Syringe needle abstract
A safety syringe with a needle orienting mechanism is capable of
securing the needle during normal utilization, disconnecting the
needle from orientation after utilization, and drawing the needle
back into the safety syringe for safety discarding. The safety syringe
has a syringe barrel, a plunger, and a needle assembly. By wedging
the retainer buttons of the syringe barrel into the retainer button
sockets of the needle assembly, the needle is oriented firmly at
its designated location during normal utilization. A drawing mechanism
of the plunger is capable of releasing the needle assembly from
orientation by rotating the plunger, and drawing the needle assembly
back into the syringe barrel. An interlocking mechanism of the needle
assembly corresponding to the drawing mechanism is disposed at the
rear end of the needle assembly. The drawing mechanism has an anchor
shaped reverse hook extended from and formed at the rear end of
the piston thereof. The anchor shaped reverse hook is capable of
being inserted into the interlocking mechanism and proceeding the
interlocking and the drawing back of the needle assembly.
Syringe needle claims
1. A syringe comprising: a syringe barrel with a retainer buttons
formed oppositely on the interior thereof; a plunger including a
drawing mechanism; and a needle assembly including a needle assembly
main body, installed inside the syringe barrel, and oriented by
an orienting mechanism which is disposed on the needle assembly
main body and correspondingly wedged with the retainer button, the
needle assembly main body further having an interlocking mechanism
corresponding to the plunger for interlocking with drawing mechanism
2. The syringe of claim 1 wherein the orienting mechanism has
a hook disconnecting guide notch formed around the exterior circumference
of the needle assembly main body, and a retainer button socket which
is a concave opening oppositely formed from a concave bottom surface
of the hook disconnecting guide notch to normally wedge with the
retainer button.
3. The safety syringe of claim 2 wherein the hook disconnecting
guide notch is circularly and concavely cut around the exterior
circumference of the needle assembly main body.
4. The safety syringe of claim 1 wherein the interlocking mechanism
includes an insert slot, an interlocking receptacle and a pair of
vertical retaining tabs, the insert slot is directly formed on the
rear end wall of the needle assembly main body corresponding to
the drawing mechanism and connected to the hollow interlocking receptacle,
and two vertical retaining tabs are formed inside the interlocking
receptacle and opposite to each other on a diagonal line which has
a specific angle with respect to the insert slot.
5. The safety syringe of claim 4 wherein the width of the insert
slot is long enough for the drawing mechanism to insert through
in order to interlock with the interlocking mechanism.
6. The safety syringe of claim 1 wherein the drawing mechanism
of the plunger has an anchor shaped reverse hook protruding from
the rear end of the piston.
7. The safety syringe of claim 2 wherein the drawing mechanism
of the plunger is capable of inserting into the interlocking receptacle
of the interlocking mechanism, rotating and interlocking with the
needle assembly main body, pressing against vertical retaining tabs,
driving the needle assembly to rotate synchronically for releasing
the needle assembly from orientation, and drawing the needle assembly
back into the syringe barrel.
Syringe needle description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates in general to a safety syringe,
and more particularly, to a safety syringe with a needle orienting
mechanism, which is capable of securing the needle during normal
utilization, disconnecting the needle from orientation after utilization,
and drawing the needle back into the safety syringe for safety discarding.
[0002] Since the time when medical science invented the syringe
for the purpose of delivering drugs into a patient, the syringe
has remained one of fastest and most effective drug delivery methods.
Usage of the syringe has been widely accepted among those in the
medical community. To satisfy the safety and sanitary requirements
of medical facilities, hospitals mostly employ disposable syringes,
and therefore, produce more dangerous medical waste. Because the
syringe needle is exposed at the end of the syringe, it is possible
that medical personnel or refuse collection personnel could be pricked
by an exposed needle and infected when they attempt to put the protective
needle cover over the needle. Consequently, a serious problem is
how to reduce the risk of possible infection from the exposed needle.
To solve this problem, manufacturers continuously research, improve,
and provide various types of safety syringes. Among those safety
syringes, the so-called draw back type safety syringe is the most
popular among users.
[0003] To use the so-called safety syringe medical personnel push
the plunger toward the top of the syringe which is capable of interlocking
with the needle housing. By utilizing this interlocking, medical
personnel can pull the needle and its housing back into the syringe,
and therefore, reduce the risk that a medical or refuse worker makes
direct contact with the exposed syringe needle. The typical structure
of a draw back type safety syringe includes a plunger, which can
be pushed forward or pulled backward within the syringe barrel;
a piston installed at the end of the plunger, with a hook portion
protruding from the end of the piston and connecting to the piston
via a neck column; an interlocking receptacle located at the bottom
of the needle. When the plunger is pushed toward the top-most point,
the interlocking hook can be inserted into the interlocking receptacle
to form a hook receptacle combination. When the plunger is thereafter
pulled backward, the needle can then be pulled and stored within
the syringe barrel.
[0004] Certainly, the aforementioned is only one draw back structure
of the draw back type syringe. According to the disclosure of known
patents or the formerly mentioned patent, there are different draw
back structure types, for example, the interlocking receptacle located
at the circumference of the needle bottom while the interlocking
hook of the piston is correspondingly installed on the circumference
thereof.
[0005] However, no matter which structure the draw back syringe
employs, the combination of the interlocking hook and the interlocking
receptacle utilizes the forward pressure on the piston to complete
a "plug in" style combination. Once the interlocking hook
and the interlocking receptacle are engaged together, it is not
easy to release their combination in order to disconnect them. But
during transportation or operation incompetence or error could push
the plunger forward and cause an error combination. The syringe
in the case of an error combination would become useless and would
have to be abandoned. These error combinations not only are needless
wastes of money, but also increase the disposal treatment fees.
Furthermore, in the aforementioned already known draw back type
syringes, the needles thereof are merely plugged and secured into
the rear ends of the syringe barrels. There are not any orienting
structures whatsoever. Therefore, the syringe needles could become
disengaged inadvertently by medical personnel. For example, for
most of the syringe usages, medical personnel hold the syringe and
stick the needle directly into a vial in order to store an amount
of the medication inside of the syringe barrel. Because the top
of the vial is made from a resilient rubber material seal element,
a large amount of force must be applied in order to pierce this
seal element. This applied force in turn will apply an anti-reaction
force onto the needle; thereby, the disengagement of the syringe
needle occurs frequently. In sum, the sleeve clasp combination of
the aforementioned syringe needles does not provide a suitable orienting
effect; therefore, it is frequent that the needle falls into the
syringe barrel while medical personnel are attempting to pierce
the top seal of a vial. Certainly, the syringe cannot be utilized
to inject the drug after the needle has fallen into the syringe
barrel. It is because of the fallen needle that the syringe will
cost the medical facility not only to replace it, but also to discard
it.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention provides a safety syringe with an
orienting mechanism, which is capable of remedying the aforementioned
conventional drawbacks: (a) the error combinations caused by the
"plug in" style combination of the interlocking hook and
the interlocking receptacle, and (b) the needle falling problem
while medical personnel are attempting to pierce the top seal of
a vial.
[0007] The safety syringe provides by the present invention has
a pair of retainer buttons formed oppositely on the interior of
the syringe barrel. By utilizing the combination of the retainer
buttons and the orienting mechanism, the needle assembly is securely
oriented inside the syringe barrel so that the needle falling problem
is solved by the present invention.
[0008] The safety syringe provides by the present invention has
an interlocking mechanism in the needle assembly main body, and
a drawing mechanism at the rear end of the plunger. The plunger
can be interlocked with the needle assembly by inserting the drawing
mechanism into the interlocking receptacle of the needle assembly
and further rotating the plunger 90 degrees to hide the anchor shaped
reverse hook of the drawing mechanism within the needle assembly.
This combination of the plunger and the needle assembly is a rotational
interlocking; therefore, error combination is effectively reduced,
and is easy to disconnect. The needless wastes of money caused by
error combination and the disposal treatment fees of the abandoned
syringes are therefore reduced.
[0009] The safety syringe of the present invention further has
a hook disconnecting guide notch. By rotating the plunger, the anchor
shaped reverse hook is capable of pressing against the vertical
retaining tabs and further driving the needle assembly to rotate
synchronously. The retainer buttons will thereby be disengaged from
the retainer button sockets of the needle assembly, and slid into
the hook disconnecting guide notch. The needle assembly is therefore
released from orientation. Because the retainer buttons have been
slid into the hook disconnecting guide notch, the needle assembly
is capable of being further pulled back into the syringe barrel.
[0010] These and other objectives of the present invention will
become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading
the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.
[0011] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description
and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended
to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] These as well as other features of the present invention
will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings therein:
[0013] FIGS. 1A and 1B are different vertical cross sectional views
of a safety syringe of the present invention.
[0014] FIGS. 2A and 2B are different front views of the plunger
of a safety syringe of the present invention.
[0015] FIG. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view of the syringe
barrel of a safety syringe of the present invention.
[0016] FIGS. 4A and 4B are different vertical cross sectional views
of the needle assembly plunger of a safety syringe of the present
invention.
[0017] FIG. 5 is an exploded view of a safety syringe of the present
invention.
[0018] FIG. 6 is a vertical cross sectional view of a safety syringe
of the present invention, illustrating the interlocking of the plunger
and the needle assembly.
[0019] FIG. 7 is a horizontal cross sectional view of a safety
syringe of the present invention, illustrating a condition that
the drawing mechanism has been inserted into the interlocking receptacle.
[0020] FIG. 8 is a horizontal cross sectional view of a safety
syringe of the present invention, illustrating a condition that
the drawing mechanism has been rotated inside the interlocking receptacle
and interlocked with the interlocking mechanism of the needle assembly.
[0021] FIG. 9 is a horizontal cross sectional view of a safety
syringe of the present invention, illustrating a condition that
by further rotating an interlocked plunger the needle assembly is
released from orientation.
[0022] FIG. 10 is a vertical cross sectional view of a safety syringe
illustrating a condition that the needle has been drawn back up
into the syringe barrel.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0023] Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments
of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the
accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers
are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same
or like parts.
[0024] FIG. 1A through FIG. 5 are utilized to describe a preferred
embodiment of a safety syringe of the present invention. The safety
syringe includes a syringe barrel 3; a needle assembly 8 installed
inside the syringe barrel 3 by utilizing an orienting mechanism
81; and a plunger installed inside the syringe barrel 3 which is
capable of being pushed or pulled within the syringe barrel 3. The
syringe barrel 3 is a tube shaped structure with a hollow interior.
The syringe barrel 3 has a syringe flange 30 formed at one end thereof,
and a pair of retainer buttons 4 which protrude from the hollow
interior at the opposing end thereof. The pair of retainer buttons
4 is disposed in a corresponding manner, and is located in the hollow
interior in order to provide the needle assembly 8 for orientation
and engagement.
[0025] The needle assembly 8 is oriented and installed inside the
syringe barrel 3 in correspondence with the pair of retaining buttons
4. The needle assembly 8 includes a needle assembly main body 83;
a needle support member 84 assembled onto the needle assembly main
body 83; and a needle 85 inserted through, and secured and oriented
by, the needle assembly main body 83 and the needle support member
84.
[0026] The needle assembly main body 83 has an orienting mechanism
81 installed around the exterior circumference thereof, which corresponds
to the pair of retainer buttons 4 and is capable of orienting the
needle assembly 8 inside the syringe barrel 3. The orienting mechanism
81 has a hook disconnecting guide notch 6 which is circularly and
concavely cut around the exterior circumference of the needle assembly
main body 83 within which the pair of retainer buttons 4 can have
rotational displacement. A pair of concave openings called retainer
button sockets 7 are cut from the concave bottom surface of the
hook disconnecting guide notch 6 which correspond with the pair
of retainer buttons 4 and which are provided to mutually wedge
with the pair of retainer buttons 4 during normal operation, in
order to form a combination of the needle assembly 8 and the syringe
barrel 3.
[0027] The needle assembly main body 83 has an interlocking mechanism
80 at its bottom end in correspondence with the plunger 1. The interlocking
mechanism 80 includes an insert slot 5 which is directly cut from
and formed on the rear end wall 87 of the needle assembly main body
83 opposing the plunger 1. The preferred length of the insert slot
5 is one-third the length of the diameter of the rear end wall 87.
The insert slot 5 connects to a hollow interlocking receptacle 88.
A pair of vertical retaining tabs 89 is formed inside the interlocking
receptacle 88. These vertical retaining tabs 89 oppose each other
on a diagonal line which has a specific angle with the insert slot
5 as illustrated in FIG. 7. Referring to FIG. 7 through FIG. 9
an anchor shaped reverse hook 2 of the plunger 1 can be inserted
through the insert slot 5 into the interlocking receptacle 88 rotated,
and combined with the interlocking mechanism 80. The anchor shaped
reverse hook 2 is capable of being rotated to push against the vertical
retaining tabs 89 in order to drive the needle assembly 8 to rotate
for disconnecting the combination of the pair of retainer buttons
4.
[0028] The plunger 1 is inserted and installed inside the hollow
interior of the syringe barrel 3 and is capable of being pushed
forward or drawn backward within the hollow interior of the syringe
barrel 3. The plunger 1 includes an plunger main body 11 a piston
12 located at the rear end of the plunger main body 11 and a drawing
mechanism 20 installed at the rear end of the piston 12. The drawing
mechanism 20 has the anchor shaped reverse hook 2 extended from
and formed at the rear end of the piston 12. In one preferred embodiment,
the anchor shape reverse hook 2 has a narrow flat structure. The
length of the widest portion of the anchor shape reverse hook 2
corresponds with the width of the insert slot 5 of the interlocking
mechanism 80. When the plunger 1 is being pushed toward the top-most
point, the anchor shape reverse hook 2 is capable of inserting through
the insert slot 5 hiding inside the interlocking receptacle 88
of the interlocking mechanism 80 for carrying out the safe retraction
of the needle assembly 8 into the syringe barrel 3.
[0029] Referring again to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the needle assembly
8 is oriented and secured inside the syringe barrel 3 by the orienting
mechanism 81 and the retainer buttons 4. Because the retainer buttons
4 are wedged into the retainer button sockets 7 the needle assembly
8 can resist the reaction force and stay immovable when a medical
person pokes the needle into a vial to draw up medication into the
syringe barrel 3.
[0030] The retraction of the needle assembly 8 back into the syringe
barrel 3 is illustrated by FIG. 6 through FIG. 10. After pushing
out the medication, the plunger 1 is adjacent to the tip of the
syringe barrel 3. The plunger 1 can be further interlocked with
the needle assembly 8. The medical person inserts the anchor shaped
reverse hook 2 through the insert slot 5 into the interlocking receptacle
88 as illustrated in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. She further rotates the
plunger 1 ninety degrees to hide the anchor shaped reverse hook
2 beneath the rear end wall 87 of the needle assembly 8. The anchor
shaped reverse hook 2 will press against the vertical retaining
tabs 89 as illustrated in FIG. 8. She still further rotates the
plunger 1 approximately fifteen degrees in the same direction. Because
the anchor shaped reverse hook 2 presses against the vertical retaining
tabs 89 this second rotation will drive the needle assembly 8 to
rotate synchronously. The retainer buttons 4 will thereby be disengaged
from the retainer button sockets 7 of the needle assembly 8. The
needle assembly 8 is therefore released from orientation. Because
the retainer buttons 4 have been slid into the hook disconnecting
guide notch 6 as illustrated in FIG. 9 the needle assembly 8 is
capable of being pulled upward. Further, because the anchor shaped
reverse hook 2 is installed beneath the rear end wall 87 of the
needle assembly 8 the plunger 1 is interlocked with the needle
assembly 8. Pulling the plunger 1 upward will draw the needle assembly
8 into the syringe barrel 3. The contaminated needle is thereby
stored inside the syringe barrel 3. Medical personnel or refuse
collection personnel will not be pricked or infected by exposed
needles during their works.
[0031] While an illustrative and presently preferred embodiment
of the invention has been described in detail herein, it is to be
understood that the inventive concepts may be otherwise variously
embodied and employed and that the appended claims are intended
to be construed to include such variations except insofar as limited
by the prior art. |