US2707466A - Hypodermic syringe - Google Patents

Description

May 3, 1955 E. HOSKINS ETAL HYPODERMIC SYRINGE 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed July 1-8, 1951 EVERE77' L. H JAMEg W LEE -May 3, 1955 E. HosKlNs EI'AL HYPODERMIC SYRINGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 18, 1951 INVENTOR.

EVERETT L. Hos/(ms JAMESBJK LEE M SE ,M PB 2M A RNEKQ United States Patent HYPonEnMic SYRINGE Everett L. Hosldns, New York, N. Y., and James W. Lee, Westfieid, N. 5., assignors to Cook-Waite Laboratories, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application July 18, 1951, Serial No. 237,434 15 Claims. (Cl. 128--218) This invention relates to medicinal hypodermic syringes of the disposable type and in particular it relates to improved constructions of several elements individually and in combination with each other whereby the entire assembly is maintained in sterile condition indefinitely prior to use. The entire syringe is composed of improved separable units of such economical construction that any or all may be disposed of after use.

Various other features of this invention are inherent in the description and will be best understood by reference to the drawings herewith, of which,

Fig. 1 shows an assembly of a syringe;

Fig. 2 shows a similar assembly in the first stage of use;

Fig. 3 shows the next stage of use, again the same assembly, as Fig. 2, with the plunger slightly depressed;

Fig. 4 is the final stage of use of the same assembly as Figs. 2 and 3 with the piston depressed sufficiently to eject all of the contents of the syringe;

Fig. 5 is a modification of finger gripping means provided at an intermediate point of the barrel for indefinite length cartridges;

Fig. 6 shows a similar modification to Fig. 5 with the finger gripping element at the outer end of the tubular cartridge;

Fig. 7 shows a side view of a modified needle construction having both cartridge and plunger clamping elements;

Fig. 8 is a modified combination like Fig. 1 showing the mounting of the needle assembly of Fig. 7 in the combination, the needle being in plan view with respect of Fig. 7; and

Fig. 9 is a section through the expanded piston on the end of the plunger rod and clamping element thereabout, taken on the line 99 of Fig. 7.

As shown herein, and referring to Figs. 1-4, a tubular cartridge 10 conventionally of glass, plastic or other preferably transparent material, has mounted therein snugly and fitted in fluid tight manner within the base thereof two slidable stoppers, the innermost of which 11 (referring to the end of the tube bearing the needle assembly), has a centrally cut away portion 12 to provide a readily penetrable diaphragm portion 13 mounted inwardly from the end of the tube 10 a sufiicient distance to provide a cylindrical empty space defining a housing 14 into which projects the inner end 15 of a hollow pointed hypodermic needle. 1

As shown in Fig. 1, the pointed end of hypodermic needle portion 15. need not be in actual contact with the stopper 11, but in an alternate modification, asshown in Fig. 2, it is sometimes desirable that the innermost cork 11 be mounted with the needle partially penetrated as shown at 16. The slidable stopper 17 near the other end of the tube 10 primarily acts as a piston, but it likewise is preferably inserted a short distance from the outer end of the tube to leave a cylindrical space 18 for ready insertion and support of a plunger rod 19 for moving the piston stopper 17 during operation of the syringe as shown in Figs. 2 to 4. The medicinal composition to be hywith the ice podermically injected is enclosed in the space 20 between the two stoppers 11 and 17.

The needle assembly comprises a flat sealing element 21 comprising a generally circular plate-like disc large enough in diameter to be fitted entirely across the inner end of the tube 10 and is preferably formed of metal or strong plastic material.

The disc 21 has centrally secured to one face thereof, and preferably integral therewith, a small cylindrical hub member 24 through which is firmly supported a hollow hypodermic needle having a substantial inner needle portion thereof 15 projecting entirely through said disc 21 and an outer needle portion 27 generally but not necessarily longer than the inner needle portion, protruding in the opposite direction from said disc and hub, the entire needle being generally normally supported with respect to the plane of the disc 21.

Mounted normally from opposite edges of the disc 21 in a direct-ion to lie generally parallel to but radially disposed from the inner needle portion 15, is a pair of clamping arms 22 preferably integral with, but which may be otherwise securely fastened to the outer peripheral edges of disc 21. The clamping arms 22 are arcuate in contour to follow at least for a port-ion of the length thereof in the same curvature as the periphery of the disc 21 from which they are normally supported. The clamping arms 22, supported from opposite sides of the disc, each extend only a partial distance about the circumference of the disc to define a yoke-like assembly with the disc readily insertable over an end of the cartridge tube 10 to secure the disc and hypodermic needle mounted therein in clamped position thereabout, as shown in Figs. 1 to 6. The clamping arms 22 as supported in this manner are slightly resilient to allow the tube to be firmly secured in the manner shown, but additional reverse curvature may be supplied as shown in the needle assembly of Figs. 5 and 6 to enhance the springlike effect. However, it is preferred to flare the outer ends of said clamping arms in a sweeping curve laterally beginning about one-half inch from juncture with the disc to provide at the ends of the clamping arms 22 linger gripping ear members 23.

It will be noted that while the spring arms, in view of the mounting from the disc and curvature thereof, have inherent stiff resilience to securely clamp about the end of cylindrical tube 10, additional clamp eifect is exerted thereabout in use when tension by finger gripping pull is applied to the ear members 23.

The hub member 24 as shown is smoothly cylindrical and thereby adapted to frictionally receive and retain as at 25 the hollow end of a plunger rod 19 which acts as a sheath to encase and protect in sterile condition the outer end of the needle 27. The plunger rod 19 has a flattened portion 26 at the opposite end thereof to close the hollow portion of the rod and provide a knob useful to manually 1 actuate the piston stopper 17 in normal use of the syringe.

The hollow needle is pointed at both ends 28 and at the outer end 27, at least, is preferably pointed by being tapered in a flat plane at an acute angle to the needle axis. The efiect of this is to direct the fluid emitted from the tip of the needle in a direction lateral to the axis of the needle. In use, the needle is inserted at an inclination lateral orifice directed outwardly so the fluid tends to pass out toward the surface of the body being injected. With normal syringes of the prior art it has been the practice carefully to rotate the syringe until the needle outlet is in though, as this operation requires unusual care, it is often the same plane as that defined by the finger gripping ears the proper position for injection, al-

23 so that only slight care is necessary to grasp the syringe by the finger gripping means 23 in a manner to have the tip opening 28 upward.

In operation of the modification shown in Figs. l4, when it is desired to use the syringe, the plunger rod 19 is removed from its position about the outer end of the needle 27 as shown in Fig. l and inverted to the position shown in Fig. 2. The two finger grip elements 23 are held between two forefingers while the plunger rod 19 is depressed by the thumb upon the piston stopper 17 which moves inwardly. The medicinal fluid 2% under pressure of the piston stopper 17 acts as a hydrostatic force transfer medium whereby the inner stopper 11 is moved downward upon the inner end of the needle 15 which is thereby caused to completely penetrate through the diaphragm 13 in the stopper 11 whereby the hollow needle 15 comes into direct communication with the medicinal contents 20 of the tubular cartridge as shown in Fig. 3. At this point, the outer end of the hypodermic needle, positioned so that the tapered point is outwardly directed, is inserted into the body to be injected and the plunger is compleley depressed to the position shown in Fig. 4 with both stoppers in contact, so that the medicinal content is ejected from the tubular cartridge.

It will be appreciated that where the modification of Fig. l is used, it is necessary to first depress the plunger until the slidable stopper 11 is moved in the tube to the end thereof to be penetrated by the inner end of the needle 15 before inserting the outer end of the needle 27 into the body to be injected in order to prevent injection of air contained in chamber 14 by the initial action of moving the stopper 11 into needle penetrating position. However, in a modification shown in Fig. 2 the needle is assembled with the inner open end thereof 15 already partially penetrated into the stopper 11 whereby substantially no air can enter the needle, it is often possible to insert the needle into the body to be injected and the stopper 11 moved to needle penetrated position in a single setting and fluid ejecting operation. Moreover, according to this modification, the penetration of stopper 11 is more easily completed.

In another modification, as illustrated in Fig. 5, the stopper 11 may be mounted substantially flush within one end of the tube 10, the piston stopper 17 alone being mounted inwardly from the opposite end of the tube 1% to leave only the chamber 18. The tube in inoperative position is mounted inverted with respect to a needle and clamping assembly 29. Thus, in this modification it is merely necessary to mount the cartridge with the stoppers, only the piston 17 of which is slidable, positioned invert-edly, whereby the inner end of the needle is protected within the cylindrical space 18 until ready for use. With such modification, in use the cartridge is withdrawn manually from the needle assembly 29 and inverted so that the needle end 15 is manually forced to penetrate the diaphragm portion 13 of the stopper and firmly clamped thereabout. It is thereby unnecessary to move stopper 11 in any manner since, by mere inversion and manual penetration of the needle, the hypodermic assembly is ready for use. The open space 18 by this modification by proper positioning of piston stopper 17 acts as a protective chamber for the sterile inner end of needle 15.

It is sometimes desirable, where larger quantities of medicament are necessary than could be retained in a standard size cartridge, to make the same of substantially elongated length with respect to that shown in Figs. 1 to 4 to thereby contain greater quantities of medicinal fluid. For such cartridge, the gripping means 23 associated with the needle assembly may be out of reach of the forefingers, and it becomes desirable in such cases to mount the gripping means at some intermediate point along the barrel comprising the cartridge 1%. Thus, as further shown in Fig. 5, a resilient banding element 31} of rubber or plastic of a substantial degree of hardness to readily withstand manual deformation, but at the same time having suificicnt resiliency to flexibly grip the barrel It), is mounted at an intermediate point about the barrel. This banding element has a projecting flange 31 which may be gripped between the two forefingers to act as a finger grip for the barrel. The needle assembly itself 29 need not be flared to provide finger grips 23 as described above but, instead, the pair of resilient clamping arms 22 indicated in Fig. 5 by the numeral 32 will merely have sufiicient curve at 33 to act as a steady resilient clamping means to support the needle in operative position at the end of the cartridge 10. The needle assembly 29, as thus described, is otherwise similar in construction to that shown for Fig. 1, having a flat disc plate member 21 and a centrally mounted hub portion 24 through which is supported the hypodermic needle proper with a short inner end 15 and desirably extending outer end 27, about which is mounted the hollow tubelikc plunger rod 19, the ends of which snugly fit about the hub 24 to protect the outer portion of the needle in sterile condition when not in use.

Fig. 6 shows a modification of Pig. 5 in having the resilient banding element 30 mounted that the very end of the cartridge 10. With this modification, the outer end of the tubular cartridge is preferably flared to provide a flange 34 to retain the resilient band 30 from sliding off of the tube when under tension of the finger gripping flange 31 in use. This modification again has as its primary objective a disposable cartridge and finger gripping element mounted in a most convenient manner upon a tubular cartridge barrel of indefinite length.

In the normal use of disposable syringes, the tubular shaft of the plunger element 19, as described above, is substantially loosely fitted within the chamber 18 of the tube 11) comprising the barrel of the cartridge to actuate the piston stopper 17 to effect ejection of the contents of the tube. The piston stopper 17 is generally made of soft rubber and ofttimes fibrous material and, with the substantially small diameter of the plunger tube 19 with repect to the larger tube 111 comprising the barrel, the plunger tends both to wobble loosely within the larger bore and sometimes to penetrate or to apply a pressure to the piston 17 so unevenly as to displace the same sidewise. This causes the piston 17 to bind in the tube or be displaced into inoperative position entirely. ln the past, this problem has either been ignored or the plunger tube 19 has been made suflieiently large to closely complement the bore of the barrel 10. With the latter construction, the tube 19 as well as the tube must be made substantially expensive to have an even bore throughout to avoid binding of the two tubes sliding one against the next.

In the modification shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, a novel type plunger construction is illustrated wherein the plunger tube 19 is flared at the end thereof at 35 to provide a widened, piston-like portion 35 which is effective to distribute the pressure evenly over the top of the piston stopper 17 and to prevent displacement of the piston 17 by uneven pressure thereon. The flared portion 35 comprising the piston-like element of the plunger rod, has a shoulder 36 a short distance from the end of the rod, which allows cooperation thereof with a means for clamping the rod as a sheath in inoperative position about the elongated outer end of the needle 27 to protect the same in sterile condition prior to use. In order to allow cooperation thereof with a spring type of clamp and for securing the same in clamped inoperative position, the flared portion 35 is flattened on two opposite sides 27 as shown in Fig. 9. Two depending arms 38 are mounted dependent from the flat disc portion 21 of the needle assembly, the needle assembly of this modification (see Fig. 8), being otherwise similar to that shown in Figs. 1-4, that is, having springlike cylindrical arms 22 also mounted to the flat plate portion 21 terminating in a wide flaring finger gripping portion 23. The dependent arms of each have a portion 39 at the end bent inwardly towards the other, the pair of arms and bent portion being slightly flexible, the hooklike gripping members of which are at a distance from the disc 21 suflicient to cooperate with the shoulder 36 defining the inner end of the flared portion of the plunger 19 to grip the same in clamp operative position. The hollow portion of the plunger 19 within the piston-like element is bored to receive the hub portion of the needle 24 as well as the extended portion of the outer end of the needle 27.

In inoperative position, as shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, the clamping elements 38 with hooks 39 are normally and resiliently spaced so that when the plunger rod 19 is presented for assembly the flat portions thereof 37 will pass between the hooked ends of the clamp 39 to encompass the hub 24 and needle 27. Then, by giving the plunger rod 19 a 90 twist on the hub as a pivot, the hooked portions 39 cooperate with the shoulder portion 36 or the flared piston-like portion to effect a clamping relationship with the resilient arms 38 and hooks 39 whereby the plunger and needle become mounted together in secure, undisplaceable and sterile assembly until ready for use. When this modification of the syringe assembly is to be used, it becomes merely necessary to give the plunger another 90 turn, withdraw the plunger from clamped position, and invert the same to the opposite end of the cartridge for use as shown in any of the assembled Figs. 26.

An additional advantage of the dependent plunger clamping means shown here is that the turned clamping ends 39 in normal use act as a better barrier snubber against the patients body than the normal hub portion 24 to prevent striking of the body to be injected by the hub 24 upon deep penetration of the needle into the body to be injected.

Thus, an improved needle construction adapted to readily clamp to the ends of a tubular medicinal cartridge :1

or to have improved clamping arms flared to provide a finger grip integral therewith; or to further have oppositely depending clamps to cooperate with a modified plunger construction is described. An improved tubular cartridge construction is further described, having in one modification a flared end to retain a resilient banding element, and in another modification a resilient banding element mounted intermediate the ends of an indefinitely long cartridge; or a tubular cartridge having the stoppers slidable and one or more thereof mounted intermediate the ends of the tube to provide a sterile chamber for the inwardly projecting needle assembled therewith in inoperative position, one stopper of which may be advanced by the hydrostatic pressure of operation of the opposite pistonlike cork until pierced by the needle; or another modified form of cartridge which may have only the slidable stopper mounted inwardly from an end of the cartridge to define a chamber to protect the needle when the cartridge is mounted invertedly therewith, the cartridge being adapted to be reversed with respect to the needle assembly when ready for use.

Finally, an improved plunger construction is described which cooperates with an additional pair of projecting clamping arms on the end of the needle, the clamping elements serving to clamp a pistonlike element forming part of the plunger in tightly clamped relation as a sheath in inoperative position about the needle to protect the same in sterile condition, and in use the pistonlike element acting to evenly distribute pressure over the pistonlike cork for ejection of the contents of the cartridge, the clamping elements protruding from the needle having the additional function of acting as stops to prevent damage to the body injected by driving impact of the total mo mentum of the body of the syringe assembly in use.

The several figures of the drawing describe the improved elements and combinations thereof, but it will be understood that certain modifications known in the art may be used.

As thus described, it will be apparent that the several views shown herein in the drawings are to be regarded 6 as illustrative and not limiting except as defined in the claims appended hereto.

We claim:

1. In a hypodermic syringe the combination of an elongated disposable type tubular cartridge having slidable stoppers confining a body of injectible fluid therebetween, at least one of said stoppers being mounted intermediate the ends of the tube to provide at least one cylindrical open chamber portion in the tube, a hypodermic needle assembly comprising an elongated hollow needle tapered to points at both ends and supported at an intermediate point through an annular plate coaxial therewith, a hub carried by said plate on the outer exposed side surrounding said needle, said needle assembly having a pair of resilient spring arms mounted on diametrically opposite portions of the periphery of said plate generally parallel to the axis of said needle, said spring arms being mounted in clamping relationship about the open chamber end of said tube with the annular plate supporting element for the needle forming a closure for said chamber, and a hollow, manually-activatable plunger rod cooperating with said needle hub for support thereby as a sterile protective sheath for the outwardly extending portion of the needle prior to use,

7 and cooperative with an open chamber portion of said tube as a support for plunger operation thereof against a stopper when said plunger rod is inverted for use.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein the assembly further carries resilient means laterally protruding from said tube adapted to be gripped by the fingers in the actuation of said hypodermic syringe to eject the contents thereof.

3. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein the tube has associated therewith resilient finger gripping elements laterally protruding from said assembly adapted to be gripped by the fingers in the operation of said syringe, said resilient finger gripping elements comprising a pair of laterally extending flared ears integral with the springlike clamping arms of said needle assembly, whereby the gripping of said syringe through said finger gripping means enhances the clamping effect of said needle and facilitates the holding of said syringe in the operation thereof.

4. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein said needle and cartridge assembly has laterally extending from the cartridge a resilient finger gripping means, said finger gripping means comprising a resilient band mounted about the outside of and frictionally gripping said cartridge.

5. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein said needle and cartridge assembly has laterally extending from the cartridge a resilient finger gripping means, said finger gripping means comprising a resilient band mounted about the outside of said cartridge intermediate the ends thereof.

6. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein said needle and cartridge assembly has laterally extending from the cartridge a resilient finger gripping means, said finger gripping means comprising a resilient band mounted about the outside of said cartridge at the outer end thereof, said tubular cartridge being flared to form a retaining flange for said resilient band.

7. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the needle assembly has a hub on the outer face integral a with said annular plate through which the hollow needle is supported, said hollow tubular plunger element being mounted about said hub and forming a sheath to protect in sterile condition the outwardly extending needle portion of said needle assembly, the end associated with said hub of said plunger element being flared to a wider portion flattened upon two opposite sides to define a pistonlike element adapted to distribute the pressure more evenly upon a slidable stopper in the actuation thereof, said needle assembly having a pair of springlike clamping elements dependent therefrom in the direction of the outwardly extending portion of the needle and separated a sufficient distance to receive therebetween the flattened portion of said piston element, said clamping elements having inturned hooidike portions adapted to engage the flared piston portion to clamp the plunger rod in protective position upon said hub when the plunger rod is turned radially about said hub.

8. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein the slidable stoppers within said tubular cartridge are both fixed inwardly from each end thereof to define cylindrical open spaces at the ends thereof, of which one forms a protective chamber about the inwardly extending portion of the needle to protect the inner needle end in inoperative and sterile condition prior to use and the other forms an open cylindrical guide for the plunger rod in use.

9. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein only one of the stoppers, adapted to he slidaoly operated as a piston, is mounted in said cartridge at a point intermediate an end of said tubular cartridge, the other stopper being mounted at the extreme opposite end of said tube to confine iniectible fiuid therebetween, said cartridge being mounted invertedly with said needle assembly in inoperative sterile position with the inner end of said needle protected within the cylindrical space in the end of the tube formed between said piston stopper and the annular plate clamped about the chamber end of the tube, said assembly being adapted to be manually inverted in use with the needle assembly clamped about the opposite end of the tube with the inner needle portion penetrating the stopper in the end thereof.

10. A hypodermic needle assembly adapted to be clamped to the end of a disposable cartridge containing body injectible fluid comprising a hollow needle having both ends tapered by grinding the points thereof in a plane at an acute angle to the axis thereof whereby the openings at the ends thereof is substantially lateral to the axis of the needle, said needle being mounted in an annular plate normal to the axis of said needle inter mediate the ends thereof, a pair of springlike arms resiliently mounted integral with the edges of said annular plate to extend substantially parallel to the axis of the needle, said springlike arms being curved substantially to conform to the periphery of said circular plate along the axis thereof parallel to said needle, said radially curved spring arms being mounted from said annular plate at diametrically opposite peripheral portions thereof and each being sufiiciently narrow to comprise a short are of the circumference of said annular plate, whereby they are capable of receiving and tightly gripping the cylindrical end of a tube to support the circular platelike element as a substantial closure thereof with one end of the needle protruding into the tube, and a pair of clamping arms depending from said disc in an opposite direction to the first mentioned spring arms and adapted to clampingly retain a sheathing member about the opposite end of said needle.

11. The needle assembly defined in claim 10 wherein the first pair of spring arms are each widely and oppositely flared in a lateral direction rrorn the axis thereof to provide finger gripping means at the outer ends thereof.

12. The needle assembly as defined in claim 10 wherein the second pair of depending clamping elements have inturned ends adapted to coact with and securely retain a pair of shoulders carried by a needle sheathing member for mounting upon said needle.

13. A hypodermic needle assembly comprising two pairs of parallel spring arms resiliently mounted, each pair extending in an opposite direction vertically from the periphery of an annular plate-like member, each arm adapted to apply resilient pressure against an opposite arm of each pair to securely support by clamping a tubular element therebetween, a hub member protruding vertically from the center of one face of the platelike member, the spring arms extending from the platelike member on the side carrying the hub having the outer ends thereof bent inwardly each towards the opposite spring arm and terminating to define a narrow space therebetween, and a hollow needle firmly mounted vertically through the center of said hub and platelike member to have a substantial portion thereof protruding on opposite sides of said plate-like member and hub.

14. A plunger element for a hypodermic syringe comprising an elongated narrow bore hollow tube having one end closed by an annular plate-like knob and the other end flared to a widened piston-like portion extending a short distance along the shank from the open end thereof and terminating inwardly from said end in an annular shoulder, said flared portion being flattened radially inward on two opposite sides.

15. The needle assembly defined in claim 10 wherein the first pair of spring arms are each widely and op ositely flared laterally from the needle axis to provide finger gripping means at the outer ends thereof, at least the outer point of the hollow needle being tapered in a plane at an acute angle to the axis of said needle whereby liquid passing therethrough will be deflected laterally to said axis and in a direction substantially normal to the plane of said widely flared spring arms.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1,263,793 Mulford Apr. 23, 1918 1,529,659 Marcy Mar. 17, 1925 1,783,956 Cook Dec. 9, 1930 1,816,857 Kulik Aug. 4, 1931 1,860,898 Meyer May 31, 1932 1,948,982 Cutter Feb. 27, 1934 2,460,039 Scherer et al. Jan. 25, 1949 2,473,733 Smith June 21, 1949 2,545,017 Billingsley Mar. 13, 1951 2,550,394 Young et al. Apr. 24, 1951 2,551,339 Ryan et al. May 1, 1951 2,562,129 Scherer et a1 July 24, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 443,658 France July 19, 1912

Images