Combination stopper for use in medical and chemical sampling or testing

There is disclosed herein a combination stopper for effecting an air-tight seal with the barrel of a syringe to protect the contents from contamination. The stopper is adapted for use with either the luer tip or a needle attached to the end of the syringe barrel. The stopper includes an elongated frustoconically-shaped main body portion having oppositely disposed end walls, and the end wall at the large-diameter end of the main body portion has a generally planar and continuous surface. An elongated frustoconically-shaped luer-receiving nipple is integrally formed with and extends from the small-diameter end wall of the main body portion, with the free end of the nipple being inwardly recessed. The luer-receiving nipple is shaped, sized and constructed to receive and seal the syringe luer tip. The stopper is formed of an elastomeric material having a durometer hardness of approximately 80 so as to provide an air-tight seal when the main body portion thereof is pierced by the syringe needle or when the luer-receiving needle is friction fit with the luer tip.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to a stopper element for a blood sampling 
syringe, and more particularly, to a combination stopper for effecting an 
air-tight seal used with either a luer or needle on a syringe. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Syringes have been used to extract samples of blood and transfer the 
extracted blood to various types of testing apparatus for analysis. One 
particular type of analysis is the determination of blood gases commonly 
referred to as pO.sub.2. The syringes are normally equipped with male luer 
tips to which needles may be attached, and depending upon the apparatus, 
the transfer is made using either the needle or luer tip. 
When blood is transferred from a patient to the testing apparatus, it is 
essential to prevent contamination of the syringe. 
Stoppers are commonly provided to frictionally cap the syringes so as to 
seal the contents thereof, thereby preventing contamination after sampling 
and during handling. Examples of syringe sealing stoppers can be found in 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,534,734, Budreck; 3,809,068, Kosowsky; 4,041,934, Genese; 
and 4,057,052, Kaufman et al. 
While the stoppers of the prior art were especially adapted to seal either 
the luer tip of the syringe or the needle tip, no single stopper was 
adapted to serve the combined purpose of sealing both the luer tip of the 
syringe as well as the needle affixed to the luer-tipped syringe. 
It is accordingly one object of the present invention to provide a 
combination stopper which will effect air-tight sealing of either a 
luer-tipped or a needle-tipped syringe. 
While some prior stoppers attempted to provide seals for luer-tipped 
syringes, their effectiveness was hampered by: (1) difficulty in grasping 
the stopper body for securing and removing the stopper; (2) failure to 
effect an air-tight seal resulting in contaminated samplings and 
questionable test results; and/or (3) an inability to seal the syringe 
using only one hand. 
It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a 
combination stopper which is easy to grasp, is adapted to effect a secure, 
air-tight seal on the luer tip of the syringe and can be used in 
one-handed operation. 
And while some prior stoppers attempted to provide ad adequate air-tight 
seal for needles attached to the luer-tipped syringes, the rigidity of the 
material from which the stoppers were fabricated hindered the entry of the 
needle into the body of the stopper. 
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a 
combination stopper fabricated from a material which facilitates needles 
entry into the stopper and yet effects air-tight sealing of the contents 
of the syringe. 
These and other objects and features of advantage of the present invention, 
not at this time enumerated, will readily suggest themselves as the nature 
of the invention is better understood from a consideration of the detailed 
description. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
There is disclosed herein a combination stopper which is adapted for 
sealing needle tipped and luer tipped syringes so as to prevent 
contamination of those syringes after sampling and during handling. The 
syringe includes an elongated, frustoconically-shaped main body portion 
having oppositely disposed end walls. The end wall at the large diameter 
end of the main body portion includes a generally planar and continuous 
surface for receiving the needle tipped syringe. Integrally formed with 
and extending from the small diameter end wall of the main body portion is 
an elongated, frustoconically-shaped luer-receiving nipple. The small 
diameter, or free end, of the nipple is inwardly recessed to engage a 
protruding sleeve from the luer-tipped syringe. The recessed nipple is 
shaped, sized and constructed to provide an air-tight seal when the luer 
tipped syringe is received in said recess. The stopper is fabricated of a 
material having a durometer hardness reading of about 80 so as to provide 
an air-tight seal when the main body portion thereof is pierced by the 
needle tipped syringe.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawings in detail, a hypodermic syringe is generally 
designated by the reference numeral 10 and includes four basic elements, 
namely, a cylindrical barrel 12, a plunger 14, a needle 16, and a luer 18. 
The luer 18 is secured to one end of the barrel 12 and includes an 
elongated inner sleeve 20 and an outer sleeve 22 spaced from the inner 
sleeve 20. The inner sleeve 20 communicates with the interior of the 
barrel 12 to form a passageway. The needle 16 is adapted to be attached to 
the luer 18 by frictionally engaging the exterior surface of the inner 
sleeve 20. The action of inserting or withdrawing the plunger 14 thereby 
causes the blood or other fluid being sampled to respectively exit from or 
be drawn into the barrel 12 of the syringe 10. 
The combination stopper of this invention is referred to generally as 30 
and includes an elongated, frustoconically-shaped main body portion 32 
having oppositely disposed end walls 34 and 36 (see FIG. 1). The end wall 
34 at the larger diameter end of the main body portion 32 is a generally 
planar and continuous surface. 
Integrally formed with the main body portion 32 and extending from the 
small diameter end wall 36 thereof is an elongated, frustoconially-shaped 
luer-receiving nipple 38 having oppositely disposed end walls 40 and 42. 
The small diameter or "free" end wall 42 of the nipple 38 includes a luer 
sleeve-receiving recess 44. 
As can be seen in FIG. 1, the luer-receiving nipple 38 is shaped, sized and 
constructed to provide an air-tight seal when the luer tip 18 of the 
syringe 10 is received in the recess 44. In other words, as the luer 18 of 
the syringe 10 is frictionally forced into the recess 44 in the nipple 38 
of the stopper 30 (a process which can be accomplished with one hand, as 
shown in FIG. 2), the interior peripheral surface of the recess 44 
contacts the exterior peripheral surface of the elongated inner sleeve 20. 
Simultaneously, the exterior peripheral surface of the nipple 38 contacts 
the interior peripheral surface of the outer sleeve 22. In this manner the 
leading, small diameter end of the nipple 38 is sandwiched between the 
inner sleeve 20 and the outer sleeve 22 of the luer 18. As force is 
continued to be applied in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2, the 
nipple is moved more deeply into the space between the sleeves 20 and 22. 
The depth of insertion is limited either by the compressibility of the 
material from which the stopper 30 is fabricated or an ultimate stop is 
formed by the bottom wall of the recess 44. 
The double seal, a first seal between the nipple 38 and the inner sleeve 20 
and a second seal between the nipple 38 and the outer sleeve 22 seals the 
syringe 10 so that air cannot contaminate the contents of the barrel 12. 
The stopper 30 is fabricated from a resiliently compressible elastomeric 
material having a durometer hardness reading of approximately 80. Such a 
material is easily penetrable when needle tipped syringe is thrust into 
the body portion 32 of the stopper 30 in the direction of the arrow 
depicted in FIG. 3. A material having the durometer reading of 80 further 
provides an air-tight seal about the opening in the distal end of the 
needle 16 to prevent contamination. 
As is seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, the frustoconical shape of the main body 
portion 32 of the stopper 30 is particularly adapted to facilitate the 
grasping thereof. Further, because the large diameter end 34 of the main 
portion 32 is continuous, the stopper 30 is able to rest on a support 
surface, such as 25, to allow for one-handed insertion of the luer tip 18 
of a syringe 10 into the stopper recess 44 or even the needle if 
necessary. 
It is to be understood that the proportion and shape of the preferred 
embodiment may vary and still remain within the spirit and scope of this 
invention.