Needle-free intradermal injection device

Inventors

Cappello, Chris • Wixey, Matt • Bingham, John W.

Assignees

PharmaJet Inc

Abstract

A needle-free injection device suitable for delivering a therapeutic substance into the intradermal space of a patient. The needle-free injection device includes an injector body defining a syringe end. The device also includes a first handle attached with a hinge to the injector body such that the first handle pivots between an open and a closed position and remains attached to the injector body during an injection, a main spring positioned within the injector body, a return sleeve engaged with the main spring, and a first linkage between the first handle and the return sleeve. The first linkage causes the return sleeve to move away from the syringe end of the injector body when the first handle is moved from the open position to the closed position, thereby compressing the main spring. Needle-free injection systems and methods of operating a needle-free injection device are also disclosed.

Core Innovation

The invention provides a needle-free injection device having an injector body that defines a syringe end, where a first handle is attached to the injector body so that the first handle pivots between an open and a closed position while remaining attached to the injector body during an injection. A main spring is positioned within the injector body and a return sleeve is engaged with the main spring. When the first handle is moved from the open position to the closed position, a first linkage between the first handle and the return sleeve moves the return sleeve away from the syringe end, thereby compressing the main spring.

The device further includes a return spring biasing the return sleeve toward the syringe end. The disclosed architecture includes a hammer driven by main-spring energy and a hammer-release mechanism that allows decompression of the main spring and drive of the hammer toward the syringe end. Safety interlocks are used so that an actuation button releases the hammer only after the injector tube assembly shifts rearward to compress a skin-tensioning spring, and a retract button prevents injector-tube rearward movement into a firing configuration unless depressed.

Additional disclosed structures include a latch/release arrangement with a separate release button and enhanced hinge support using pivot studs and radius mating surfaces. The hammer-release implementation is disclosed as using ball bearings in a ball lock, and the safety binding/clearance is described using clips/side posts that control engagement behavior unless fully closed. The disclosed needle-free syringe/plunger architecture supports dose setting, including remote filling and dose-setting surface coplanarity.

Claims Coverage

The partial content identifies two independent claims: clm-00001 directed to a needle-free injection device and clm-00010 directed to operating a needle-free injection system. Across these independent claims, five main inventive features are repeatedly emphasized: a pivoting handle that remains attached during injection, a linkage that moves a return sleeve to compress a main spring, a return spring that biases the return sleeve back, and a decompression-to-hammer-drive actuation concept associated with an actuation button. A method claim mirrors the handle-driven compression and subsequent return-spring-driven sleeve movement.

Claim coverage in the partial content centers on a handle-driven compression mechanism in which a pivoting handle remains attached during injection, drives a linkage that moves a return sleeve away from the syringe end to compress a main spring, and relies on a return spring to bias the return sleeve back when the handle is returned to the open position.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications