Patent GB-1205561-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in collapsible syringe ampoules
Inventor: BANE ARTHUR
IPC: A61M5/28
Filed: 1966-04-15
Abstract: 1,205,561. Ampoules for containing medicament. A. BANE. 10 July, 1967 [15 April, 1966], No. 16679/66. Heading B8C. [Also in Division A5] A collapsible syringe ampoule comprises a collapsible chamber having two coaxiallyaligned opposed frusto-conical walls united at their base ends, one end of the chamber being provided with a constricted opening and the other end of the chamber being provided with a plug which is arranged, when the chamber is collapsed, to enter the constricted opening and to be removably held therein by being directly or indirectly engaged by that portion of the ampoule which forms the periphery of the constricted opening. In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1, a bellows-type ampoule comprises a chamber formed by an independently collapsible bellows section having a first wall 11 and a second wall 12 united at their base ends. The truncated apex end of the second wall is connected to the truncated apex end of an end wall 13 of an adjoining bellows section to define a constricted opening 14; the truncated apex end of the first wall is integrally formed with a hollow tubular cylindrical extension 15 from the free end of which extends a plug 16 having a bore 17 and an annular abutment 21 formed by a portion 18 of reduced diameter which has a length equal to the axial length of the extension so that the plug may be forced into the ampoule with the junction between the extension and the first wall situated against the abutment (see Fig. 2). On application of further force to the plug in the direction 19, the chamber will collapse to a position in which the first wall lies adjacent the second wall and in which the plug and surrounding invaginated extension are held removably in the constricted opening by close frictional engagement with the portion of the ampoule forming the periphery of the constricted opening (see Fig. 4). In an alternative embodiment of ampoule illustrated in Fig. 5, the truncated apex end of the first wall is formed with an integral platform 22 and tubular extension 23 within which is secured the stem 24 of a separate plug which projects a short distance into the ampoule, the part of the plug so projecting being formed with an annular groove 25 which, when the chamber is collapsed, is engaged releasably by an annular ridge forming the periphery of the constricted opening. In combination with a hypodermic needle situated at the end of the ampoule remote from the plug, the ampoule may be used either as a hypodermic syringe, when as illustrated at least one further collapsible bellows section may be provided, or as a device for sampling blood or other body fluid when only one collapsible bellows section may be provided. The component parts of the ampoule (except for the separate plug in the alternative embodiment) may be formed integrally, for example by blow moulding, from a transparent or translucent flexible plastics material, the bore in the plug being sealed after the ampoule is formed and, when the ampoule is to form part of a hypodermic syringe, after the ampoule is filled.