Device For Withdrawing Or Adding Fluids To Hypodermic Syringes

Abstract

A mechanical device to aid the visually handicapped in loading a hypodermic syringe with a predetermined charge of liquid from a bottle having a penetrable cap, including an elongated base having a cradle and spring clip for releasibly holding the bottle, a carriage for removably supporting a hypodermic syringe having a needle pointing toward the bottle, a stop member adjustably coupled with the carriage at variable distance therefrom to indicate by abutment of the syringe plunger rod therewith when it is withdrawn to the proper charge position, and the carriage and stop member being guided for reciprocative movement along the base between limits wherein the needle is inserted in and is withdrawn from the bottle.

Description

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to aids to the visually handicapped to facilitate withdrawing or adding predetermined amounts of fluid from a container, and more particularly to a device for use by the visually handicapped or blind persons which facilitates the loading of hypodermic syringes with a predetermined fluid charge, such as for example with a charge of insulin.

Heretofore, it has been extremely difficult, and in most cases impossible, for persons with severely impaired vision to draw a predetermined charge of fluid from a vial or container by devices such as a hypodermic syringe or similar equipment. This has been a particularly severe problem for diabetics. The treatment of diabetes most often requires daily intramuscular injection of insulin. Normally, diabetics are expected to give themselves the necessary injection. Unfortunately, the disease will frequently impair the vision of the patient, often to the point of blindness, which will therefore inhibit his ability to prepare the syringe for himself with the proper dosage of insulin for self injection.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a mechanical device which permits the loading of a hypodermic syringe with a predetermined charge of insulin or other liquid from a vial or separate container, without requiring visual assistance.

Another object of the present invention is provision of a device for loading hypodermic syringes with a predetermined fluid charge of insulin of other fluid material without visual assistance, wherein the loading of the charge is accomplished devoid of undesirable air spaces, and wherein the apparatus is adjustable to allow a wide range of charge volumes.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a novel mechanical device for loading a syringe with a predetermined fluid charge from a vial without mechanical assistance, wherein the device removes air prior to filling the syringe and injects air into the vial during withdrawal of the fluid into the syringe to replace the withdrawn fluid.

It will be appreciated that the device herein disclosed is not restricted to medical use only, but has application to transfer of fluid from any sort of vial or container into another container designed to receive a predetermined charge of the fluid, and also facilitates automation of the process of adding or withdrawing a given quantity of liquid fluid at a particular location and time in an automated process.

Other objects, advantages and capabilities of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a device for withdrawing fluid into a syringe from a vial, embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section view of the apparatus, taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the apparatus, viewed from the left of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a vertical transverse section view taken along the lines 6--6 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures, the fluid charge loading device of the present invention is indicated generally by the reference character 10, and in the preferred embodiment herein illustrated is designed to effect loading of a hypodermic syringe 11 with liquid fluid drawn from a vial or bottle 12 of the type customarily used as the supply container for supplying fluid to the patient, such as a customary insulin vial having a constricted neck 13 with its entrance opening covered by the cap seal 14. The syringe 11 is of typical configuration having the generally cylindrical body portion 15 having the needle 16 projecting from one end and having flange like syringe grips 17 at the opposite end. The usual syringe piston moves axially within the body portion 15 and is moved by a plunger rod 18 of usual configuration.

The syringe loading device 10 comprises an elongated base platform 20 having an elongated centrally located longitudinal channel 21 or slot of selected length extending along the base platform 20, the base platform being mounted on a base member 22 longitudinally and laterally coextensive with the base platform and of generally U-shaped cross-sectional configuration providing a groove 23 therein underlying the channel or slot 21.

Adjacent one end of the base platform 20 (the left hand end as illustrated in FIG. 2), is a cradle member 24 of U-shaped profile which supports a resilient clip member 25, formed for example of spring metal, to releasibly support the vial or bottle 12. The cylindrical side portions of the vial 12 are grasped in the clip member 25, to frictionally retain the vial in the position shown in FIG. 2, while the vial is centered by a recess 26a in the cradle leg 26, the recess 26a being sized to just receive the constricted neck 13 of the bottle 12. The other cradle leg 27 is provided with a recess 27a in the form of a U-shaped slot opening through the top of the leg 27 to permit insertion of the operator's finger against the bottom of the bottle for removing the bottle.

A carriage 28 is movably positioned on the base platform 20 and is channeled, as indicated at 29, to receive the body portion 15 of the syringe and align it with the center of the cap seal 14 in the bottle 12. An upstanding shoulder formation or protrusion 30 rises from the end of the carriage 28 opposite the cradle 24 and is provided with transverse slot portions 31 intersecting the channel 29 for receiving the oppositely projecting syringe grips 17, thereby locating the syringe at proper position laterally in the carriage. The uppermost portions of the slot formations 31 are tapered as indicated at 31a to provide guide formations to aid in inserting the grips 17 into the slots 31.

A rod 32, having a threaded end, is threaded into the portion of the carriage 28 adjacent the shoulder formation 30 and projects slidably through a stop member 33. The stop member 33 can be fastened in any position relative to the carriage 28 by tightening a thumb screw 34, which is threaded transversely through a portion of the stop member 33, until the thumb screw 34 presses against the rod 32. When so fixed, the carriage 28 and stop member 33 will slide as one assembly.

The bottom portions of both the carriage 28 and the stop formation 33 are provided with key formations, projecting downwardly from the bottom thereof, interfitting into the matching channel 21 in the base platform 20, to provide a guide way for slidable movement of these two elements. Wide head screws 35 threaded into the key formations on the bottoms of the carriage 28 and stop formation 33 extend into the groove 23 in the base 22 with the heads of the screws 35 bearing against the lower surface of the base platform 20 immediately bounding the channel 21, thus allowing the carriage 28 and stop formation 33 to slide along the length of the channel 21 while preventing vertical motion of the carriage. The channel length is calculated to restrict the travel of the carriage in both directions to a selected range.

To use the device, the vial or bottle 12 of fluid is forced between the spring arms of the clip 25 to locate it in the cradle 24 with the constricted neck 13 centered by the recess 26a in the cradle leg 26. The syringe body 15 is fixedly positioned in the carriage 28 by seating it in the carriage channel 29 with the syringe grips 17 located in the slots 31 of the shoulder formation 30. The plunger rod 18 having the syringe piston fixed on the front end thereof is pulled back against the stop member 33 and, with the thumb screw 34 loose, the syringe plunger rod 18 and stop member 33 are adjusted by a person having sight to position the syringe piston at the proper point for the desired charge or capacity. The thump screw 34 is then tightened against the coupling rod 32 to fix the stop member 33 at a preselected position relative to the carriage 28.

To fill the syringe, the fluid charge loading device 10 is held upright so that the vial or bottle 12 is in an inverted position located at the top of the loading device 10, and the interconnected carriage 28 and stop member 33 are moved as a unit upwardly along the longitudinal axis of the channel 21 toward the vial until the key formation depending from the carriage 28 into the channel 21 reaches the upper end of the channel 21. At this point, the needle 16 will have pierced the cap seal 14 of the vial 12 and entered the vial. The syringe plunger rod 18 is then moved manually upwardly away from the stop 33 until the syringe piston reaches its uppermost limit position stopping upward motion of the plunger rod 18. During this upward movement of the syringe plunger rod, the air will be completely evacuated from the cavity defined by the syringe body 10, forcing this air into the vial. The plunger rod 18 and syringe piston are then pulled downwardly until the lower end of the plunger rod 18 abuts the stop member 33, thus drawing the desired dosage or charge into the syringe. The carriage 28 and interconnected stop member 33 are then moved away, or downwardly, from the vial 12 to the lower limit position determined by the channel 21, withdrawing the needle from the vial 12. The syringe may then be lifted from the carriage 28 and used.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for use by the visually handicapped for loading a syringe with a predetermined charge of liquid fluid from a bottle, the syringe having a cylindrical body portion and needle and a plunger rod and piston assembly movable axially of the body portion and the bottle having a penetrable cap member, the apparatus comprising an elongated planiform panel forming a platform including means defining an elongated rectilinear slot therein forming a rectilinear guideway extending along a major portion of the length of the panel between preselected limits, bottle supporting means for receiving and releasibly supporting the bottle with said penetrable cap facing toward the intermediate portion of said platform, a carriage member located in the intermediate region of the platform having projecting portions extending into a guided by said guide means for reciprocative movement of the carriage along a rectilinear axis between said limits, the carriage having recess means for supporting the syringe with the needle in preselected alinement along a syringe axis paralleling said rectilinear axis with said penetrable cap for insertion movement into and withdrawal from the bottle, an abutment block forming a stop member having a stop face facing toward said carriage and said bottle supporting means extending in transverse intercepting relation to the syringe axis, the abutment block having a guide tongue portion extending into said slot guiding the block for adjustment along said slot relative to said carriage and including adjustable coupling means connecting the block with said carriage to be coupled with the carriage at selected spaced positions along said slot therefrom providing an abutment stop for the syringe plunger rod when the latter is withdrawn to a selected dosage position, and means for manually moving said carriage and stop member as an intercoupled assembly through advancing and retracting strokes along said slot between the limits of said guide means moving said needle into and withdrawing the same from said bottle.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said bottle supporting means comprises a generally U-shaped cradle including an upwardly projecting leg having an upwardly opening slot therein to receive and center a neck portion of the bottle therein and including a second leg forming an abutment for the bottom of the bottle, and a generally C-shaped clip member of spring metal for receiving and frictionally holding a main body portion of the bottle therein.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein said syringe body portion has flange means projecting generally radially from the body portion, and said carriage member includes a rising shoulder portion having a first recess portion for receiving part of said body portion and a second intersecting recess for receiving said flange means and holding the syringe body against axial displacement.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said syringe body portion has flange means projecting generally radially from the body portion, and said carriage member includes a rising shoulder portion having a first recess portion for receiving part of said body portion and a second intersecting recess for receiving said flange means and holding the syringe body against axial displacement.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said second intersecting recess extends acress said shoulder portion transversely of said axis and said shoulder portion includes outwardly diverging surfaces forming a tapered entrance throat to said second intersecting recess.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said coupling means includes an elongated rod fixed to said carriage and extending through said stop member and set screw means in the latter to releasibly clamp against said rod.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said coupling means includes an elongated rod fixed to said carriage and extending through said stop member and set screw means in the latter to releasibly clamp against said rod.