Abstract:
An orientationally adjustable marking syringe provides automatic loading of medicine from a medicine source to the syringe. Actuation of the handles of the syringe simultaneously discharges or injects the contents of the syringe and a marking substance such as ink contained in an ink dispenser integrally attached to the marking syringe by a pivoting ink carriage. The pivoting ink carriage can be pivoted about the syringe to better accommodate the ergonomic desires of the user and the objectives of the injection.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to syringes for providing medicine injections to animals.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    Recent outbreaks of animal diseases such as “Foot and Mouth” and BSE (also known as “Mad Cow” disease) are threatening both the livelihoods of food animal producers and the safety of one of the critical staples of world food supply. Now—more than ever—reliable and efficient mechanisms for administering vaccines and other medicines to food animals are necessary.  
           [0003]    In recent years, numerous mechanisms have been developed that have improved the way medicines are delivered to food animals. For instance, the commercially available VAC-MARC syringe-elements of which are taught in issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,494 and allowed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/3 89,774 (both to the inventor herein and both specifically incorporated herein by reference), available through VAC-PAC Corporation of Kenansville, N.C. (1-800-4VACPAC). This family of syringes allow the simultaneous marking of a food animal at the same time an injection is applied to the animal. As described in these referenced patents, this technique allows verification that an animal has received an injection, as well as indicating where on the animal the injection was applied, an important fact in effectively delivering medicines to animals.  
           [0004]    Another important development in animal medicine delivery is disclosed in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/477,262, also to Hogan. This system, available commercially as the VAC-TRAC Verification System (“VTVS”) provides-among other things-a mechanism to automatically and electronically record the unique identity of an animal that has received an injection. As disclosed in that pending application, each food animal is given an electronic identification device (“EID”) that emits a unique identification signal. When the VAC-TRAC syringe is actuated and delivers the injection to the animal, a reader on the syringe reads the unique identification signal relating to the animal and transmits to a computer database the identification of the animal and the medicine applied to the animal, thus creating a verifiable database of medical administrations to food animals.  
           [0005]    Notwithstanding these important developments, most animal injections-including injections from each of these previously discussed systems-are delivered by a hand-actuated syringe. That is, the syringe is held in one hand and actuated when opposing syringe handles are squeezed together. In each of the above-described devices, the mark is placed on the animal in a position dictated by the orientation of the syringe.  
           [0006]    In many situations, the position of the animal receiving the injection and the position of the individual administering the injection leads to an undesirable orientation of the portion of the marking syringe that delivers the mark. Depending on the particular medication in question and the preferred location of the injection, a mark placed in a less than optimal position may be difficult to see or even harmful to the animal. One possible cause of this difficulty could be the medicine administrator-right handers, for instance, will typically hold the syringe in an orientation different from their left-handed counterparts.  
           [0007]    Accordingly, a need exists for a marking syringe with an orientationally adjustable marking apparatus.  
           [0008]    A further need exists for a marking syringe with an orientationally adjustable marking apparatus that can be easily moved and locked from one position to another, while still allowing the action of actuating the integral medicine syringe to actuate the marking apparatus.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    These and other shortcomings in currently available marking syringes are solved by the orientationally adjustable marking syringe of the present invention.  
           [0010]    The marking syringe comprises a vaccine syringe including a needle for insertion and delivery of medicine into an animal. Integral to the vaccine syringe is a pivoting ink dispenser having a discharge orifice for discharging ink or another marking substance onto the animal. A syringe handle captures both the vaccine syringe and the pivoting ink dispenser and allowing substantially simultaneous actuation of both the vaccine syringe and the pivoting ink dispenser.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 depicts a top view of an exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 depicts a rear view of the exemplary embodiment of the present invention depicted in FIG. 1.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 depicts a top view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, with the pivoting ink carriage moved.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 depicts a rear view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, with the pivoting ink carriage moved.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS  
       [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of the marking syringe  50 . More particularly, the marking syringe  50  of the preferred embodiment comprises, generally, a syringe handle  104  operatively connected to a syringe  150  and a pivoting ink carriage  170 . The syringe handle  104  comprises a first handle  110  pivotally connected to a second handle  130 . The second handle  130  is elongated, having a first end  131  and a second end  133 . An ink dispenser interface  117  is located generally adjacent to the socket  115  on the second handle  130 . The second handle  130  has a pivot hole in its second end  133 .  
         [0017]    The first handle  110  of the marking syringe  50  is also elongated and has a first end  111  and a second end  113 . The first handle  110  is configured to function as a finger grip for the user. The second end  113  of the first handle  110  is sized to slidably straddle the second end  133  of the second handle  130  and has a pivot hole through its thickness. The first handle  110  includes an integral syringe collar  132  and a rotatably attached pivoting ink carriage  170 .  
         [0018]    During assembly, the second end  113  of the first handle  110  is positioned over the second end  133  of the second handle  130  such that the pivot holes in the ends  113 ,  133  are axially aligned. Thereafter, a pivot pin  120  is inserted through the aligned holes and appropriately secured therein in any number of ways, including deforming distal ends of the pivot pin  120  so that the diameter of the pivot pin  120  is larger at the points of deformation than the diameter of the pivot pin receiving holes, thereby preventing withdrawal of the pivot pin  120  through the pivot receiving holes. After the pivot pin  120  is properly positioned and secured, the second handle  130  rotates about the axis of the pivot pin  120  in a plane defined by the second handle  130  and the first handle  110 . In use, the first and second handles  110 ,  130  are initially biased in a spread position. The user can then grip the first and second handles  110 ,  130  and squeeze them into a closed position as the handles  110 ,  130  pivot about the pin  120 .  
         [0019]    The syringe  150  is mounted between the handles  110 ,  130  by means of the syringe collar  132  on the first handle  110  and the socket  115  on the second handle  130 . The syringe  150  includes a syringe shaft  151 , a syringe plunger  160 , a syringe dosage chamber  161 , a syringe needle fastener  162 , and a needle  164 . In order to connect the syringe  150  to the syringe handle  104 , the dosage chamber  161  is threaded into the syringe collar  132  of the first handle  110 , and the syringe head  152  is connected to the second handle  130  by engaging the syringe head  152  into the socket  115  of the second handle  130  in a well known manner.  
         [0020]    The syringe head  152  is hollow and further comprises a syringe nipple  156 . The syringe nipple  156  may be integral to the hollow syringe head  152  and is sized to securely receive a syringe vaccine hose (not shown). Vaccine is delivered to the hollow interior cavity of the syringe head  152  via the vaccine hose (not shown) which is connected to a vaccine source (not shown).  
         [0021]    The syringe shaft  151  connects the syringe head  152  to the plunger  160 . The syringe shaft  151  has an interior axial conduit (not shown) which communicates at one end with the interior cavity of the syringe head  152  and at the other end with an interior axial conduit (not shown) through the syringe plunger  160 . The syringe shaft  151  extends through the syringe collar  132  of the first handle  110  and into the syringe dosage chamber  161 . In order to vary the amount of the dosage, the syringe shaft  151  has a dosage adjust valve  166 . The dosage adjust valve  166  comprises a collar that engages the plunger  160  on one end and is threaded onto the syringe shaft  151 .  
         [0022]    After adjustment of the dosage adjust valve  166  to regulate the amount of medicine loaded into the syringe for a single injection, and actuation of the marking syringe  50 , the syringe plunger  160  slides within the dosage chamber  161 . An O-ring (not shown) disposed about the syringe plunger  160  creates a liquid-tight seal between the periphery of the syringe plunger  160  and the interior wall of the dosage chamber  161 . The syringe plunger  160  has a check valve (not shown) within its interior axial conduit that allows liquid to pass only in the direction toward the needle end of the syringe  150 .  
         [0023]    The syringe dosage chamber  161  is ideally formed of a translucent or transparent material and is secured at its first end to the syringe collar  132 . The dosage chamber  161  may be scored with incremental graduations to assist a user in dosage measurements. At its second end, the dosage chamber  161  removably receives a syringe needle fastener  162 . The syringe needle fastener  162  is fitted to capture a needle  164 . A check valve (not shown) is fitted within the syringe needle fastener  162  to allow liquid flow only out of the needle  164 .  
         [0024]    In one embodiment, a syringe biasing spring  168  may be disposed about the syringe shaft  151 . In such embodiment, the biasing spring  168  is a compression spring which serves to return the syringe handles  110 ,  130  to their initial spread position after being squeezed closed by the user. In an alternate embodiment, depicted, the syringe handles  110  and  130  are biased apart by a leaf spring, having one end frictionally positioned against the inside of one handle and another end frictionally positioned against the inside of the other handle. In such embodiment, the biasing tension of the spring may be adjusted by modifying the distance between either (or both) of the ends of the spring and the respective insides of the handles against which they are frictionally positioned.  
         [0025]    When the handles  110 ,  130  are squeezed together, the plunger  160  moves within the dosage chamber  161 . The movement of the plunger  160  closes the check valve within the plunger  160  to force vaccine in the dosage chamber  161  through the check valve within the needle fastener  162  and out through the needle  164 . When the handles  110 ,  130  are released by the user, the check valve within the needle fastener  162  closes to preclude fluid or air being drawn into the dosage chamber  161  through the needle  164 . Simultaneously, the check valve within the plunger  160  opens so that vaccine is drawn into the dosage chamber  161  through the nipple  156 , the syringe head  152 , the conduit within the shaft  151 , and the conduit within the plunger  160 . By turning the dosage adjust valve  166 , the length of the syringe shaft  151  is changed. Changing the length of the shaft  151  changes the length of the plunger stroke, and the amount of medicine delivered through the needle  164  is correspondingly changed.  
         [0026]    The pivoting ink carriage  170  is functional to capture an ink dispenser  189 . The ink dispenser  189  may take any number of forms well known to those skilled in the art of marking substance containers, including, but not limited to, a canister, ajar, a tube, or the like. Further, the specific form of ink dispenser  189  may be dependent upon the type of ink being utilized. For instance, a pressurized canister maybe used to store ink that is suspended in, or in the form of, a compressed gas. Alternatively, a structure such as that used to store household caulk may be used to store liquid ink suitable for the particular application.  
         [0027]    To support and retain the ink dispenser  189 , the first handle  110  rotatably supports the pivoting ink carriage  170 . The pivoting ink carriage  170  may take any number of forms well known to those skilled in the art of mechanical design. It will be appreciated that its form is dependent upon the physical characteristics of the particular ink dispenser  189  being used.  
         [0028]    The pivoting ink carriage  170  is, as previously indicated, rotatably interconnected to the syringe collar  132  of the marking syringe  150 . The critical aspects of this rotatable interconnection are the ability of the pivoting ink carriage  170  to be rotated about the syringe collar  132 , and the ability of the rotatable interconnection therebetween to hold the pivoting ink carriage  170  in whatever position it has been rotated to.  
         [0029]    In operation, a user of the marking syringe  50  may determine that he prefers to have the ink dispenser  189  in a position relative to the syringe handle  104  other than the vertical (“12 O&#39;clock”) position shown in FIG. 1. The user can, by using the force of a hand, pivot the pivoting ink carriage  170  about the syringe collar  132  to a more desirable point. When the user releases the pivoting ink carriage  170 , it will remain in the position in which it was left—until it is moved again. A wide variety of mechanisms will be suitable for accomplishing this functionality and may include ridges  182  on one of either the syringe collar  132  (as depicted) or the interior of the pivoting ink carriage  170  which communicates with the syringe collar  132 . Corresponding and opposing indentations for receiving the ridges  182  are located on the other, communicating surface. While the opposing ridges  182  and indentations fit securely together, they can be disengaged with the application of sufficient rotating force applied to the pivoting ink carriage  170 . Thus, the position of the pivoting ink carriage  170  can be adjusted manually while retaining its position after adjustment.  
         [0030]    The pivoting ink carriage  170  is sized to receive an ink dispenser  189  in the manner generally depicted in FIG. 1. The ink dispenser  189  is retained within the pivoting ink carriage  170  by the frictional interconnection between the can detente  180  and the latch catch  172 .  
         [0031]    The can detente  180  is described with great specificity in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, also to the inventors of the present invention, and is specifically incorporated by reference herein. The can detente  180  includes at least one latch hook  182 . When the latch hook  182  is inserted into the pivoting ink carriage  170 , it is caught by the latch catch  172  within the pivoting ink carriage  170 . This action secures the can detente  180  (and, importantly, the ink dispenser  189  attached thereto) within the pivoting ink carriage  170 .  
         [0032]    In operation, the handles of the marking syringe  50  are squeezed together and pivot about the pivot pin  120 . The ink dispenser interface  117  contacts the can detente  180  no matter what pivot position the pivoting ink carriage  170  is in. As the ink dispenser interface  117  is pressed against the can detente  180 , the can detente  180  and the attached ink dispenser  189  are urged toward the needle end of the marking syringe  50 . As the pivoting ink carriage  170  only pivots and does not move forward in any appreciable way, the ink dispenser  189  is forced against the front of the pivoting ink carriage  170  and an amount of ink (or other marking substance) is discharged from the ink dispenser  189  onto the subject animal through a discharge orifice  190  in a well known manner.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 2 is a top view of the embodiment of the present invention previously described in FIG. 1. In the present configuration of the embodiment of FIG. 1, the pivoting ink carriage  170  is positioned directly above the syringe  150  in what may be described as the “12 O&#39;clock position”. In operation, a medicine source would be connected to the syringe nipple  156 . As the syringe handles  110 ,  130  are squeezed together, the ink dispenser interface  117  contacts the can detente  180 . This pressure on the can detente  180  urges the ink dispenser  189  toward the needle  164 , forcing the ink dispenser  189  to discharge ink in the direction of the animal being injected via a discharge orifice  210 .  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 3 depicts a rear view of the marking syringe  50 . More particularly, the second handle  130  is visible, along with the syringe nipple  156  extending rearwardly therethrough. Because the handles  110 ,  130  have not been compressed, the ink dispenser interface  117  is distant from the can detente  180 . As previously described, when handles  110 ,  130  are squeezed together, the ink dispenser interface  117  contacts the can detente  180 , urging the ink dispenser  189  forward and forcing discharge of ink therefrom.  
         [0035]    Referring now to FIG. 4, a top view of the marking syringe  50  is depicted, with the pivoting ink carriage  170  having been pivoted out of the “12 O&#39;clock” position to better accommodate the preferences of a user.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 5 graphically illustrates the rotation of the pivoting ink carriage. Notably, the pivoting ink carriage, once aligned with axis  500 , has been rotated about the syringe collar  132  so that it now aligns with axis  510 , thereby representing a change of position represented by displacement angle  520 . Importantly, the pivoting ink carriage  170  can be rotated in either direction.  
         [0037]    It will be understood and appreciated that the above description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Rather, the scope of the present invention is fully recognized in the appended claims.