Syringe with flat indicia display surface

Inventors

Shaw, Thomas J. • Small, Mark • Zhu, Ni

Assignees

Retractable Technologies Inc

Abstract

A medical syringe having a barrel with a substantially cylindrical, longitudinally extending fluid chamber, a needle retraction cavity substantially coextensive in length with the fluid chamber and disposed adjacent and parallel to the fluid chamber, and at least one substantially flat, outwardly facing display area configured to receive and display an array of volumetric measuring indicia in alignment with and proximal to the fluid chamber.

Core Innovation

The invention provides a syringe for medical use having a barrel with a substantially cylindrical fluid chamber and a needle retraction cavity disposed parallel to, longitudinally coextensive with, and laterally offset from the fluid chamber. The barrel is unitarily molded as one piece and includes an outer wall with a substantially flat indicia display portion contiguous with and extending laterally in a single direction from the fluid chamber.

The needle retraction cavity is separated from the fluid chamber by a portion of a cylindrical sidewall or a common interior wall that provides the needle retraction cavity with a non-circular cross-section. A plunger is configured to slidably engage with an interior surface of the cylindrical sidewall of the fluid chamber, and a frontal attachment or needle retraction actuator is slidably engageable with the proximal end of the barrel in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis of the fluid chamber.

The frontal attachment or actuator includes a retractable needle and moves the retractable needle from a first position aligned with the fluid chamber to a second position aligned with the needle retraction cavity to initiate retraction upon actuation. The invention further includes an array of indicia comprising a volumetric dosage scale disposed on the substantially flat indicia display portion, and the substantially flat surface is configured to permit direct viewing of a medicinal fluid drawn into the cylindrical fluid chamber and to allow viewing of the needle after retraction.

Claims Coverage

The partial content includes multiple independent claims. The inventive features center on unitary or one-piece barrel structures with a cylindrical fluid chamber and a parallel, laterally offset needle retraction cavity having a non-circular cross-section, a substantially flat indicia display portion with volumetric scale indicia, and a needle retraction actuator or frontal attachment that repositions a retractable needle between alignment with the fluid chamber and alignment with the needle retraction cavity.

Across the independent claims, the inventive subject matter centers on one-piece barrel structures combining a cylindrical fluid chamber with a parallel, laterally offset needle retraction cavity of non-circular cross-section, together with substantially flat indicia or volumetric scale regions and an actuator that repositions a retractable needle to initiate retraction.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications