Abstract:
A lancet having a blood-collecting needle with a safety feature, can prevent blood-mediated infections of AIDS, hepatitis, or other pathogenic bacteria due to careless impalement of a person collecting blood or handling waste disposition thereafter, by disposing a cap with a blood-collecting needle and repositioning the point end of the needle inside the cap via a return spring after collecting blood.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a lancet having a blood-collecting needle with a safety feature. In particular, the present invention relates to a lancet having a blood-collecting needle with a safety feature, which can prevent blood-mediated infections of AIDS, hepatitis, or other pathogenic bacteria due to careless impalement of a person collecting blood or handling waste disposition thereafter. This is accomplished by means of disposing a cap with a blood-collecting needle by repositioning the point end of the needle inside the cap via a return spring after collecting blood therein. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A conventional lancet has a needle  9 , as illustrated in FIG. 1, inserted into the center of a body  6 , the frontal part  9  of which is connected to a detachment cap  7  which temporarily protects the terminal part of the needle  9 . In using a blood-collecting needle  5 , the detachment cap  7  is separated therefrom to expose the needle  9 . While collecting blood, the needle  9  is set up inside the cap  3  of a cylinder  1  which is used as a gun (as shown in FIG.  2 ). However, in separating the blood-collecting needle  5  from the gun after collecting blood, the needle  9  becomes exposed, which may pose a risk to a person collecting blood, who can be infected with AIDS, hepatitis or other pathogenic bacteria by means of an accidental prick of the needle  9 . Moreover, the blood-collecting needle  5  is not only small in size, but also the exposure thereof after use cannot be easily identified by the naked eye. Consequently, a person handling waste disposition after blood collection is also at risk of becoming infected with AIDS, hepatitis or other pathogenic bacteria by an accidental prick of the needle  9 . In the Figures, those parts not explained in detail, or the parts  2 ,  4  and  8  as illustrated are a button, a clip, and a detachment part, respectively. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention was designed to solve the aforementioned problems, with the objective of providing a lancet having a blood-collecting needle with a safety feature. In particular, the present invention relates to a lancet having a blood-collecting needle with a safety feature, which can prevent blood-mediated infections of AIDS, hepatitis, or other pathogenic bacteria due to careless impalement of persons collecting blood or handling waste disposition thereafter, by means of disposing a cap with the blood-collecting needle by repositioning the point end of the needle inside the cap via a return spring. 
     In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the present invention provides a lancet having a safety feature on a blood-collecting needle, which comprises as follows: a cap of a barrel body, having its lower part narrower than the upper part, assembled as such with two sections; a screw thread corresponding to said cap connecting screw on the inner circumference of the upper part of the cap; a stop projection protruding from the lower part thereof; a stroke stop projection at the inner surface of the lower part of the cap, from a certain distance from said stop projection; a needle stop projection at the slot; a plate-like elastic return spring at the inside base of the cap; a stop ring at the upper part of the body in which a needle is installed; a connecting rod at the upper part of the blood-collecting needle, attaching or detaching from the connecting encasement; a square fixed ring at the lower part thereof; a body fixed screw, at the lower part thereof, corresponding to said needle stop projection; and a detachment knob at the lower part of the blood-collecting needle. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a plane view of a conventional blood-collecting needle. 
     FIG. 2 is a lateral view of a conventional blood-collecting cylinder. 
     FIG. 3 is a lateral view of the blood-collecting needle according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a lateral view of the cap according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 is an interior structural diagram of the present invention. 
     FIG. 6 is a sectional drawing, which shows the installment and use of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The present invention is described in detail with references to the attached Figures. In FIGS. 3 and 4, a lancet having a blood-collecting needle with a safety feature according to the present invention is illustrated, which comprises a blood-collecting needle  10  and a cap  20 . 
     The blood-collecting needle  10  comprises a needle  18  installed vertically inside a body  11 ; a disk-like stop ring  12  in the upper part of said body; a connecting rod  13  at the upper part thereof seated within the connection encasement  31  (see FIG.  6 ); and said body  11  having a different width at the frontal side and the lateral side. Moreover, the body  11  comprises a square fixed ring  14 , which is a right-angled plate, situated at the lower part of said body  11 ; a detachment part  15  which connects the square fixed ring  14  to the part extending from the body fixed screw  16  at the lower part thereof; and a detachment knob  17  at the lower part of said body fixed screw  16 . 
     The square fixed ring  14  and the detachment knob  17 , respectively, have a different width at the frontal side and the lateral side. In other words, as shown in FIG. 3, the blood-collecting needle  10  comprises a body  11 , a square fixed ring  14 , and a detachment knob  17 , all of which have a narrower width at the lateral side and a wider width at the frontal side (as shown in FIG.  5 ). The square fixed ring  14  therein prevents twisting of direction by turning during the separation of the detachment knob  17 . 
     The body fixed screw  16  has a thread on the circumference thereof, as integrated therein, which is screwed onto the needle stop projection  26  of the cap  20 , thereby uniting the cap  20  to the blooding-collect needle  10 . The detachment part  15  is a part, which is formed between the square ring  14  and the part extending from the body fixed screw and connects the square fixed ring  14  to the part extending from the body fixed screw  16 . Also, the detachment part  15  can be easily disconnected by twisting the detachment knob  17  by force towards one direction. 
     As shown in FIG. 4, the cap  20  is a barrel having a larger diameter at the upper part and a lesser diameter at the lower part. More particularly, the upper part thereof is a cylindrical barrel, and the lower part thereof is a barrel having a narrower width from the lateral view. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, on the inner circumference of the upper part thereof, there is a screw thread part corresponding to the cap connecting screw  30  of a cylinder. At the lower part of the screw thread, the stop ring  12  is caught onto the stop projection  21 , which prevents further intrusion to the upper part thereof. From a set distance (generally from 10-33 mm) from said stop projection  21 , at the lower part thereof, there is a stroke stop projection  22 . In other words, the blood-collecting needle  10  moves within the distance to the extent of said stop ring  12  as between the stop projection  21  and the stroke stop projection  22 . In other words, the blood-collecting needle  10  moves within the distance to the extent of said stop ring  12  as between the stop projection  21  and the stroke stop projection  22  at an inner surface of the lower part of the cap  20 . A return spring  24  is installed inside the lower part of a barrel having a narrower width from the lateral view. The starting portion of the return spring  24  is integrated into the inside surface of the cap  20 , which in turn forms a needle stop projection  26 . As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal part thereof is made to protrude at an angle towards the square fixed ring  14  of the blood-collecting needle  10 . As shown in FIG. 6, the terminal part of the return spring  24  is positioned in such a way to be flush with the needle  18 , exposed after the separation of the detachment knob  17 . The return spring is positioned at one side of the needle  18  so that it does not interfere with the needle  18 . The return spring  24  may be integrated into the cap  20  although it may also be made separately from the cap  20  at the aforementioned position. 
     Moreover, at the center of the upper part of a barrel, there is a slot  25  for withdrawing the terminal part of said needle  18  towards the target. The inlet side of the slot  25  has a larger diameter than its outlet side, and the needle stop projection  26  is formed at the lower end of the barrel adjacent to slot  25 . In other words, the body fixed screw  16  of said blood-collecting needle  10 , as screwed thereon, is caught onto the needle stop projection  26 . During lowering of the blood-collecting needle  10 , the square fixed ring  14  comes in contact with the rim of said needle stop projection  26 , which in turn stops further lowering. 
     Moreover, the cap  20  comprises a barrel, separable into left and right sections, the respective section of which has several assembly slots  23  as shown in FIG. 5, or several insertion protrusions (not illustrated) which are fitted into said assembly slots  23 . Accordingly, the cap  20  comprises a barrel of respective sections in unit by fitting said insertion protrusions into the assembly slots  23 . 
     In the present invention, after connecting the blood-collecting needle  10  into the cap  20  as shown in FIG. 5, the cap  20  is then connected to the cap connection screw  30  of a cylinder, which is used as a gun. Then, when the body fixed screw  16  is screwed onto the needle fixed projection  26  at the slot  25 , the blood-collecting needle  10  is positioned vertically in the center of the cap  20 . At that time, the blood-collecting needle  10  is positioned in such a way that the upper side of the circumference of the stop ring  12  is in contact with the stop projection  21  of the cap  20 . 
     In this state, as shown in FIG. 6, with connection to the cap connection screw  30  of the cylinder  10 , the connection rod  32  of the blood-collecting needle  10  is also seated within connection encasement  31 . 
     Consequently, while holding the detachment knob  17  by fingers, if it is slowly turned, the screw thread of the body fixed screw  16  is rotated along the inner circumference of the needle stop projection  26 , gradually moving downward. Simultaneously, the detachment part  15  detaches therefrom, which had connected the square fix ring  14  to the connecting rod of the body fix screw  16 . Then, if the detachment knob  26  is held and turned to the full extent, it becomes completely separated from the cap  20 . At that time, at the lower part of the square fix ring  14 , the point end of the needle  18  becomes exposed thereby. Since the square fix ring  14  is positioned at the lower part of the barrel of the cap  20  with narrower width, the blood-collecting needle  10  is impeded from twisting by rotation. 
     In this state, if the button is pressed, the blood-collecting needle  10  is instantly lowered. At the same time, the square fixed ring  14 , while pushing the return spring  24 , is lowered as well, and then the needle  18  is instantly withdrawn through the slot  25  for collecting blood. Then, the blood-collecting needle  10  comes in contact with the area where the base of the square fixed ring  14  is at the stroke stop projection  22 , which in turn stops further lowering. In this state, there is a force that causes the return spring  24 , which had been lowered simultaneously with the square fix ring  14 , to return to its original position. By this force, the blood-collecting needle  10  is lifted to its original position. Consequently, the point end part of the needle  18  is once again repositioned inside the cap  20 . 
     Consequently, after collecting blood, the blood-collecting needle  1  is set to its original position. In this state, the cap  2  is detached from the cylinder and thrown away in the depository. At that time, the blood-collecting needle  10  is inside the cap  20 , positioned deep inside from the slot via a return spring  24 , the fact of which ensures maintenance of safety control. 
     According to the present invention, the blood-collecting needle after use returns to its original position via a return spring. At the same time, the point end of the needle is repositioned deep inside from the slot of the cap. The blood-collecting needle and the point end of the needle inside the cap are disposed of together. Accordingly, the present invention has the effect of preventing infections of AIDS, hepatitis, or other pathogenic bacteria to persons collecting the blood or handling waste disposition.