Safety needle and syringe
OwnerAlan C. Allison, Richard A. Jaffeinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A disposable safety needle and syringe assembly includes a needle shield movably positioned within a syringe housing. Movement of the needle shield from the housing is effected by movement of the syringe plunger and plunger piston following completion of an injection whereby the needle shield envelopes the needle extending from the housing to prevent accidental needle sticks. The plunger piston is disengagable from the plunger at a limit of travel upon retraction of the plunger, thus maintaining the shield in a locked position enveloping the needle. The syringe and needle assembly can then be safely handled for disposal, and the possibility of inadvertent reuse of the needle is eliminated.
Claims14
In a disposable safety needle and syringe assembly comprising
- a syringe including a housing having opposing open ends,
- a plunger and plunger piston movably positioned within said housing from one end,
- a needle and needle support positioned at the other end of said housing with said needle including an external portion extending from said housing, and
- a needle shield movably positioned within said housing from said other end, said needle shield being movable from said housing by movement of said plunger and said plunger piston following completion of an injection whereby said needle shield envelopes said needle portion extending from said housing to prevent accidental needle sticks,
- the improvement wherein said syringe housing has detent members provided on inner walls thereof, and said needle shield has engaging points formed thereon for engaging the detent members of said syringe housing to positively lock said needle shield in the positions wherein the needle is not covered and wherein the needle is covered by said needle shield.
In a syringe assembly having a syringe including a housing having an open end and a distal end, a plunger and plunger piston movably positioned within said syringe housing from the open end, said plunger having a portion extending from the open end of the syringe housing for injection use thereof, a needle positioned at the distal end with a portion thereof projecting from the syringe housing, and a needle shield movably positioned within the syringe housing at the distal end so as to be movable from said syringe housing by movement of said plunger following an injection use such that the needle shield covers the needle portion extending from the syringe housing to prevent accidental needle sticks,
- the improvement comprising said plunger having an open-end portion and a distal-end portion which telescope one into the other, such that said plunger has a shortened length when said plunger portions are telescoped together and the plunger projecting portion is disposed flush with the open end of the syringe housing to prevent accidental pressing thereof, and said plunger has a longer length when said plunger portions are extended from their telescoped position to allow the plunger projecting portion to project from the open end of the syringe housing for injection use thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.