Surgery – Means for introducing or removing material from body for... – Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-23
2003-06-10
Casler, Brian L. (Department: 3763)
Surgery
Means for introducing or removing material from body for...
Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
C604S164020, C604S167020, C604S535000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06575942
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an injection needle unit for a portable automatic syringe device adapted to perform an injection of liquid medicine into the body of the user for a prolonged time, which includes a feeding tube, a connector coupled to an insulin pump included in the syringe device to connect the feeding tube to the insulin pump, and an injection needle member adapted to be penetrated into the abdomen of the user and connected to the insulin pump via the connector and feeding tube. More particularly, the present invention relates to an injection needle unit for a portable automatic syringe device which includes a feeding tube divided into first and second tube portions respectively connected to a syringe pump connector and an injection needle member, first and second head units respectively coupled to facing ends of the first and second tube portions, and a coupling ring for separably coupling the first and second head units to each other, thereby being capable of achieving easy separation and coupling of the injection needle member from a syringe pump.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automatic syringe devices, which enable an injection of liquid medicine for a prolonged time, are well known. Typically, known automatic syringe devices have a configuration in which a push means for pushing a syringe piston is coupled to a housing receiving an injection syringe. For example, such automatic syringe devices are disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. Sho. 52-3292 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,889. The syringe device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. Sho. 52-3292 has inconvenience in carrying it because it has an injector mounted outside a basic case, thereby requiring a double case structure. In order to solve such a disadvantage, an automatic syringe device requiring no double case structure has been proposed, as in the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,889.
FIGS. 1 and 2
illustrate a control circuit and a structure of the automatic syringe device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,889, respectively. Referring to
FIG. 1
, the output of an oscillator A
1
is coupled to a timer A
2
which is, in turn, coupled at its output to a digital comparator A
3
. The digital comparator A
3
also receives an output from a fixed number switch A
4
. The output of the digital comparator A
3
is connected to a counter A
6
and an R/S flip-flop A
9
. Another oscillator A
5
is also provided which has an output coupled to counters A
6
and A
13
, and AND gates A
10
and A
11
. The flip-flop A
9
is reset by an output from a digital comparator A
7
. Another R/S flip-flop A
16
is also provided which is reset by an output from a digital comparator A
14
coupled to the counter A
13
. A control unit A
17
is also coupled to the counter A
13
. The control unit A
17
serves to activate the counter A
13
in accordance with an operation of a manual infusion switch A
12
. The control unit A
17
applies its output to the counters A
13
and A
16
. The output from the control unit A
17
is also sent to a counter A
21
. The output of the counter A
21
is coupled to a digital comparator A
22
which is, in turn, coupled to a step motor driver A
19
for driving a step motor A
20
. The output of the flip-flop A
16
is coupled to one input of the AND gate A
11
, which is also coupled at the other input thereof to the oscillator A
5
. The output of the AND gate A
11
is coupled to one input of an OR gate A
18
. Fixed number switches A
15
and A
25
are connected to the digital comparators A
14
and A
22
, respectively. Each of the fixed number switches A
4
, A
8
, A
15
, and A
25
has five protruding insert bars and serves to provide a reference value for an associated one of the digital comparators A
3
, A
7
, A
14
, and A
22
. A light source A
24
and a photo sensor A
23
are coupled to the counter A
21
in order to provide sensing results thereof to the counter A
21
, respectively. Referring to
FIGS. 2 and 3
, the arrangements of the light source A
24
and photo sensor A
23
are illustrated. As shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
, the light source A
24
and photo sensor A
23
are arranged in such a fashion that they face each other while being vertically spaced from each other. A gear plate, which is included in a gear mechanism G, is interposed between the light source A
24
and photo sensor A
23
. The gear plate has a plurality of through holes A
26
uniformly spaced from one another in a circumferential direction, as shown in FIG.
3
. The gear plate is fixedly fitted around a gear shaft A
27
having a screw portion. A piston plate A
28
is threadedly coupled to the gear shaft A
27
in the form of a nut in such a fashion that it slides along the screw portion of the gear shaft A
27
when the gear shaft A
27
rotates. The rotation of the gear shaft A is carried out by a drive force from the motor A
20
transmitted via the gear mechanism G. The driving of a motor M (corresponding to the motor A
20
in
FIG. 1
) is controlled by the operations of the counter A
21
, digital comparator A
22
, switch A
25
, and motor drive A
19
. The above mentioned elements of the syringe device are received in a housing, as shown in FIG.
2
. In particular, the light source A
24
and photo sensor A
23
are fixedly mounted at an upper portion of the housing by means of a bracket fixed to the housing. In this syringe device, a liquid medicine, such as insulin, contained in a syringe I is outwardly injected through an injection needle N connected to the syringe I, by a sliding movement of the piston plate A
28
. In such a syringe device, however, the housing and syringe I thereof are exposed to ambient air. As a result, moisture and water are likely to penetrate into the syringe device. For this reason, there is inconvenience in that if the user desires to take a shower while the syringe is in place, then the housing should be contained in a separate sealing case.
In order to solve such a problem, a sealable syringe device has been proposed by the applicant. Such a sealable syringe device is illustrated in
FIG. 4
which is a front view. Referring to
FIG. 4
, the syringe device includes a cover
10
sealably coupled to the upper end of a housing
20
, and a bottom cover
40
sealably coupled to the lower end of the housing
20
. A connector
2
, to which a feeding tube
1
is integrally connected, is threadedly coupled to the cover
10
. The connector
2
communicates with a syringe
21
received in the housing
20
. A piston
22
is slidably fitted in the syringe
21
. A liquid medicine to be injected is contained in the syringe
21
. A power transmission means
30
is mounted on the bottom surface of the housing
20
. The power transmission means
30
has a rotating shaft
31
to which a disc type push means
50
is threadedly coupled. The disc type push means
50
moves vertically by a rotation of the rotating shaft
31
, thereby vertically moving the piston
22
.
Referring to
FIG. 5
, which is a plan view of
FIG. 4
, the cover
10
, to which the connector
2
connected with the feeding tube
1
is connected, is arranged on the left portion of the upper surface of the housing
20
. A battery cover
24
is arranged on the right portion of the upper surface of the housing
20
.
FIG. 6
is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A—A of FIG.
5
. As shown in
FIG. 6
, the cover
10
is centrally provided with a threaded hole
11
in which the connector
2
is threadedly fitted at its lower end. The threaded hole
11
has threads
11
-
1
. The connector
2
is formed, at its lower end, with threads
2
-
15
to be threadedly coupled with the threads
11
-
1
of the threaded hole
11
. The cover
10
is also provided at its lower end with a bolt portion
12
threadedly fitted in the upper end of the housing
20
. A packing
13
is fitted around the bolt portion
12
of the cover
10
between the lower end of the cover
10
and the upper end of the housing
20
. A syringe receiving chamber
23
is defined in the interior of the
Casler Brian L.
Kontos Lina T
Sheridan Ross PC
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