U.S. patent number 3,783,900 [Application Number 05/259,945] was granted by the patent office on 1974-01-08 for stop cock.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Medex, Inc.. Invention is credited to Charles C. Waldbillig.
United States Patent |
3,783,900 |
Waldbillig |
January 8, 1974 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
STOP COCK
Abstract
A stop cock comprising a cup-shaped body having three ports and
associated spigots formed at right angles to one another, and a
plug disposed in the body and sealed thereto above said ports. The
plug has a downwardly depending, generally cylindrical wall which
defines a recess in the bottom of the plug, the wall being slotted
to provide openings alignable with the ports. A stiffening element
is inserted in the recess to provide assurance of sufficient
radially outward pressure of said walls against the internal
surface of said body to seal off said ports when the plug is
rotated to a sealing position.
Inventors: |
Waldbillig; Charles C.
(Columbus, OH) |
Assignee: |
Medex, Inc. (Hilliard,
OH)
|
Family
ID: |
22987117 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/259,945 |
Filed: |
June 5, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
137/625.47;
251/309; 604/248; 251/904 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F16K
11/0853 (20130101); Y10T 137/86871 (20150401); Y10S
251/904 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
F16K
11/02 (20060101); F16K 11/085 (20060101); F16k
011/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;137/625.47,625.4,625.5
;251/309,310,311,312,313,314 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Scott; Samuel
Attorney, Agent or Firm: James S. Hight et al.
Claims
I claim:
1. A medical valve comprising,
a generally cylindrical cup-shaped body having at least two
diametrically opposed ports in the lower portion thereof,
a plug rotatably mounted in said body,
cooperating means on said plug and body respectively for forming a
liquid-tight seal above said ports,
the lower portion of said plug being formed by a generally
cylindrical wall which defines a recess extending above said port
locations,
said wall having openings alignable with said ports to permit
liquid to pass through said valve,
and a stiffening element snugly fitting in said recess below said
port locations to provide radially outward pressure of said wall
against said body to seal said ports.
2. A valve as in claim 1 in which said stiffening element comprises
a disc disposed at the bottom of said plug,
and at least one projection extending between said disc and the
upper end of said recess.
3. A valve as in claim 1 further comprising,
positioning means extending between said stiffening element and the
upper end of said recess, said positioning means being out of a
line between said openings in said plug walls.
4. A valve as in claim 3 in which the openings in said valve are
formed by slots extending from the bottom of said plug to the top
of said ports.
5. A valve as in claim 4 in which said stiffening element has at
least one laterally projecting locator tab disposed in at least one
of said slots to block rotation of said element with respect to
said plug.
Description
This invention relates to a stop cock or medical valve of the type
employed for intravenous injection of drugs and solutions for
medical and surgical uses. The present invention provides improved
features over the medical valve disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
3,276,472.
The valve of U. S. Pat. No. 3,276,472 includes a cup-shaped body
and a plug rotatably mounted in the body. The cup has three ports
and associated spigots by which sources of fluid and a hypodermic
needle are attached to the valve with the plug controlling the flow
of fluids to the hypodermic needle. The plug has a recess which
extends almost to the bottom of the plug and has slots in the side
walls of the plug, the slots being alignable with the ports to
permit the flow of fluid down through the slots and along the
bottom of the body. The deep recess, with its bottom wall extending
across the plug, provides a firm sealing engagement of the walls of
the plug with the interior surface of the body so as to enable the
passage of fluids to be securely blocked when the plug is rotated
to a sealing position.
An objective of the present invention has been to provide a valve
of the type described above with provision for utilizing the valve
for the application of an in-dwelling catheter connected directly
to the valve. An in-dwelling catheter consists of a thin tube and a
trocar (thin needle) slidable in the tube, the sharpened end of the
trocar initially projecting from the end of the tube. In preparing
the patient for the in-dwelling catheter, the combined tube and
trocar are injected into the vein of the patient with the trocar
forming an initial puncture through the skin and vein of the
patient, thereby permitting the thin tube to follow the trocar and
project into the vein of the patient. Thereafter, the trocar is
removed, leaving the thin tube. This system, utilizing a thin tube,
has advantages over the use of a hypodermic needle, for a needle,
if left in the limb of a patient, could cause injury to the patient
through the movement of the patient or valve causing the sharp
needle to make inadvertent punctures or scratches on the wall of
the vein.
In accordance with the present invention, the thin tube is directly
mountable to one of the spigots of the valve and the trocar is
adapted to pass through the body of the valve through the thin tube
during the time of injecting the catheter into the patient's limb.
Thereafter, the trocar is removed and sources of fluid are
connected to one or both of the remaining spigots.
It has been another objective of the present invention to provide a
plug for a valve of the type described above in which the plug has
a downwardly depending, generally cylindrical wall having openings
in it alignable with the ports in the body for the passage of
fluid. The walls define a deep recess in the body of the plug which
permits the passage of a trocar between diametrically opposed ports
and through the body and plug.
The need for the deep recess gives rise to a problem of slight
radial inward deflection, under applied fluid pressure, of the
walls which define the recess. In order to create a suitable
sealing relationship between the plug walls and the internal
surface of the body, the invention provides a stiffening element
located in the bottom of the plug. The stiffening element
preferably consists of a disc having an outside diameter equal to
that of the inside diameter of the plug recess and a projection
extending between the disc and the upper end of the recess to block
upward movement of the disc which would tend to occlude the
passageway between the opposed ports. The stiffening element
further includes means for locating the angular position of the
disc with respect to the plug so as to be sure that the projections
are out of a line between the opposed ports when the opposed ports
are interconnected by the plug.
The several features and objectives of the invention will become
more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken
in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view illustrating the
application of the invention in an in-dwelling catheter
situation;
FIG. 2 is a disassembled perspective view of the invention;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view through the center of the
invention;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 4--4 of FIG. 3;
and
FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are plan views of alternative forms of stiffening
elements .
Referring to FIG. 1, a stop cock 10 is shown interconnecting a thin
catheter tube 11 to a hypodermic syringe 12 and a tube 13 connected
to a source 14 of an intravenous solution such as glucose.
Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the valve 10 includes a body 16, a
plug 17 rotatably mounted in the body, and a stiffening element 18.
The body is cup-shaped and has three ports 20, 21 and 22 and
spigots 23, 24 and 25 associated with respective ports.
The body has an internal surface 26 which is generally cylindrical
and mates with, in a tight fitting relation, a cylindrical surface
27 of the plug 17. The upper end of the surface 26 of the body has
an annular groove 28 which receives a sealing ring 29 at the upper
end of the surface 27 of the plug.
The plug has a generally cylindrical, downwardly depending wall 31
defining a recess 32 having an upper end 33. The wall 31 has three
slots 35, 36 and 37 which are alignable with respective ports 20,
21 and 22 to permit communication of the ports with each other for
the flow of fluid.
The plug further includes a handle 40 and pointers 41 all located
exteriorly of the body. The pointers 41 are aligned with the
respective slots 35-37 to indicate the angular position of the
slots in relation to the spigots, thereby advising the operator of
the condition of the valve insofar as sealing off ports and
interconnection of ports is concerned.
The stiffening element includes a disc 45 and four projections 46
which extend between the disc and the upper end 33 of the recess,
thereby locating the disc at the open end of the recess. The disc
has two laterally projecting tabs 47 which are slidably received in
the opposed slots 35 and 37, locating angularly located the disc in
the recess. The angular locating of the disc in the recess provides
assurance that the projections 46 will be out of line with the
ports 20 and 21 when the plug is rotated to bring those ports into
communication with one another, as shown, for example, in FIG.
4.
The particular configuration of the stiffening element 18 is
subject to variation without departing from the invention. For
example, a stiffening element 50 is shown in FIG. 5 which consists
of a generally cylindrical member whose height is substantially
equal to the depth of the recess 32, the element having a T-shaped
slot 51 which defines the projections and which permits the
required flow of fluid and passageway for the introduction of a
trocar.
A similarly formed stiffening element 53 is shown in FIG. 6, the
element 53 having a cruciform slot 54 which defines the
projections.
The stiffening element 56 of FIG. 7 is employed in an application
where there is no requirement for the introduction of a trocar. The
element 56 has a disc 57 and a simple centrally located projection
58 extending between the disc 57 and the upper end of the recess
32. No locating tabs are required in the embodiment of FIG. 7.
In the use of the invention of the embodiments of FIGS. 1-6, the
medical valve with a thin tube 11 attached to it and a trocar
extending through the valve with its tip projecting from the end of
the thin tube is placed on the patient's arm. Preferably, the plug
is rotated to the orientation illustrated in FIG. 4 wherein the
port 22 is sealed off and the ports 20, 21 are interconnected so as
to permit the trocar to pass through the valve. Further, it is
preferable to have the spigot 24 opposite the spigot 23 carrying
the thin tube preliminarily sealed off by a cap of the type
normally closing a bottle of fluid from which the doctor fills a
hypodermic syringe. Such a cap is puncturable by the trocar and
reseals itself when the trocar is removed to prevent the escape of
blood from the valve during the period between the removal of the
trocar and the rotation of the plug to a sealing orientation.
The trocar and tube are introduced into the patient's vein and the
trocar is thereafter removed. The valve is rotated about one-eighth
of a turn to seal all ports. The sources of respective fluids are
then connected to the remaining spigots 24 and 25, after first
removing the cap from the spigot 24. Thereafter the plug is rotated
to align the desired ports 21 and 22 with the port 20 or to seal
off the ports as required.
In the operation, the stiffening element 18 braces the wall 31
against radial inward movement, thereby providing assurance of good
sealing engagement of the wall with the internal surface 26 of the
body 16. Additionally, the element 18 minimizes the residual fluid
of one source in the body 16 when the valve is changed to connect
another source to the tube 11.
* * * * *