Patent ID: 8657806

Claim:
An apparatus for carrying on the body of a user to generate a vacuum for medical applications and for vacuum therapy of a wound on a human or animal body, the apparatus comprising: a first housing part; a second housing part, wherein said second housing part is a vessel for receiving body fluids and for receiving wound exudates suctioned out of the wound, said vessel being disposable after use, said vessel having a gripping opening that passes through said vessel, thereby forming a manual gripping region, wherein said vessel has an outer side wall, an inner side wall, an outer peripheral wall and an inner peripheral wall, said gripping opening passing through said outer and inner side walls and being directly surrounded by said inner peripheral wall, said manual gripping region thereby being defined by contiguous portions of said outer side wall, said inner side wall, said outer peripheral wall and said inner peripheral wall; a vacuum-producing device disposed in or on said first housing part; a connection communicating with said vessel, said connection structured to receive a suction tube leading to the body for transferring the body fluids to said vessel; a fastening mechanism structured such that the apparatus can be worn by and carried on the body of the user; a locking or back-gripping mechanism disposed between and communicating with said first and said second housing parts to fix said second housing part to said first housing part in a separable manner through snap-in, latching, or other positive-action; and an operating element cooperating with said locking or back-gripping mechanism, wherein said locking or back-gripping mechanism can be moved into a release direction by manual operation of said operating element, wherein said operating element for said locking or back-gripping means is disposed above said gripping opening and proximate to said manual gripping region so that a user or a caregiver can, with only one hand, release said locking or back-gripping means while gripping said second housing part to mutually separate said first and said second housing parts from another, said gripping opening and said locking or back-gripping means being structured and arranged such that the user or caregiver can grip, hold and lift said second housing part through manual engagement of fingers of one hand into said gripping opening while operating said operating element with his or her thumb, so that there is one handed access to said second housing part for unlocking and removal of said second housing part from said first housing part, removal being effected through engagement of fingers of one hand into said gripping opening.