Trigger mechanism for a drug delivery device
AssigneeSanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH
InventorChristopher James Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to a trigger mechanism for a drug delivery device comprising at least one energy storing element, an actuation element and a series of cascaded trigger elements. The trigger elements are pre-stressed with increasing pre-stressing and coupled to the at least one energy storing element such that the trigger elements, upon exerting a sufficient actuation force (Fa, U) on the actuation element, cause a cascaded release of increasing portions of energy stored in the at least one energy storing device. At least one of the trigger elements is equipped with a latch element directly coupling at least two trigger elements such that the latch element restrains at least one of these trigger elements to its pre-stressed state before exerting the actuation force (Fa, U).
Claims10
Drug delivery device equipped with a trigger mechanism, wherein the drug delivery device is an inhaler, the trigger mechanism comprising
- a first spring and a second spring,
- an actuation element, and
- a series of cascaded trigger elements pre-stressed with increasing pre-stressing, wherein the series of cascaded trigger elements are coupled to the first spring and the second spring,
- wherein upon exerting a sufficient actuation force (Fa, U) on the actuation element the trigger elements cause a cascaded release of increasing portions of energy stored in the first spring and the second spring,
- characterized in that a first trigger element is equipped with a latch element directly and releasably coupling at least two trigger elements, wherein the latch element directly couples the first trigger element to a second trigger element to restrain the second trigger element to its pre-stressed state before the actuation force (Fa, U) is exerted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.