Patent ID: 8282609

Claim:
A safety needle attachment for surrounding a needle having a longitudinal axis, comprising: a hub; a sleeve surrounding the hub and slidable along the hub in the axial direction; wherein the sleeve has a radially elastically deformable portion, and the hub has a radially converging or diverging portion, and wherein the sleeve is slidable in a first axial direction between a first position for fully or substantially fully surrounding the needle with the sleeve, and a second position for exposing the needle, wherein the converging or diverging portion of the hub causes elastic radial deformation of the deformable portion as the sleeve slides between the first and second positions, and wherein the sleeve is further slidable in a second, opposite, axial direction between the second position and a third position for fully surrounding the needle by the sleeve, the force for sliding between the second and third positions being provided by the stored elastic energy in the radially deformable portion.