Syringe with flat indicia display surface

Inventors

Shaw, Thomas J. • Small, Mark

Assignees

Retractable Technologies Inc

Abstract

A syringe for medical use having a barrel with a longitudinally extending tubular fluid chamber and at least one longitudinally extending, outwardly facing, substantially flat indicia display surface disposed proximally to the fluid chamber, a plunger slidably inserted into the fluid chamber, a needle projecting forwardly from the barrel in fluid communication with the fluid chamber; and a fixed length needle safety device having an activation handle slidably engaging the barrel and a forwardly projecting needle tip shield encircling the needle that moves forwardly to cover a tip end of the needle when the activation handle is moved forwardly following use of the syringe.

Core Innovation

A medical syringe is provided with a barrel that includes a nose with an internal bore, a tubular section extending rearwardly and coaxially aligned with the nose and having an open rear end, a transversely projecting fingertip flange, and a cylindrical collar extending rearwardly from the fingertip flange for releasable engagement with a plunger cap. A plunger is slidably inserted into the tubular section through the cylindrical collar to form a fluid reservoir inside the tubular section. A needle projects forwardly from the nose in fixed relation to the internal bore and is in fluid communication with the fluid reservoir.

Two indicia display members are unitarily molded and attached in fixed relation to the tubular section and the transversely projecting fingertip flange, extending longitudinally in a parallel and spaced-apart relation. Each indicia display member has a substantially flat, printable outwardly facing surface with printed volumetric scale indicia located adjacent to a sufficiently transparent portion of the tubular section, to facilitate reading of a liquid level inside the fluid reservoir through the sufficiently transparent portion. In another embodiment, a display extends longitudinally in fixed relation to the fluid chamber, with first and second walls unitarily molded to a tubular sidewall and carrying volumetric scale indicia on substantially flat outwardly facing surfaces.

A needle safety device is configured to surround the needle tip after use using an activation handle that moves between a first stop position and a safe second stop position. In one approach, the activation handle is slidably disposed between inwardly facing, longitudinally extending walls of the indicia display members, and a needle tip shield surrounds the nose in the first stop position and surrounds the front tip of the needle when the handle is moved forwardly to the safe second stop position. In another approach, a sliding needle safety device slides forwardly between first and second walls from an exposed-tip first stop to a second stop in which the front tip is circumferentially covered by a portion of the needle safety device.

Claims Coverage

The document provides three independent claims that cover three inventive features: a syringe with paired unitarily molded indicia display members and a fixed needle safety device actuated between stop positions, a syringe with unitarily molded laterally extending walls around a cylindrical sidewall and a forward-sliding needle safety device between stop positions, and a syringe with a longitudinally fixed display integrated into the fluid chamber and a rail-and-channel driven needle safety device that exposes and then circumferentially shields the needle tip.

Across the independent claims, the inventive scope centers on integrating longitudinal, substantially flat indicia display surfaces into the syringe geometry for volumetric scale reading adjacent to a transparent portion, combined with a needle safety device actuated between a first stop position and a safe second stop position that exposes and then circumferentially shields the needle tip, including embodiments that use unitarily molded laterally outward walls and embodiments that use sliding rails and sliding channels.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications