Patent GB-855181-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to the manufacture of hypodermic syringes
IPC: A61M5/00
Filed: 1957-10-25
Abstract: 855,181. Hypodermic syringes. PFIZER & CO. Inc., C. Oct. 25, 1957 [Dec. 28, 1956], No. 33365/57. Class 81(2) [Also in Groups XVII, XXVIII and XXX] A machine for assembling hypodermic syringes comprises an intermittently rotated turntable 10 with recesses 12 which are positioned successively at predetermined stations, supply means at one station 16a for delivering vials 26 containing plungers 28 to said recesses, dispensing means 19 at a second station 18a for filling the vials, means at a third station 20a for placing closures 31 on the vials, means sealing the closures at a fourth station 22a and conveyer means 38 for transferring sealed vials to a needle applying and attaching device 36 which is disposed adjacent the turntable. Vials 26 containing a plunger 28 are delivered successively from a holder 52 by a pocket feeding wheel 54 and a tube 60 at a station 16a to pockets 12 in the turntable 10 which is intermittently rotated by a motor 14 so that the vials 26 are moved from each station to the next after a suitable pause. At the second station 18a each vial 26 is filled with a medicament from a reservoir 66 by a pump 19 (see Group XXVIII) having a reciprocating filling spout 64 which enters each vial 26 as filling commences and is gradually withdrawn, the medicament stream being submerged in the filling liquid. Vial closures 31 each comprising a rubber stopper 34 and a metal cap 32 are dropped from a vibrating hopper 72 and channel 70 on to each vial 26 as it approaches the third station 20a. At the fourth station 22a skirts of the metal caps 32 of the closures 31 are rolled under lips of the vials 26 by a sealing machine 22 which may be operated by the motor 14 which also operates the turntable 10. On reaching the exit station 24a, each vial 26 is discharged by air supplied through a tube 74 into a conveyer 38 by which it is transferred to pockets in a second intermittently rotated turntable 44 of a needle applying device 36. The conveyer 38 (see Group XXX) comprises a tube 102, ascending from the first turntable 10, which is connected to a tube 104 descending to the second turntable 44, each vial 26 forcing open a trapdoor 112 as it passes into the terminal portion 106 of the ascending tube 102 before it passes into the descending tube 104. An air supply at the base of the descending tube 104 cushions the fall of each vial 26 into a pocket at the receiving station 45a of the second turn- 'table 44. Needle assemblies 42, comprising a hypodermic needle covered by a sheath 145 are oriented and fed from a rotating drum 134 by a channel 130 to an abstracting device including tongs 154 which deposit the needle assemblies in a channel 156 in a needle-applying device 36, the channel being immediately above a vial 26 at needle-applying station 46a of the second turntable 44. The needle assemblies 42 are pressed on to the vials 26 by a plunger which reciprocates in the channel. Vials 26 are ejected from the second turntable 44 at an exit station 48a by a pneumatic device 200 and carried by a conveyer to a packaging station. The assembly machine is located in a sterile chamber.