Medicament container with needle protection housing
First Claim
1. Apparatus comprising:
- a vial, said vial having a neck for receiving a needle, said neck configured to include a circumferential notch, a needle protection housing coupled to said neck via a collar, said needle protection housing pivotable to be in alignment along the longitudinal axis of said vial, said collar including a base configured to be press fitted onto said neck.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A needle protective housing is fitted to the neck of a medicament container, for example a glass vial, that has a circumferential notch formed at a proximal portion of the neck. The needle protective device has a needle protective housing pivotally connected to a cup-shaped collar. The collar has a base that is formed by a plurality of coplanar extensions, that in turn form an aperture that allows the base to be press-fitted onto the neck of the vial. The extensions are each separated by a space, so that the extensions would give way when the collar is slidedly fitted along the length of the neck of the vial, until the extensions reach the notch at the proximal end of the neck of the vial where the extensions return to the original shape to thereby couple the collar to the vial. The circular wall upraised from the base of the collar is internally threaded for accepting the luer of a needle assembly, when the needle assembly is mated to the neck of the syringe. Once fully threaded into the collar, the interaction of the luer and the base of the collar effects a tightly gripped fit of the base about the neck of the collar. Once the housing is pivoted to cover a contaminated needle, a lock mechanism at the housing would fixedly retain the needle. Once retained, the contaminated needle will continue to be retained within the housing even in the unlikely event that the collar and needle protective housing are forcibly removed from the vial.
74 Citations
20 Claims
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1. Apparatus comprising:
- a vial, said vial having a neck for receiving a needle, said neck configured to include a circumferential notch, a needle protection housing coupled to said neck via a collar, said needle protection housing pivotable to be in alignment along the longitudinal axis of said vial, said collar including a base configured to be press fitted onto said neck.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A needle protective device adapted to be used with a medicament container, comprising:
- an elongate housing having a longitudinal opening through which a needle attached to a neck of said medicament container passes when said housing is pivoted toward the needle, said housing pivotally connected to a collar, said collar being cup-shaped with a base having an aperture fitted to said neck of said medicament container, said aperture being formed from a plurality of planar extensions that mate to a notch circumferentially formed on said neck, said collar having a circumferential sleeve upraised from said base, the inner wall of said sleeve internally threaded for mating with a luer of the needle when the needle is mated to said neck, said housing pivotally connected to said collar, a locking mechanism at at least said housing for fixedly retaining said needle relative to said housing after said needle passes into said housing.
- View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of providing a needle protection housing to a medicament container having a neck at one end and an opening at another end, comprising the steps of:
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a) forming a circumferential notch around said neck of said container;
b) forming a collar having a base including a central aperture formed by a plurality of converging planar extensions;
c) extending upwards from said base an internally threaded circumferential sleeve as part of said collar;
d) pivotally connecting, a needle protection housing to said collar; and
e) press fitting said collar to said neck of said container until said extensions of said base fit about said notch;
wherein when a needle having a luer end is mated to said neck of said container, said lure end is threadingly mated to said sleeve of said collar. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
forming an opening longitudinally along said housing to allow said needle mated to said neck of said container to pass through when said housing is pivoted toward said needle; and
integrating a lock mechanism to said housing for fixedly retaining said needle when said housing is pivoted to cover said needle.
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14. Method of claim 12, wherein said step b further comprising the step of:
separating adjacent pairs of said extensions at least partially by a space to allow said extensions to give way to enable said base via its aperture to slide along said neck when said collar is being press fitted onto said neck of said container until said extensions reach said notch, said extensions tightly coupling said collar to said neck when said needle is threadingly mated to said collar.
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15. Method of claim 12, wherein said step b further comprising the step of:
providing a one way thread to the inner circumferential wall of said sleeve so that once the luer end of said needle is fully threaded to said collar, said needle is not removable from said collar.
- 16. In combination, a medicament container having a neck with a circumferential notch formed at a proximal end thereof, a fluid communication path being established between the inside of said container and the environment through said neck, a cup-shaped collar having a base with an aperture formed by a plurality of converging extensions fitted about said notch of said neck, a circular sleeve rising from said base with the lip of said sleeve pointing toward the distal end of said neck, the inner wall of said sleeve being threaded to receive a luer end of a needle when said needle is mated to said neck, a housing connected to said base and pivotable to a position in alignment along the longitudinal axis of said container, said housing having an integral hook for grasping said needle when said housing is pivoted to the alignment position.
Specification