Medical needle removal and storage method
AssigneeBecton, Dickinson and Company
InventorAmit U. Limaye
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for removing a needle from a needle holder, including a grasping unit for selectively grasping the needle; a receiving unit for receiving the needle holder, displaceably disposed relative to the grasping unit; a biasing member biasing the receiving unit in a first direction; and separating means for separating the entire needle from the needle holder. Preferably, the needle is heated to melt, soften, or otherwise weaken a material and/or adhesive connecting the needle with the needle holder. Preferably the heating is electrical heating, including completing an electrical circuit through the needle and passing current through the needle, and/or passing current through a heating element.
Claims6
A method of separating a needle from a needle holder, comprising:
- receiving the needle holder in a receiving unit biased in a first direction;
- displacing the receiving unit relative to a grasping unit in a second direction opposite to the first direction, thereby automatically causing the grasping unit to grasp the needle and activating a separator for separating the needle from the needle holder;
- and
- maintaining the grasp of the needle until the separator separates the entire needle from the needle holder;
- wherein activating the separator comprises completing an electrical circuit through the needle.
A method of separating a needle adhered to and/or molded in a needle holder, comprising:
- receiving the needle holder in a receiving unit;
- grasping the needle with a grasping unit;
- with a separator, completing an electrical circuit through the needle and passing current through the needle to melt, soften, or otherwise weaken a material and/or adhesive connecting the needle with the needle holder, and separating the entire needle from the needle holder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.