Abstract:
A disposable automatic surgical lancet having a plastic spring arm molded integral with a central frame piece which is part of the housing. The free end of the spring arm carries a holder for a lancet blade or needle. The spring arm can be cocked in a retracted, stressed position from which it is released by pushing in on the front wall of the housing. When released, the spring arm carries the lancet blade or needle upward to project through an opening in a concave depression on the top of the housing where the patient&#39;s finger tip rests. A lock arrangement inside the housing holds the front wall in its pushed-in position so the lancet cannot be used again inadvertently.

Description:
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a disposable automatic surgical lancet. 
     In the use of surgical lancets it is desirable to minimize any apprehension the patient may have about the procedure, as well as to make the procedure itself as safe and comfortable as possible. In accordance with the present invention, these objectives are achieved by enclosing the lancet blade in a housing having a seat for the patient&#39;s finger tip which is located on top of the housing. This alleviates the fear and nervousness of some patients who may feel more in control with his or her finger placed over the lancet housing than if the reverse were true. The lancet blade is on a spring arm which need not be cocked in retracted, stressed position until just before the lancing procedure is to take place, thereby reducing the possibility of accidental release of the spring arm from the cocked position. A manually operated release actuator on the housing holds the spring arm in its cocked position and then releases it when the actuator is pushed horizontally inward. Such movement of the actuator is hardly noticeable to the patient. After the release actuator is pushed in, it is locked in a retracted position which insures that the lancet cannot be used again because even if the spring arm were moved again into its cocked position, the release actuator would not hold it there. 
     A principal object of this invention is to provide a novel automatic surgical lancet which is intended for use only once and then thrown away. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide such a lancet which is constructed to minimize any discomfort or apprehension the patient may feel. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide a novel lancet having a lancet blade on a spring arm which may be cocked in a stressed position and then released from that position so unobtrusively that the pricking of the patient&#39;s finger may be over before the patient realizes what is happening. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide a novel lancet having a lancet blade on a spring arm which need not be cocked until just before the pricking operation is to take place. 
     Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment which is illustrated schematically in the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section taken along the line 2--2 in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a top plan view; 
     FIG. 4 is a front elevation, with one part broken open for clarity; 
     FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-section taken along the line 5--5 in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross-section taken along the line 6--6 in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the spring arm cocked; 
     FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 and showing the position of parts after the spring arm has been released and has carried the blade to the limit of its finger-pricking movement; and 
     FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 and showing the spring arm and lancet blade after they have rebounded. 
     Before explaining the disclosed embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the particular arrangement shown, since the invention is capable of other embodiments. Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to FIG. 1, the present invention comprises a central frame piece 10 and opposite side pieces 11 and 12 engaging the frame on opposite sides. The central piece preferably is molded of polypropylene or nylon. 
     Referring to FIG. 2, the central frame piece 10 has a generally flat horizontal top wall 13 with a concave recess or depression 14 toward its front end, which is the left end in this Figure. The patient&#39;s finger will rest here directly above an opening 14a, as shown in FIG. 7. A vertical flat back wall 15 extends down from the top wall 13 at its right end in FIG. 2, and a vertical flat front wall 16 extends down from the top wall 13 at its left end in this Figure. At its lower end the front wall 16 carries a forwardly offset vertical segment 17 with a serrated front face 18 for engagement by the thumb or forefinger of the person operating the lancet. 
     The central frame piece has a bottom wall 19 joined to the lower end of its back wall 15 and extending forward horizontally. The bottom wall 19 terminates in a rounded front edge 20 located in vertically spaced relation below the depression 14 in the top wall 13 of the central frame piece and behind the vertical plane of its front wall 16. Toward its back end the bottom wall 19 is formed with an upwardly projecting locking tooth 21 having an upwardly and rearwardly inclined front face 22, a short horizontal top face 23, and a vertical back face 24 extending down from the top face 23 and defining a locking shoulder on the back of the tooth 21. 
     The central frame piece has a generally horizontal wall 25 which extends rearward from the lower end of the forwardly offset segment 17 at the lower end of its front wall 16. For most of its length this wall 25 is spaced a short distance above the bottom wall 19. Toward its back end the wall 25 presents a downwardly projecting locking tooth 26 having a vertical front face 27, a short horizontal bottom face 28 extending rearward from the lower end of its front face, and an upwardly and rearwardly inclined back face 29. When the forwardly offset segment 17 of the front wall 16 is pushed in (i.e., rearward), the inclined back face 29 of the depending locking tooth 26 on wall 25 slides up across the inclined front face 22 of the locking tooth 21 on bottom wall 19. Then the bottom face 28 of tooth 26 slides rearward across the top face 23 of tooth 21 until the locking tooth 26 on wall 25 can drop behind the locking tooth 21 on bottom wall 19, with the vertical front face 27 of tooth 26 engaging the vertical rear face 24 of tooth 21, as shown in FIG. 8. 
     The back end of wall 25 is formed with a generally hook-shaped finger 30 having an upwardly extending vertical rear segment 31, a horizontal top segment 32 extending forward from the upper end of rear segment 31, and a forwardly and downwardly inclined segment 33 at the front end of top segment 32. 
     About midway along its length from front to back, the wall 25 is formed with an upwardly projecting vertical segment 34. 
     Near its front end, the wall 25 has a downwardly projecting vertical segment 35 which is vertically aligned with the front wall 16. 
     The central frame piece 10 also has a flexible and resilient spring arm 36 which is molded integrally with the remainder of this frame piece, as already described. This spring arm has its upper end integrally joined to the top rear corner of the central frame piece where the top wall 13 is joined to the back wall 15. The spring arm 36 is molded with a bend at 37 a short distance down from its attached end, and in its unstressed condition the spring arm 36 will be positioned as shown in FIG. 2. 
     The front end of spring arm 36 (which is the left end in FIG. 2) is free to move. At this end the spring arm is formed with a lancet blade holder 36a which extends substantially perpendicular to the remainder of spring arm 36 and projects above and below it. The lower end of the blade holder 36a has a rearwardly projecting locking tooth 38 with an upwardly and rearwardly inclined back face 39 and a flat top face 40 extending forward from the upper end of the back face 39 at an acute angle to it. When the free end of the spring arm 36 is displaced downward and rearward from the normal, unstressed position (FIG. 2) to a cocked position (FIG. 7), the inclined back face 39 of the locking tooth 38 on the bottom of the lancet blade holder 36a slides down across the front edge of the inclined front segment 33 of locking finger 30 until the top face 40 of locking tooth 38 engages behind segment 33. In this position of the parts, the locking finger 30 holds the spring arm 36 in a stressed, cocked position until the forwardly offset segment 17 at the front of frame piece 10 is pushed rearward (FIG. 8) to retract the locking finger 30 out of engagement with the locking tooth 38. When this release takes place, the preformed spring bias of spring arm 36 causes it to return toward the normal, unstressed position (FIG. 2) and to overtravel up beyond that position to the position shown in FIG. 8, after which the spring arm will rebound to its unstressed position (FIG. 9). 
     Above the free end of spring arm 36 the lancet blade holder 36a carries an upwardly projecting lancet blade or needle 41. As shown in FIG. 2, when the spring arm 36 is in its normal, unstressed position, the pointed upper end of the lancet blade 41 is spaced a short distance below the opening 14a in the recessed segment 14 of the top wall of the frame piece. After the spring arm 36 has been cocked (FIG. 7) and then released, in the over-travel of the spring arm up beyond its unstressed position the tip of the lancet blade 41 passes up through the opening 14a and above the top surface at 14 so as to penetrate the patient&#39;s finger tip to a suitable depth, as shown in FIG. 8. 
     The lancet blade holder 36a has a transverse annular flange 42 which engages the bottom of the recessed segment 14 of top wall 13 around the opening 14a to define the upward limit of movement of the spring arm and the lancet blade, after which the spring arm rebounds to the unstressed position shown in FIG. 9. 
     A short distance below shoulder 41 the lancet blade holder 36a on the free end of spring arm 36 carries a horizontal cross pin 43 which projects on opposite sides of it (FIG. 5). 
     The opposite side pieces 11 and 12 of the device are mirror images of each other. Each of them is generally rectangular, with rounded corners, and is substantially flat for most of its extent. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, at the upper rear corner where the spring arm 36 is attached, the central frame piece 10 is formed with a rounded enlargment 44 at the corner between its top wall 13 and its back wall 15. This corner enlargement 44 is formed with tapered recesses 45 and 46 (FIG. 6), which extend inward from its opposite sides. These recesses adjoin one another at their inner ends to form a continuous opening. The side piece 11 is formed with a tapered projection 47 on the inside which has a tight fit in recess 45 at the corner enlargement 44 of the central frame piece. Similarly, the opposite side piece 12 is formed with a tapered projection 48 on the inside which has a tight fit in recess 46 in the central frame piece. 
     At each of the top front and lower rear corners of the device, the central frame piece 10 has similar corner enlargments formed with recesses which tightly receive corresponding tapered projections on the side pieces 11 and 12 so that these side pieces are held snugly against the opposite sides of the central frame piece 10. 
     At their bottom edges, the opposite side pieces 11 and 12 have inturned horizontal flanges 11&#39; and 12&#39; (FIG. 5) which extend directly beneath the bottom wall 19 of central frame piece 10. A short distance above these bottom flanges the side pieces 11 and 12 are formed with inwardly protruding horizontal segments 51 and 52 (FIG. 5) located between the top face of bottom wall 19 and wall 25 of the central frame piece 10. A short distance above these segments 51 and 52, the opposite side pieces 11 and 12 are formed with inwardly protruding horizontal protrusions 53 (FIG. 2) of circular cross-section which extend closely across the top of wall 25, so that the movement of wall 25 is guided between the protrusions 53 above and segments 51 and 52 below. In the normal (unlocked) position of wall 25 its protrusion 34 engages the back of protrusions 53. 
     The opposite side pieces 11 and 12 are formed with aligned arcuate openings 49 and 50, respectively (FIGS. 1 and 2), which pass the cross pin 43 on the free end of spring arm 41 so that it can be retracted manually from the normal, unstressed position (FIG. 2) to the cocked position (FIG. 7), and after being released from the cocked position it can move up to the position shown in FIG. 8 and then back to the position shown in FIG. 9. 
     In this device, the offset lower end segment 17 of the front wall of frame piece 10, the horizontal wall 25 extending rearward from it, the locking tooth 26, and finger 30 constitute a release actuator for holding the spring arm 36 cocked (FIG. 7) and for releasing the spring arm in response to an inward push on the offset segment 17. 
     The front wall 16 is flexible enough at its upper end that it can pivot about a line P (FIG. 8) a short distance below the enlarged top front corner of the central frame piece 10 when its forwardly offset lower end segment 17 is pushed in. As shown in FIG. 4, the width of the front wall 16 is slightly reduced at this line P from its width above, where it extends from one side piece 11 over to the opposite side piece 12. 
     OPERATION 
     Normally, the parts of this automatic lancet are positioned as shown in FIG. 2. 
     Just before the lancing operation is to take place, the nurse or doctor pushes down on the exposed cross pin 43 to move the spring arm 36 down to the cocked position shown in FIG. 7. The arcuate slots 49 and 50 in the opposite side pieces 11 and 12 guide the cross pin 43 as the spring arm 36 is displaced to its cocked position. The locking tooth 38 on the lancet blade holder 36a slides into locking engagement with finger 30 of the release actuator. The release actuator 17,25,26,30 is held against forward displacement by the engagement of its vertical projection 34 against the back of the circular protrusions 53 on the side pieces 11 and 12. 
     The release actuator is retracted by pushing in on the forwardly offset lower end segment 17 on the front wall of the central frame piece, which causes wall 25, locking finger 26 and finger 30 to be displaced from the locking position (FIG. 7) to the right to the release position. During such movement the finger 30 disengages from the locking tooth 38 on the lancet blade holder 36a, freeing the spring arm 36 to move up clockwise from the cocked position shown in FIG. 7 to the position shown in FIG. 1, where the lancet blade 41 projects up through the opening 14a and pierces the patient&#39;s finger. The flange 42 on the lancet blade holder 36a strikes the depressed segment 14 of top wall 13 from below to limit this upward movement of the spring arm. After the finger 30 releases the spring arm, the locking tooth 26 on the release actuator slides up over the locking tooth 21 on bottom wall 19 until the vertical faces of these teeth engage each other, as shown in FIG. 8, to lock the release actuator in its pushed-in position. This prevents an inadvertent repeat operation of the lancet because even if the spring arm 36 is displaced again to its cocked position it would not be engaged and held there by finger 30 on the inner end of the release actuator because this finger now is retracted too far to engage the locking tooth 38 on the lancet blade holder 36a. 
     After the lancet blade 41 pierces the patient&#39;s finger to a predetermined safe depth, which is limited by the engagement of flange 42 on the lancet blade holder against the bottom face of the top wall 13 around the opening 14a, the spring arm 36 then rebounds to its normal, unstressed position (FIG. 9) in which the lancet blade 41 is retracted so as not to be engageable by a patient&#39;s finger. The release actuator 17,25,26,30 remains locked in its pushed-in, retracted position because of the locking engagement between its locking tooth 26 and the locking tooth 21 on bottom wall 25.