Safety syringe abstract
A safety syringe includes a hollow needle for intravenous injection
use eccentrically mounted in a syringe with said needle preliminarily
held in a rigid blocking bulb generally conical shaped or truncated-cone
shaped having an elongate stem portion protruding rearwardly from
the bulb embedded in a rear bulb socket perpendicularly formed in
a flexible plug inserted in a front porton of the syringe having
a needle head portion formed on a rear portion of the needle, and
a plunger slidably held in the syringe for boosting a liquid medicine
in the syringe to be injected into a patient through the hollow
needle having an annular groove annularly recessed in the plunger
to be engageable with the needle head portion to drive and move
the rigid blocking bulb frontwardly from the rear bulb socket into
a front bulb socket which is normally inclinedly formed in the flexible
plug and will be operatively biased perpendicularly in the plug
when almost exhausting the liquid in the syringe when finishing
the injection, whereby upon a retraction of the plunger and the
needle coupled to the plunger rearwardly into the syringe, the elongate
stem portion of the rigid bulb will be greatly obliquely biased
in a larger angle by the front bulb socket of the plug to be much
inclinedly positioned for efficiently blocking an outward protruding
of the needle retracted in the syringe for really preventing an
injury or infectious contamination to the surroundings as caused
by the needle.
Safety syringe claims
I claim:
1. A safety syringe comprising:
a syringe means including: a sleeve portion eccentrically formed
in a front side portion in a syringe cylinder, a flexible plug inserted
in a front portion inside the syringe cylinder of said syringe means
having a tunnel eccentrically formed through the plug to define
a tunnel axis aligned with a longitudinal central line of said sleeve
portion, said tunnel axis being parallel to a syringe axis longitudinally
existing in a central portion in said syringe means, said flexible
plug having a first bulb socket formed in a rear portion in said
plug normally perpendicular to said tunnel axis, and a second bulb
socket formed in a front portion in said plug and communicating
with said first socket and normally inclinedly positioned in said
plug;
a rigid blocking bulb generally conical shaped, including a bulb
base portion and an elongate stem portion tapered rearwardly from
said bulb base portion having a central through hole longitudinally
formed through said bulb, normally engageably held in said first
bulb socket of said plug and operatively moved into said second
bulb socket to be engageable with said second bulb socket; and
a hollow needle normally held in said rigid blocking bulb and in
said plug defining a needle axis normally aligned with said tunnel
axis with said needle eccentrically mounted in said syringe means
adapted for an intravenous injection, and operatively thrusted frontwardly
as urged by a plunger of a plunger means reciprocatively held in
said syringe means to be moved frontwardly from said first bulb
socket towards said second bulb socket when finishing an injection,
said needle being operatively coupled to said plunger of said plunger
means when finishing the injection by engaging a needle head portion
formed on a rear end portion of said hollow needle with an annular
groove annularly recessed in the plunger of said plunger means with
said needle axis of said needle retracted in said syringe means
being projectively aligned with said tunnel axis formed in said
plug and said sleeve portion, whereby upon a retraction of said
needle into said syringe cylinder, said flexible plug will automatically
restore said second bulb socket to inclinedly orient said rigid
blocking bulb to projectively unalign the central through hole of
said bulb from said needle axis of said hollow needle coupled to
said plunger means to greatly deviate a positioning of a rear port
of the through hole, formed in a rear stem surface of said stem
portion of said bulb, from the tunnel axis of the tunnel and the
needle axis of the needle for effectively preventing an outward
protrusion of the needle as retracted in said syringe cylinder.
2. A safety syringe according to claim 1 wherein each said first
and second bulb socket has a longitudinal section of elliptical
shape engageable with an elliptically shaped bulb base portion of
said blocking bulb.
3. A safety syringe according to claim 1 wherein each said first
and second bulb socket has a longitudinal section of triangular
shape, engageable with said blocking bulb generally conical shaped.
4. A safety syringe according to claim 2 wherein said second bulb
socket defines a second transverse axis and a second conjugate axis
perpendicular to said second transverse axis, with said second conjugate
axis of said second bulb socket operatively aligned with a conjugate
bulb axis of the elliptically shaped bulb base portion of said blocking
bulb having defining a transverse bulb axis perpendicular to said
conjugate bulb axis.
5. A safety syringe according to claim 1 wherein said plug in
said syringe cylinder includes a liquid-repelling extension concentrically
formed in a rear surface of the plug inserted in the front portion
of the syringe cylinder having a flat surface portion recessed in
the liquid-repelling extension an coplanar to the rear surface of
the plug for receiving the needle head portion of the hollow needle
within the flat surface portion, with the liquid-repelling extension
having a longitudinal section of arcuate shape and engageable with
the annular groove recessed in the plunger for operatively squeezing
the liquid medicine outwardly as filled into the annular groove
when pumping the plunger towards the plug for finishing the injection
operatively for saving any medicine filled in the annular groove.
Safety syringe description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
An invention patent application for a safety syringe, filed by
the same inventor of this application on Nov. 30 1992 given a Ser.
No. of 07/983144 includes: a hollow needle (2) preliminarily held
in a rigid blocking disk (4) embedded in a rear disk socket (135)
perpendicularly formed in a flexible plug (13) inserted in a front
portion of the syringe (1) for injection use having a needle head
portion (23) formed on a rear portion of the needle (2), and a plunger
(31) slidably held in the syringe (1) for boosting a liquid medicine
in the syringe to be injected into a patient through the hollow
needle (2) having a needle-head socket (32) recessed in the plunger
(31) to be engageable with the needle head portion (23) for pushing
the needle head portion of the needle (2) frontwardly to drive the
rigid blocking disk (4) frontwardly to engage the blocking disk
(4) into a front disk socket (137) which is normally inclinedly
formed in the flexible plug (13), whereby upon a retraction of the
plunger (31) and the needle (2) with the needle head portion (23)
received in and coupled to the plunger (31) into the syringe (1)
to disengage the needle (2) from the rigid disk (4), the flexible
plug (13) will restore the front socket (137) and the rigid disk
(4) embedded in the front socket (137) to be inclinedly positioned
in the plug (13), thereby blocking an outward protruding of the
needle (2) retracted in the syringe (1) for preventing its injury
or infectious contamination to the surroundings.
However, the blocking disk member 4 of this earlier application
is made as a shallow disk, the central through hole 41 of the block
disk member 4 can only be biased for a small oblique angle, which
may still be accidentally inserted by an outwardly protruding of
the needle (2) already retracted in the syringe (1) to lose its
safety meaning.
Meanwhile, the hollow needle (2) of such a safety syringe is normally
provided in a central portion of the syringe means (1), which is
suitable for hypodermic or intramuscular injection. However, if
such a syringe is used for intravenous or intravascular injection
of larger quantity of liquid medicine filled in the syringe cylinder
(11) such as a volume of 30 cc, 50 cc, or 100 cc of the liquid medicine.
The needle (2) should be eccentrically formed in the syringe cylinder
for an ergonomic injection by a nurse or a doctor since the needle
and the syringe cylinder can be held in a direction parallel and
close to the patient's vein or blood vessels.
If the inventor's earlier application (U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 07/983144) is inferentially used for an intravenous injection
of larger injection quantity, the needle (2) should be eccentrically
mounted in the syringe cylinder (11). Meanwhile, the single needle-head
socket (32) should also be eccentrically moved in order to engage
with the needle head portion (23) of the needle (2). It will be
very difficult and inconvenient for matching a needle head portion
(23) of an eccentrically-positioned needle (2) with the single needle-head
socket (32).
It is therefore expected to disclose a syringe for improving the
drawbacks of the applicant's earlier application in order that a
used needle can be easily retractable into the syringe in a safer
way for preventing an outward protruding of the retracted needle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a safety syringe
including: an annular groove annularly recessed in a front surface
of a plunger slidably held in the syringe to be engageable with
a needle head portion formed on a rear portion of a hollow needle
which is eccentrically mounted in a front portion of the syringe
for intravenous injection uses, with the annular groove having a
longitudinal section formed as an elliptical needle-head socket
engageable with the needle head portion for retracting the plunger
and the needle into the syringe, wherein the retracted needle will
be automatically blocked for preventing an outward protrusion of
the needle.
Substantially, the present invention provides a safety syringe
including the hollow needle preliminarily held in a rigid blocking
bulb generally conical shaped or truncated-cone shaped having an
elongate stem portion protruding rearwardly from the bulb first
embedded in a rear bulb socket perpendicularly formed in a flexible
plug inserted in a front porton of the syringe having the needle
head portion formed on a rear portion of the needle, and the plunger
when coupled with the needle head portion will operatively drive
and move the rigid blocking bulb frontwardly when performing the
injection into a front bulb socket which is normally inclinedly
formed in the flexible plug, whereby upon a retraction of the plunger
coupled with the needle rearwardly into the syringe, the elongate
stem portion of the rigid bulb will be greatly obliquely biased
in a larger angle by the front bulb socket of the plug to be much
inclinedly positioned for efficiently blocking an outward protruding
of the needle retracted in the syringe for really preventing an
injury or infectious contamination to the surroundings as caused
by the needle.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an illustration showing the present invention before
injection.
FIG. 1a is a sectional drawing of a flexible plug of the present
invention.
FIG. 2 is an illustration showing the present invention when finishing
the injection.
FIG. 3 shows the present invention having a needle retracted in
a syringe.
FIG. 4 shows a blocking effect for retarding an outwardly protruding
needle in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a top view of a plunger when viewed from 5--5 direction
of FIG. 1.
FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the plug in the syringe when viewed
from 6--6 direction of FIG. 1.
FIG. 7 shows a rigid blocking bulb of the present invention.
FIG. 8 shows a rigid blocking disk member of the prior art.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
As shown in FIGS. 1-7 the present invention comprises: a syringe
means 1 a hollow needle 2 mounted in an eccentric front portion
of the syringe means 1 a plunger means 3 and a rigid blocking
bulb 4 movably held in the syringe means 1.
The syringe means 1 includes: a syringe cylinder 11 having a hollow
bore portion 10 defined in the syringe cylinder 11 and a syringe
axis 100 longitudinally existing in a central portion of the syringe
cylinder 11 having a plurality of annular extension rings 111 circumferentially
formed in an inner front portion inside the cylinder 11 a sleeve
portion 12 protruded and contracted frontwardly from the syringe
cylinder 11 and formed in an eccentric front portion of the syringe
cylinder 11 having a needle port 121 formed in an front opening
of the sleeve portion 12 a flexible plug 13 perferably made of
soft, flexible elastomer materials inserted in the front portion
inside the cylinder 11 having a plug tip portion 131 embedded in
the sleeve portion 12 and a plug shoulder portion 133 embedded in
a front portion of the cylinder 11 connected with the plug tip portion
131 and a tunnel 130 formed in the plug 13 communicating the needle
port 121 for inserting the needle portion 21 therethrough, a plurality
of annular grooves 132 circumferentially formed on a cylindrical
side wall portion of the plug 13 engageable with the extension rings
122 111 respectively formed in the sleeve portion 12 and the cylinder
11 for fixing the plug 13 in the cylinder 11 a first bulb socket
135 perpendicularly formed in a rear eccentric portion of the plug
13 and communicating with a plug guiding port 134 tapered frontwardly
from a plug rear surface 133a, and a second bulb socket 137 normally
inclinedly formed in a front eccentric portion of the plug 13 communicating
with the first bulb socket 135 through a throat portion 136 formed
between the two bulb sockets 135 137 of which either bulb socket
135 or 137 is operatively engageable with the rigid blocking bulb
4 a syringe handle 14 formed on a rear end portion of the cylinder
11 and a liquid-repelling extension 15 arcuately or concentrically
formed on the plug rear surface 133a of the plug 13 with a flat
surface portion 151 disposed around the tunnel 13 recessed in the
liquid-repelling extension 15 and coplanar to the plug rear surface
133a.
As shown in FIG. 1a, the flexible plug 13 includes the first bulb
socket 135 having a longitudinal section generally elliptic shaped
and having a first socket center 135c intersected by a first transverse
axis 135a, and a first conjugate axis 135b which is normally aligned
with a tunnel axis 130a of the tunnel 130 thereby orienting the
first transverse axis 135a to be normally perpendicular to the tunnel
axis 130a. The tunnel axis 130a is parallel to the syringe axis
100 of the syringe means 1.
The second bulb socket 137 has a longitudinal section generally
elliptic shaped and having a second socket center 137c intersected
by a second transverse axis 137a, and a second conjugate axis 137b
which defines an acute angle A with the tunnel axis 130a and is
unaligned with the tunnel axis 130a, thereby normally orienting
the second transverse axis 137a inclinedly in the plug 13. The sockets
135 137 each may have a longitudinal section of elliptical shape,
triangular shape or other suitable shapes; or may be formed as truncated-cone
shape.
The rigid blocking bulb 4 is made of rigid plastic or other rigid,
hard materials insertable in either socket 135 or 137 in the soft
flexible plug 13 and is preferably formed as a conical or truncated-cone
shape including a bulb base portion 40 and an elongate stem portion
44 tapered or contracted rearwardly from the bulb base portion 40
to be engageable with either bulb socket 135 or 137 in the plug
13 with the bulb base portion 40 having a longitudinally section
of elliptical shape, having a through hole 41 defining a bulb axis
400 longitudinally formed in a central portion through the blocking
bulb 4 for passing the needle portion 21 of the hollow needle 2
therethrough, a bulb base center 420 intersected by a transverse
bulb axis 43 and a conjugate bulb axis 42 existing in a longitudinal
center line of the base portion 40 normally aligned with the tunnel
axis 130a and a needle axis 200 of the needle 2 when the bulb 4
is normally held in the first bulb socket 135 in the plug 13 and
the hollow needle 2 is longitudinally held in the plug 13 ready
for injecting a liquid medicine filled in the bore portion 10 of
the syringe cylinder 11 as shown in FIG. 1.
A rear bulb surface 441 of the bulb stem portion 44 can be matched
with a shoulder portion 221 formed in a front surface of a needle
shank portion 22 of the needle 2 to be forwardly driven by the needle
shank portion 22 and needle head portion 23 from FIG. 1 to FIG.
2.
The rigid blocking bulb 4 as held on the needle portion 21 to be
limited by the shank portion 22 (shoulder portion 221) of the needle
is operatively thrusted from the first bulb socket 135 into the
second bulb socket 137 through the throat portion 136 between the
two bulb sockets 135 137 with the throat portion 136 defining
a diameter smaller than a length of the transverse axis 135a or
137a of any said bulb socket 135 137.
The hollow needle 2 includes: a needle portion 21 protruding outwardly
through the sleeve portion 12 of the syringe means 1 having a tip
end 211 formed on an outermost end of the needle, a shank portion
22 connected with the needle portion 21 with a shoulder portion
221 normally contacted with the rear bulb surface 441 of the stem
portion 44 of the blocking bulb 4 with a rear end portion of the
needle portion 21 inserted in the bulb 4 normally held in the plug
13 for normal injection of the syringe means 1 a needle head portion
23 formed on a rear portion of the shank portion 22 normally protruding
rearwardly beyond a plug rear surface 133a to be engageable with
an annular groove 32 formed in the plunger means 3 having an injection
hole 231 formed in the needle head portion 23 communicating with
a needle hole 20 formed through the hollow needle 2 a needle axis
200 longitudinally existing in a central portion of the needle 2
normally aligned with the tunnel axis 130a and parallel to the syringe
axis 100 when held in the plug 13 for normal injection purpose as
shown in FIG. 1 and at least a venting slot 24 formed in the shank
portion 22 adjacent to the needle head portion 23 for venting air
outwardly through the needle hole 20 of the hollow needle.
The needle head portion 23 of the hollow needle 2 may be formed
as elliptic shape to be engaged with the annular groove 32 having
a longitudinal section of elliptical shape formed in the plunger
means 3 but not limited in this invention.
The plunger means 3 includes: a plunger 31 reciprocatively held
in the syringe cylinder 11 the annular groove 32 annularly recessed
in a plunger front surface 310 of the plunger 31 operatively engageable
with the needle head portion 23 having a plunger guiding port 33
tapered rearwardly from the plunger front surface 310 for communicating
with the annular groove 32 for engageably receiving and coupling
the needle head portion 23 when finishing the injection for a retraction
of the needle 2 as coupled to the plunger 31 into the syringe cylinder
11 a plunger rod 35 having a coupling member 36 engaged with a
rear recess 34 formed in the plunger 31 for coupling the plunger
31 on the rod 35 and a plunger handle 37 for pushing the plunger
31 for boosting liquid medicine in the syringe cylinder 11 for injection
use. The annular groove 32 has a longitudinal section of elliptical
socket defining a socket center perpendicular to a plunger axis
300 which is aligned with the syringe axis 100 and longitudinally
formed in a center line of the plunger means, and projectively aligned
with a needle head center 230 of the needle head portion 23 for
a snug engagement of the needle head portion 23 with the elliptical
socket of the annular groove 32 of the plunger 31 for coupling the
needle 2 to the plunger means 3 which is operatively pushed frontwardly
for movably driving the rigid blocking bulb 4 from a first bulb
socket 135 to a second bulb socket 137 when finishing the injection
(FIG. 2) and is then retracted to pull the needle 2 coupled on the
plunger 31 to be stored into the syringe cylinder 11 whereby the
rigid blocking bulb 4 will then be automatically restored by the
flexible plug 13 to be inclinedly positioned in the plug 13 and
the central through hole 41 of the blocking bulb 4 is then unaligned
with the tunnel axis 130a as shown in FIG. 3 for blocking an outward
protrusion of the retracted needle portion 21 for preventing a sting
injury or infectious contamination by the needle 2.
The liquid-repelling extension 15 concentrically formed in a rear
surface 133a of the plug 13 inserted in a front portion of the syringe
cylinder 11 has the flat surface portion 151 recessed in the liquid-repelling
extension 15 and coplanar to the rear surface 133a of the plug 13
for receiving the needle 2 within the recessed flat surface portion
151 with the liquid-repelling extension 15 having a longitudinal
section of arcuate or semi-circular shape and engageable with the
annular groove 32 recessed in the plunger 31 thereby squeezing
the liquid medicine outwardly as filled into the annular groove
32 when moving and pumping the plunger 31 towards the plug 13 for
almost finishing the injection operation for saving any medicine
and preventing loss of medicine even a small volume filled in the
groove 32.
The liquid-repelling extension 15 has the longitudinal section
of arcuate shape to be slightly smaller than the elliptical socket
of the annular groove 32 for an easy decoupling of the plunger 31
from the plug 13 when retracting the needle device 2 into the syringe
cylinder 11 (FIG. 2 to FIG. 3).
As shown in FIG. 4 a further outward protrusion of the needle
2 will be automatically blocked by the blocking bulb 4 by bending,
deforming or poking the needle tip end 211 into the plug 3 to be
obstructed by the syringe cylinder 11 (FIG. 4) which can not be
pushed outwardly from the syringe cylinder 11 for a better safety
and hygienic protection.
After the retraction of the needle 2 coupled to the plunger 31
into the syringe cylinder 11 as shown in FIG. 3 the flexible plug
13 will be automatically restored by its self elasticity to restore
the second socket 137 from its flattened state (blocking bulb 4
perpendicular to the axis 130a) as pressurized by the plunger means
3 as shown in FIG. 2 to be an inclined situation wherein the rigid
blocking bulb 4 will be restored to be inclinedly positioned (FIG.
3), thereby blocking the unexpected outwardly protrusion of a retracted
needle 2 as shown in FIG. 4.
As shown in FIG. 7 the bulb 4 of this application includes the
elongate stem portion 44 protruding rearwardly from the bulb base
portion 40 to thereby greatly increase a deviation angle A1 wider
than a smaller angle A2 as effected by the "shallow" blocking
disk member of the prior art (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/983144)
as shown in FIG. 8 so that it will be more difficult to protrude
the retracted needle tip end portion 211 of this application outwardly
through an "inlet port" or rear port 411 of the central
through hole 41 of the blocking bulb 4 to be safer than the prior
art as shown in FIG. 8 since the deviation angle A1 of this application
is much increased than that A2 of the prior art.
Meanwhile, the stem portion 44 of the bulb of this application
can be easily grasped for a smoothly mounting of the bulb 4 with
the needle 2 to be embedded into the socket 135 for an easier assembly
and production of this application than the prior art.
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