Patent ID: 9340306
Filing Date: 2016-05-17
CPC Classification: B05C,B65B,F16N

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus for filling a syringe by transferring a viscous material from a container into the syringe, wherein the container comprises: a container housing; a container inner chamber defined within the container housing for holding the viscous material; and a first opening and a second opening defined within the container housing in fluid communication with the container inner chamber, and wherein the syringe comprises: a syringe housing; a syringe inner chamber defined within the syringe housing for receiving the viscous material; and a third opening and a fourth opening defined in the syringe housing in fluid communication with the syringe inner chamber, the apparatus further comprising: a container set holder for holding a container set in a position, the container set comprising a plunger extending into the container through the first opening, and a quantity of the viscous material in the container; a syringe set holder for holding a syringe set with the third opening of the syringe removably coupled with the second opening of the container in a substantially air-tight manner, the syringe set including a plug slidably mounted in the syringe inner chamber, the plug separating the syringe inner chamber into a first sub-chamber closer to the third opening and a second sub-chamber closer to the fourth opening, the plug being configured to permit gas flow in a direction from the first sub-chamber to the second sub-chamber, and being configured to restrict a flow of viscous material in the direction from the first sub-chamber to the second sub-chamber, and being configured to prevent a flow of gas and viscous-material in a direction from the second sub-chamber to the first sub-chamber; a rod disposed in the syringe in contact with the plug and configured to apply a force to the plug in a direction toward the third opening to reduce a volume of the first sub-chamber; a linear actuator configured to push the plunger within the container towards the second opening to extrude the viscous material from the container through the second opening in order to transfer the viscous material from the container into the first sub-chamber of the syringe for filling the first sub-chamber; and an assisting device configured to assist axial movement of the rod away from the third opening as an amount of viscous material filling the first sub-chamber increases, by applying a force to the rod.