Source: http://patents.com/us-6855129.html
Timestamp: 2018-12-18 10:42:11
Document Index: 761513597

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 21', 'art 21', 'art 21', 'art 21', 'art 21', 'art 21', 'art 21', 'art 21', 'art 21', 'art 21', 'art 21', 'arts 1']

US Patent # 6,855,129. Safety needle assembly - Patents.com
United States Patent 6,855,129
Jensen , et al. February 15, 2005
Inventors: Jensen; Karsten (Hjorring, DK), Nymark; Niels (Hjorring, DK)
Appl. No.: 10/307,054
Nov 30, 2001 [DK] PA 2001 01772
Current International Class: A61M 5/32 (20060101); A61M 005/00 (); A61M 005/32 ()
Field of Search: 604/110,263,164.08,192,198 128/919
4894055 January 1990 Sudnak
5346480 September 1994 Hess et al.
5688241 November 1997 Asbaghi
95/29721 Nov., 1995 WO
99/32177 Jul., 1999 WO
01/76665 Oct., 2001 WO
Assistant Examiner: William; Catherine S.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Began, Esq.; Marc A. Green, Esq.; Reza Bork, Esq.; Richard W.
1. A Safety needle assembly comprising: a cylindrical housing having a top surface and a bottom surface, said housing having means for mounting said housing onto a medical injection device, a needle cannula mounted in the bottom surface, said needle cannula having a distal end located at a distal side of the bottom surface, a shield telescopically movable relatively to the housing for movement between a distal position where the shield covers the distal end of the needle cannula and a proximal position where at least a part of the distal end of the needle cannula is exposed, a spring located inside said housing urging the shield in the distal direction, a locking element provided inside the housing and having at least one outwardly pointing locking protrusion wherein said locking element is a separate part provided between the spring and the shield and longitudinal moved simultaneously with the shield relatively to the housing during use, whereby the locking protrusion provided on the locking element is guided from a first position where the shield is in the distal position, via a second position where the shield is in the proximal position to a third position where the shield is in the distal position and in which third position at least one of the locking protrusions is blocked by a blocking surface provided on the inside surface of the housing whereby further movement of the shield is irreversible immobilized.
Initially it may be convenient to define that, the term "distal end" is meant to refer to the end of the safety needle assembly inserted into the patient, whereas the term "proximal end" is meant to refer to the end connected to the injection device.
The body 4 of the housing 1 is in FIG. 5 shown in perspective and in FIG. 6 in a sectional view. The body 4 is provided with four windows 20 and one longitudinal rib 21 for each window 20. The ribs 21 are provided on the inside surface of the body 4. These longitudinal ribs 21 extend through the entire length of the body 4 although divided into two parts (21a, 21b) by the windows 20. The distal part of this rib 21 is moulded uniform with a collar 24 provided at the distal end of the body 4 and terminates in a planar surface 14 at the distal end of the window 20. The proximal part of the rib 21 terminates at the proximal end of the window in a blocking surface 15, the use of which will be explained later. At the distal end of the body 4 there is provided four fins 22. These fins 22 is moulded uniform with the collar 24 at the distal end of the body 4, and has at the proximal end an angled surface 23 which terminates approximately in a position adjacent the middle of the windows 20.
The shield 2 is located such within the body 4 of the housing 1 that each rib 21 and each fin 22 is located in the space 26 between two studs 10. The upper part 21a of the ribs 21 are however not shown in FIG. 8, since this upper rib 21a is not entirely necessary. The locking element 16 is thereafter mounted such that the angular forefront 18 on each locking protrusion 17 abuts the angled back front 12 on four of the studs 10 of the shield 2, whereby the side surface of the locking protrusion 17 and the side surface of the studs 10 forms a straight line which line abuts the side surface of the fins 22 of the body 4 of the housing 1.
FIG. 12 illustrates how the force F of the spring 25 urges the locking element 16 with the locking protrusion 17 and the shield 2 with the studs 10 in the distal direction. When the angled fore front 23 on the fins 22 aligns the angled back front 12 of the studs 10, such that the two angled fore fronts 23, 12 form a diagonal line, the angled fore front 18 of the locking protrusion 17 will slide along this line into a position where the locking protrusion 17 is located between the upper part 21a and the lower part 21b of the ribs 21 i.e. between the planar surface 14 of the upper part 21a of the ribs 21 and the blocking surface 15 of the lower part 21b of the ribs 21. In this position the locking protrusion 17 and hence the locking element 16 and the shield 2 is irreversible locked.
At the proximal end of the locking protrusion 17, the planar back front 19 will abut or at least be blocked by the blocking surface 15 on the ribs 21 of the body 4 of the housing 1, thereby rendering it impossible to move the shield 2 in the proximal direction. At the distal end, the angled fore front 18 of the locking protrusion 17 will abut the toothed ring 13 of the shield 2 and since the planar forefront 11 of the studs 10 on the shield 2 abuts the collar 24 of the body 4 of the housing 1 it will not be possible to move the shield 2 in the distal direction. Sideways the studs 10 of the shield 2 will be arrested between the upper part 21a of the ribs 21 and the fins 22. As a result of this it will be impossible to move the shield 2 in any direction.
The body 4 of the housing 1 is provided with four windows 20 which windows 20 divides each of the four ribs 21 into an upper part 21a and a lower part 21b. When the safety needle assembly has been used, the locking protrusion 17 on the locking element 16 will be located between the upper part 21a and the lower part 21b of the ribs 21, and will thus be visible through the window 20. The locking protrusion 17, or a part of it, could be coloured in an inflammatory colour, or provided with another indication, which will render it very easy for a user to visibly inspect whether the safety needle assembly has been used or not just by glancing at the windows 20. The windows 20 could e.g. be provided as openings in the wall of the body 4.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 there exist a slight possibility of rotating the shield 2 when the studs 10 are longitudinal located between the fins 22 and the lower part 21b of the ribs 21. In order to prevent such accidental rotation, the studs 110 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 15 is provided with an additional guiding rib 162 which are guided in a number of not shown guiding tracks provided on the inside surface of the body 104 of the housing. Due to this no rotation between the shield 102 and the body 104 is possible,
List of Parts 1 Housing 2 Shield 3 Hub 4 Body 5 Connecting surface 6 Top surface 7 Needle outlet 8 Opening 9 Bottom surface 10 Stud 11 Planar ore front of studs 12 Angled back front of studs 13 Toothed ring 14 Planar surface 15 Blocking surface 16 Locking element 17 Locking protrusion 18 Angled front of locking protrusion 19 Planar back front of locking protrusion 20 Window 21 Rib 21a Upper part of rib 21b lower part of rib 22 Fin 23 Angled surface 24 Collar 25 Spring 26 Spaces on shield 27 Directional arrow 28 Directional arrow 29 Directional arrow 30 Needle cannula 31 Container 32 distal surface of container 33 proximal surface of container 34 Ribs on outside surface of housing 35 Thread 36 Front end of locking protrusion 37 Inner top end of shield 38 Toothed ring of shield 39 Second toothed ring of locking element 40 Housing 41 Hub 42 Body 43 Shield 44 Locking element 45 Opening 46 Studs 47 Angled fore front of locking protrusion 48 Planar surface 49 Locking protrusion 50 Bottom surface 51 First horizontal track 52 Second horizontal track 53 Diagonal track 54 Locking chamber 55 Blocking surface 56 Planar back front 102 Shield 103 Hub 104 Body 107 Needle outlet 110 Stud 113 Toothed ring 116 Locking element 117 Locking protrusion 120 Window 125 Spring 130 Needle cannula 131 Container 160 Glue 161 Serrated ring 162 Guiding rib 163 Seal 164 Cup
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