Pole-syringe for injecting from a remote distance

Abstract

A syringe device for administering hypodermic injections and comprising a conventional hypodermic syringe, an elongated pole secured to the plunger of the syringe and a sleeve frictionally slidable over the syringe barrel. The sleeve having a plug mounted in one end thereof which has a hole drilled axially therethrough for receiving the syringe needle wherein the hole on the outer exposed side of the plug is radially enlarged to provide the plug with an annular convex surface from the hole to the outer end of the plug, thus permitting the needle to bend in an arc about the annular convex surface in the event the animal moves during the injection process. The inner side of the plug is countersunk around the hole to provide a seat for the needle hub.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

On ranches and farms, in feedlots and zoos, throughout this and other countries, there is a constant need for the medical treatment of both domestic and wild animals. The use of injectible serums and other medicinal fluids are an essential element of such treatment. The basic syringe is usable in many situations where the animal has been restrained, pacified, or is under general anesthetic. But when dealing with domestic or wild animals that are relatively unrestrained, there are distinct advantages to a device that allows medicinal injections to be administered while the practitioner is standing some distance from the animal. The Pole-Syringe is such a device, and as the name indicates, is generally a syringe mechanism mounted at the end of a pole of the proper length. It allows said injections to be performed from a distance, and frequently from behind protective barriers, aa fence, or even from horse back. The pole-syringe, in several forms, has been in use for a number of years because of the advantages it offers the medical practitioner treating both domestic and wild animals. It also offers advantages to the animal, when properly designed. It allows the injection to be accomplished quickly, in the case of wild animals, without the hardships and extreme stress associated with persuing, drugging, restraining and capturing. This is also true of domestic animals, such as livestock, particularly where many head may be involved. It is an alternative to the restraint of each animal, one at a time.

Another important consideration where many head of animals are involved and most particularly where they are extremely similar in appearance that a removable element be included, as an attachable part of said Pole-Syringe, to visibly mark each animal injcted so that duplicate or multiple injections are not accidentally administered.

As most commonly used, in the past, a large syringe was simply strapped to a long pole. Though it worked, the syringe frequently "angled" on the pole, needles were badly bent or broken off in the animal, and the pressure required to inject the fluid frequently forced even the larger needle hub into the animal. A more sophisticated approach involved inserting a ski pole or small-diameter metal rod into the hollow, plastic plunger of a disposable syringe. Though an improvement, it was highly unsatisfactory. There was no positive linkage of pole to plunger, which allowed the pole to come free of the syringe during withdrawal action. Since the syringe was larger than the pole in diameter, it frequently became entangled on the bars, fences and cage mesh, typical of zoo facilities. The small diameter pole couldn't adequately support the syringe weight, particularly at a distance, so the syringe tended to bob and weave around, frequently approaching and entering the animal at an angle. This made the application of the injection force difficult, if not impossible. Also, the force applied to the pole occasionally shattered the plastic plunger. All of these aforementioned techniques, it will be noted, attach the pole to the syringe plunger so that insertion and injection are accomplished with the single pole.

A final adaptation of the art attaches the pole to the syringe barrel, with a spring-activated plunger action performing the injection and a trigger mechanism initiating the spring action. This device has serious draw backs. Injection time is quite long, frequently over three seconds. Couple the slow injection rate with the relatively slow human reaction time in triggering the injection action, with the split-second reaction time of many domestic and wild animals, it is obvious that the animal will frequently jump or twist off of the needle before the injection is completed. Unlike hand-pressure devices, where the practitioner retains the remaining fluid in the syringe for visual inspection and/or re-injection, the spring-activated device continues to eject the remaining fluid even though the needle is no longer in the animal. The practitioner has no way of knowing how much of the dosage was administered or lost, or how much more should be given. In the case of many drugs and injectible anesthetics, a mistake could be deadly.

One other shortcoming was the lack of a method, where many animals of similar appearance are concerned, of applying a visible mark to indicate an animal had been injected.

All aforementioned devices, thus, share serious shortcomings; the mounting of a pole to a syringe is inadequate or dangerous, as they tend to bruise the animal because of the force required for injection, or even to insert the wide needle-hub into the flesh; and needles frequently bend or break, occasionally leaving the needle imbedded in the animal. The spring-activated device does not inject fast enough to be effective or safe in use. And none of the devices offers the benefit of marking the animal as he is injected, where such marking is beneficial.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention represents a real improvement to the art that eliminates all of the problems of the aforementioned devices.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to produce a Pole-Syringe device that can be dependably and accurately used to inject a desired fluid into an animal from a remote position.

It is another object of this invention to produce a Pole-Sryinge that is simple, rugged, and easy to use.

It is another object of this invention to produce a Pole-Syringe having an adjustable-length pole wherein the pole is a securely linked continuation of a tough, durable, syringe plunger.

It is yet another purpose of this invention to completely encase the syringe barrel and the base portion of the needle and needle hub, in a close-fitting sheath of metal, to reinforce the walls of the syringe barrel, hold the needle securely on and in place, and stiffen the base of the needle.

It is yet another purpose of this invention to allow dosages to be readily determined by reading the scale printed along the standard syringe barrel, proposed for use with this device. This is to be accomplished by removing an elongated slot of metal along an appropriate length of the aforementioned close-fitting metal sheath.

It is still another purpose of this invention to produce a Pole-Syringe that will administer a much faster and more humane injection by providing that the forward, center-drilled terminus of the close-fitting, protective, metal sheath, which retains the needle hub and through which the needle passes and projects for a proper, injectible length, shall be relatively flat, and of sufficient diameter and surface area to distribute the added pressure of the faster injection action over a broader area of the animal, thus eliminating bruising and the forcing of the needle hub into the animal's flesh.

It is still another purpose of this invention to provide a Pole-Syringe that protects the needle against undue bending and breaking, but does allow a controlled and reasonably resilient flexing.

It is yet another purpose of this invention to provide an attachable method of marking the animal as he is injected to help prevent duplication of injection.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, this invention resides in the novel use and arrangements of parts, and novel design particulars that reflect in the function of the parts, and the obvious improvement in operation of the device over the prior art, as hereinafter described and more particularly defined.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, in which the preferred form of the invention is shown:

FIG. 1 is a side plan view of the Pole-Syringe device.

FIG. 2 is a side plan view, enlarged over FIG. 1, and broken where needed to show relationship and details of all components, including metal sheath, syringe barrel and needle assembly, pole-plunger, and a removably attachable marking device.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side sectional view of the terminal section of the pole-plunger, syringe barrel, needle and protective metal sheath.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the plug of this invention.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the plug.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The embodiment 10 of the Pole-Syringe device, as can be seen in the appended drawings, is comprised of a hollow, tubular, protective metal sheath 20, a conventional hypodermic syringe barrel 30, and needle 40 assembly and a pole-plunger 60. The several purposes of the metal sheath 20 determine the specifics of its design. It functions to reinforce the sidewalls 31 of the syringe barrel 30, to reinforce the needle 40 near its hub 41 to aid in retaining the needle 40 on the syringe barrel 30 during injection and withdrawal of the needle 40 from the animal; to speed injection time by providing a broader surface 26 to press against the animal, so that more pressure can be applied during injection, and to prevent breakage of or right-angle bending of the needle 40, which would cut off the flow of fluid during injection action, by providing a curvedly-chamfered surface 28 that will predispose the needle 40 to bend at a curve that still allows fluid to flow.

The inner diameter 22 of the hollow, tubular, metal sheath 20 is such that the syringe barrel and needle assembly 30 and 40 can be slidably and frictionally inserted therein throughout a predominant portion of its length. This tightness is required both to retain the metal sheath 20 in position, and to reinforce the sidewalls of the syringe barrel against the greater pressure exerted during rapid injection action by the pole-plunger 60. The inner surface 25 of the cylindrical plug 23 is concavely chamfered 29 about its center-drilled hole 24 to allow the forward surface 42 of the needle hub 41 to seat firmly. Additionally, a narrow, slot-like opening 21 is cut in the side wall of the metal sheath 20 to permit visual inspection of the dosage size of fluid in the syringe barrel 30.

The long, pole-plunger 60 is made of material sufficiently tough anad stiff to both support the entire device at some distance, and to allow a forceful injection action to be made without bowing or bending through its length. The pole-portion 62-63-64-65 of the pole-plunger 60 should have an outer diameter sufficiently large to sustain the stresses involved and to allow it to be held easily and firmly. The most desirable diameter is approximately that of the metal sheath 20. This also allows the entire length of the pole-syringe device 10 to be a smooth continuum which reduces the chance of any portion catching or hooking on screen mesh or bars through which the device may be inserted. It is also desirable that the pole portion 62-63-64-65 be hollow, and most probably metal, to reduce the weight factor.

The plunger portion 61 of the pole-plunger 60 is of an outer diameter to smoothly and slidably insert into the syringe barrel 30 throughout the length of said syringe barrel 30. Though a rubber piston or "O" ring device 66 is commonly used to assure that no fluid leaks out around the plunger sides during injection action, it is desirable that the plunger-portion 61, itself, conform as closely as possible to the inner diameter 32 of the syringe-barrel 30, while still remaining smoothly slidable. Since the device is used at some distance, with application forces beyond normal, and since the animal being injected frequently is in some form of motion, any looseness could cause damaging angular pressures and reduced injection efficiency. It is felt, further, that the pole-portion 62-63-64-65 of the pole-plunger 60 should be made up of easily assembleable sections so that the length of the pole plunger 60 can be varied to meet the needs of the situation. Such sectional assembly also allows the pole-plunger 60 to be broken down for more convenient storage during transportation or storage of the Pole-Syringe device 10.

A further consideration in giving shots to animals, where many of very similar appearance are involved, is a simple way of marking the animal as the shot is given. It is proposed, therefore, that a marking pad device 70 can be removably snapped into position at the forward end surface 26 of the metal sheath 20, said marking pad device 70 being able to hold sufficient ink in a doughnut-shaped pad area 72 to mark many animals during consecutive injections, and to be easily held to the metal sheath 20 by a tubular body 71.

Although a preferred embodiment of this invention has been developed and described hereinbefore, it is to be remembered that various modifications and alternate constructions may be made thereto without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

I claim:

1. A syringe device for administering hypodermic injections, the device comprising:

an elongated open ended sleeve;

a plug mounted in one end of said sleeve and having an inner end and an outer exposed end, said plug having a hole formed therethrough from end to end, said hole being radially enlarged proximate said outer end to provide said plug with an annular convex surface from said hole to said outer end; and

a hypodermic syringe having an elongated barrel, a needle hub affixed to one end of said barrel, a needle mounted on said hub, and an elongated plunger slidably mounted in the other end of said barrel; said syringe slidably mounted in said sleeve with said hub abutting said plug inner end and said needle projecting through said hole.

2. A syringe device as defined in claim 1 wherein the hole in said plug at said inner end is countersunk to provide a seat for said needle hub.

3. A syringe device as defined in claim 2 and including a pole axially secured to one end of said plunger and projecting axially of said sleeve.

4. A syringe device as defined in claim 3 wherein said barrel is frictionally mounted in said sleeve.