Patent ID: 8491618

Claim:
A skin pricking apparatus comprising: a casing; a lancet located within the casing; a firing button arranged to accept a user applied force, said firing button being provided with an abutment surface arranged in use to contact a surface of the lancet upon movement of the button in order to transfer said applied force to the lancet, the user applied force being transferred via said abutment surface and said surface of the lancet so that the user applied force drives the lancet linearly through the casing, said abutment surface and said lancet surface being oriented obliquely with respect to the direction of travel of the lancet through the casing; lancet retaining components arranged to prevent said linear movement of the lancet through the casing until the user applied force exceeds a predefined threshold force, said lancet retaining components comprising cooperating structural features on an inside of the casing and on an outer surface of the lancet respectively, said features arranged to be in abutment prior to said user applied force exceeding said predefined threshold force; and a spring coupled between the lancet and the casing for biasing the lancet to a withdrawn position within the casing, the spring being extended by the application of the user applied force to the lancet.