Patent ID: 7901377

Claim:
An injection device comprising: a housing adapted to receive a syringe having a discharge nozzle, the housing including means for biasing the syringe from an extended position in which the discharge nozzle extends from the housing to a retracted position in which the discharge nozzle is contained within the housing; an actuator; a drive acted upon by the actuator and in turn acting on the syringe to discharge its contents through the discharge nozzle; a decoupling mechanism, activated when the drive has been advanced to a nominal decoupling position, to decouple a first component of the device from acting on a second component and allow the first component to move relative to a second; a release mechanism, activated when the said first component has reached a nominal release position relative to the second, to release the syringe from the action of the actuator, whereupon the biasing means restores the syringe to its refracted position; and a highly viscous fluid damping the movement of the said first component relative to the second, so that the release of the syringe is delayed after the activation of the decoupling mechanism to allow the remaining contents of the syringe to be discharged before the syringe is released.