lancet as defined in claim 12 wherein said disposal slot of the puncture needle cap has an opening that is larger than an opening of the protection slot.

14. A lancet as defined in claim 8 wherein

said puncture needle body has a safety claw which is engaged with the inner surface of an external case of the lancet to prevent said puncture needle from dropping when the puncture needle body is detached from the lancet;

and

said puncture needle cap is lightly pressed into the puncture needle body while being fitted to the safety claw, to cover the puncture needle body.