U.S. patent number 3,834,124 [Application Number 05/309,976] was granted by the patent office on 1974-09-10 for gas trap device for an intravenous injection.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Jintan Terumo Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Hiroshi Ichikawa.
United States Patent |
3,834,124 |
Ichikawa |
September 10, 1974 |
GAS TRAP DEVICE FOR AN INTRAVENOUS INJECTION
Abstract
A gas trap device for an intravenous injection comprises
longitudinal extending passageways, an inverted, U-shaped
passageway provided between and communicated with the longitudinal
extending passageways, and a trap chamber provided at the top
portion of the inverted, U-shaped passageway so as to prevent a
gaseous material contained in a transfusion liquid from entering
the body.
Inventors: |
Ichikawa; Hiroshi (Fujinomiya,
JA) |
Assignee: |
Jintan Terumo Co., Ltd. (Tokyo,
JA)
|
Family
ID: |
14581421 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/309,976 |
Filed: |
November 28, 1972 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 1, 1971 [JA] |
|
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46-112227 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
96/219; 55/322;
210/198.1; 210/299; 604/126 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61M
5/36 (20130101); B01D 19/0031 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A61M
5/36 (20060101); B01D 19/00 (20060101); B01d
019/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;55/52,159,192,199,468,322 ;128/214R
;210/198R,305,308,DIG.19,DIG.23 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Zaharna; Samih N.
Assistant Examiner: Burks; Richard W.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Kemon, Palmer & Estabrook
Claims
What we claim is:
1. A gas trap device for an intravenous injection comprising
longitudinally extending passageways, an inverted U-shaped liquid
passageway provided between and communicated with said
longitudinally extending passageways, and covering means provided
over the inverted U-shaped liquid passageway for keeping air-tight
the liquid passageway, the top portion of said inverted U-shaped
liquid passageway being larger in cross-sectional area than the
other passageways, thereby providing a gas trap chamber.
2. The gas trap device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said covering
means is a rubber plug through which additional liquid can be
introduced.
3. The gas trap device as claimed in claim 1 in which said covering
means is a plastic plate.
4. The gas trap device as claimed in claim 1 in which a filter mesh
is provided in said U-shaped liquid passageway.
5. The gas trap device as claimed in claim 1 in which a filter mesh
is provided at the inlet to said U-shaped liquid passageway and
another filter mesh is provided at the outlet of said U-shaped
liquid passageway.
6. The gas trap device as claimed in claim 4 wherein said filter
mesh is a plastic mesh.
7. The gas trap device as claimed in claim 4 wherein said filter
mesh is a disc of porous material.
8. The gas trap device claimed in claim 4 wherein said gas trap
chamber is surrounded by a holding cylinder which serves to hold
said filter mesh in position relative to said U-shaped liquid
passageway.
9. The gas trap device claimed in claim 4 wherein said filter mesh
is thermally fused to the bottom portion of said gas trap
chamber.
10. The gas trap device claimed in claim 4 wherein said filter mesh
is adhesively bonded to the bottom portion of said gas trap
chamber.
Description
The present invention relates to a gas trap device for removing
bubble or gas from a transfusion liquid during intravenous
injection.
In the prior art, gas trap devices for use in blood transfusion
etc. are provided at the wall portion in the neighbourhood of a
projector or needle, for example, in a manner to form a bulging
space, to permit bubble or gas to be removed from a transfusion
liquid. The transfusion liquid flowed through a straight passageway
is passed at the bulging space where bubble or gas rises and
degassing is effected. In the degassing devices as above-mentioned
there are encountered drawbacks that the rising of bubble or gas is
prevented by the axial flow of a transfusion liquid and the removal
of gas or bubble from a transfusion liquid is not necessarily
complete.
When an additional liquid medicine, e.g. cardiac etc. is added to a
transfusion liquid in the conventional gas trap device, a rubber
tube is connected at the forward end of the degassing device and an
injection needle is pierced through the rubber tube into the
transfusion liquid. A liquid medicine thus added to the transfusion
liquid in the neighbourhood of the degassing device is transfused
to the human body without being intimately mixed with the
transfusion liquid.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a gas
trap device which is capable of more complete removal of bubble or
gas and foreign material from a transfusion liquid as well as
capable of an intimate mixing of an additional medicine liquid with
a transfusion liquid.
The gas trap device according to the present invention comprises
longitudinal extending passageways, an inverted, U-shaped
passageway provided between and communicated with the longitudinal
extending passageways and a covering means for keeping air-tight
the liquid passageway, the top portion of the inverted, U-shaped
passageway being made larger in cross-sectional area than the other
passageways so as to remove the bubble or gas from a transfusion
liquid.
The present invention can be more fully understood from the
following detailed description when taken in connection with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows a blood transfusion set in which a gas trap device
according to the present invention is used;
FIG. 2 is a view in cross section showing the gas trap device and
its connection;
FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along line II--II of FIG.
2;
FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the gas trap device;
FIG. 5 is a plan view of the gas trap device;
FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a filter mesh of FIGS. 2 and 3;
FIG. 7 is a cross section of a rubber plug as used in FIGS. 2 and
3;
FIG. 8 shows a holding cylinder used in the gas trap device of
FIGS. 2 and 3;
FIG. 9 shows a bottom view of the holding cylinder;
FIG. 10 is another embodiment of the gas trap device showing the
major parts thereof; and
FIG. 11 is a further modification of the gas trap device according
to the present invention.
Let us now explain the embodiments of a gas trap device according
to the present invention by reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows
a diagrammatic view of a blood transfusion set. Reference numeral 1
shows a main vessel arranged at a higher place. The main vessel may
be a blood transfusion bottle or bag. The main vessel 1 is
connected through a penetrating needle 2 to the blood transfusion
set which is connected through a drip chamber 4 and gas trap device
7 to an injection needle 5. Between the drip chamber 4 and the
injection needle provided with the gas trap device there is
provided a clamp 6. The adjustment of the clamp 6 permits a proper
amount of liquid to be injected through the injection needle 5 into
the human body.
To explain the gas trap device in more detail the gas trap device 7
is shown in FIG. 2 to be connected at each end. The gas trap device
per se is made of a synthetic resin and has longitudinal extending
passageways 8a, 8b and an inverted, U-shaped passageway 9 disposed
at a middle between the passageways 8a and 8b. The inverted,
U-shaped passageway 9 is constructed as such that, as shown by
arrows in FIG. 2, a liquid introduced from the passageway 8a is,
upon contact with an abutting wall 10, passed upwards through a
bore 11a to a trap chamber provided at the top portion of the
inverted, U-shaped passageway and, after diffusion, is flowed
downwards through another bore 11b to the passageway 8b. The bottom
portion of the gas trap device 7 confronting the trap chamber 12 is
flattened so as to effect an easy attachment to the human body. The
trap chamber constitutes a cylindrical space surrounded by a
holding cylinder and has an extremely larger capacity than the
amount of liquid passed beyond the inverted, U-shaped passageway 9.
When the liquid is passed through the trap chamber 12 bubble or gas
present therein is trapped within the trap chamber.
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 a holding cylinder 13 has a pair of
cup-shaped bores 11a, 11b at the bottom portion thereof and fitted
within the cylindrical wall of the gas trap device 7 per se. The
holding cylinder 13 has an annular shoulder 15 at the bottom
portion of the cylindrical wall 14 and is so designed as to
securely hold a filter mesh on the top surface of the abutting wall
which is in the same plane as the annular shoulder. As a filter
mesh use is made, for example, of a disk-like filter mesh (37 .mu.
pore size) of 9 mm in diameter. Within the inner wall of the
cylindrical wall 14 there is provided a projection which is fitted
into a groove 18 provided in an outer wall of the holding cylinder
13. This prevents any displacement of the holding cylinder 13 with
respect to the cylindrical wall. As will be understood from the
drawings the bores 11a, 11b are arranged at each side of the
abutting wall 10.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 a member such as rubber plug 19, through
which additional liquid is introduced, may be sealed, as required,
over the upper opening of the trap chamber 12. Before assembly the
member 19 is in a position shown in FIG. 7 and has a plate-like
portion 20 around which a cylindrical mating side wall 21 extends
downwards. When the member 19 is assembled, the plate-like portion
20 is fitted over the opening of the cylindrical wall 14 to permit
the mating side wall to be resiliently snap-fitted in a
liquid-tight fashion over the cylindrical wall due to the
resilience of the rubber plug 19. In this case a projection
provided on the inner end portion of the mating side wall is
snap-fitted over an annular projection 23 of the cylindrical wall
portion 14 to permit the under-surface of the plate-like portion 20
to be urged downwardly relative to the top end of the holding
cylinder 13, thereby securing the holding cylinder in place. At the
liquid entering end of the gas trap device 7 there is connected one
end of a tube 24 the other end of which is connected to the drip
chamber 4. Over the outer periphery at the liquid discharging end
of the degassing tube 7 a tapered cannula 5a is fitted having a
needle 5.
When the gas trap device of the above-mentioned structure is used,
transfusion blood can be supplied from the tube 24 with the trap
chamber 12 kept underside and any air trapped within the trap space
rises in the liquid passageway 8 and is degassed out of the needle
5. In this case, the trap chamber is filled with the liquid. Then a
transfusion operation is effected with the trap chamber kept
underside. When the fluid rises along the inverted, U-shaped
passageway 9 bubbles of gas present in the liquid rise within the
trap chamber 12 to permit the rising of the bubbles of gas to be
promoted with the result that it is easily trapped within the trap
chamber. This assures a degassing operation. Filter meshes 16 are
provided one at the entry side and one at the discharge side of the
inverted, U-shaped liquid passageway. Therefore, a transfusion
liquid must be passed through filter mesh 16 and bore 11a into the
trap chamber and be passed through filter mesh 16 and bore 11b out
of the trap chamber. Since the liquid is passed through the filter
mesh twice, any foreign matter is removed as well as a degassing
operation is promoted due to the presence of a filter mesh at the
discharge side of the inverted, U-shaped passageway. The filter
mesh is usually required in the blood transfusion. However, it is
not required in the transfusion of preliminarily refined liquid
medicine etc.
When an additional liquid medicine is to be added to the
transfusion fluid, a transfusion needle is pierced through the
portion 20 of the rubber plug into the trap chamber 12. Since the
needle is pierced into the eddy transfusion liquid caused by the
inverted, U-shaped passageway 9 a liquid mixing operation is
further promoted, which is partly aided by the presence of the
filtering mesh. Thus, a sufficient stirring or agitation is
assured. When a liquid medicine is added through a rubber tube
connected at the drip chamber side of the gas trap device a mixing
operation is effected at the inverted, U-shaped passageway and trap
chamber 12 and filter mesh 16.
FIG. 10 shows another plug member through which another liquid is
added by means of a needle to a transfusion liquid. Into the
opening of a cylindrical wall 25 there is fitted a plug member 26
over which a thermally shrinkable tube 27 may be fitted. It is also
possible to form an outer threaded portion at the periphery wall of
the cylindrical wall 25 which is in mesh with an inner threaded
portion provided at the inner periphery of the plug member. It will
be clear that the other anchoring means may be used in this
case.
When another liquid is added through a rubber tube connected at the
drip chamber side of the degassing tube it is not particularly
necessary to provide any plug member at the trap chamber 12. In
this case the opening of the cylindrical wall 28 may be covered
with a synthetic resin dish plate 29 which is either thermally
fused or adhesively bonded to the top end of the cylindrical wall
28. A filter mesh 30 may be adhesively bonded to the shoulder
portion 15 and abutting wall 10.
In the above embodiments, use is made as a filter mesh of such
material as nylon mesh. However, as a filter mesh, there may be
used a variety of porous materials such as, for example, polyvinyl
chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonate, those
sintered or compression formed materials made of the other powdered
synthetic resins, as well as inorganic porous materials such as,
for example, fiscuit diatomaceous earth, glass fiber, asbestos,
metal sintered body etc. These porous filter materials have a
porous diameter of 20-150 .mu.. Preferable is a filter material
capable of eliminating particles whose size ranges between 3 and 80
.mu.. These porous materials, unlike those flattened meshes, are
capable of catching any foreign matter not only at the surface but
also at the inside thereof. Since the foreign matter is caught in a
dispersed manner, lesser clogging of the mesh is encountered as
compared with the amount of the foreign matter as caught. Even if
the amount of the foreign matter so caught is increased, the flow
resistance of the liquid is not so increased, thereby assuring a
long service of life. The foreign matter once caught does not tend
to pass through the filter mesh.
As will be understood from the above explanation the present
invention provides a gas trap device for liquid transfusion capable
of assuredly removing bubble or gas from a transfusion liquid as
well as adding another liquid to the transfusion liquid. This
assures an easy transfusion operation as well as easy addition of
another liquid to the transfusion liquid without involving any
dangerous result.
* * * * *