Patent ID: 7422573

Claim:
A shieldable needle device comprising: a housing including a first lateral extension and a second lateral extension, said first lateral extension and said second lateral extension interconnected at a rearward end of said housing forming a hub portion with said first lateral extension and said second lateral extension being fixed with respect to the hub portion; a needle cannula including a forward end and a rearward end, said needle cannula extending from said hub portion of said housing; a tip guard axially movable along said needle cannula between a retracted position where said forward end of said needle cannula is exposed and an extended position where said tip guard protectively surrounds said forward end of said needle cannula; and a flexibly resilient drive mechanism for biasing said tip guard to said extended position including a first end anchored to said housing between said first lateral extension and said second lateral extension, and a second end anchored to said tip guard, said drive mechanism capable of being retained in a biased state between said first lateral extension and said second lateral extension when said tip guard is in said retracted position.