Patent ID: 8460211

Claim:
A lancing system for blood extraction, comprising: a tubular body having a central longitudinal axis, a lancing end and a free end; a lancing shaft having a lance coupling end and an actuating end wherein the lance coupling end is configured to be removably coupled with a lance having a needle, the lancing shaft being slideably coupled along the longitudinal axis to the lancing end of the body; a stop coupled to the body, the stop being disposed between the lance coupling end and the actuating end of the lancing shaft; at least one lancing spring coupled to the lancing shaft; a main shaft having an actuating end and a free end, wherein the actuating end of the main shaft is disposed inside the body toward the actuating end of the lancing shaft; a shaft coupler having at least two separable portions that removably engage the lancing shaft to the main shaft, wherein a first portion is coupled to the actuating end of the lancing shaft and a second portion is coupled to the actuating end of the main shaft, the first and second portions being removably engageable with one another and having a coupler force there between; and a biasing device configured to move the shaft coupler toward the free end of the body while the first and second portions are engaged; wherein the stop is configured to overcome the coupler force when the shaft coupler is moved toward the free end of the body by stopping the first portion of the shaft coupler after the shaft coupler has moved a distance toward the free end of the body, the biasing device and stop thereby cooperating to disengage the at least two separable portions.