Surgery – Means for introducing or removing material from body for... – Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-15
2004-01-06
Hayes, Michael J. (Department: 3763)
Surgery
Means for introducing or removing material from body for...
Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
C604S251000, C604S253000, C222S067000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06673052
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonreturn warning device for an intravenous drip infusion, and more particularly, to a device whose dripping tube is sealed to prevent air from entering into the blood vessel and, meanwhile, a warning device is activated after all the infusion solution has flow out. Therefore, the nurse can be reminded of a proper handling. Moreover, this nonreturn warning device is repeatedly usable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It's common to administer an intravenous drip infusion for medication. When the intravenous drip is finished, the fluid pressure in the injection tube is suddenly lowered because the infusion solution is used up. Meanwhile, the fluid pressure of the blood is also reduced so that the blood comes back to the injection tube. Even, when the infusion solution is used up, the air in the injection tube will enter into the blood vessel of the patient, thereby causing medical troubles or even endangering the life of the patient. Hence, it's necessary to check the whole process during the intravenous drip infusion to and the above-mentioned, thereby occupying huge chunks of a nurse's working and leading to a great pressure.
In addition to the costly electronic devices to monitor the rate and the duration of the intravenous drip, a few monitoring devices with more simple configuration have been disclosed. Taiwan Pat. No. 381494 (see
FIGS. 1 through 3
, corresponding to original
FIGS. 2
,
5
,
6
) describes a monitoring device which includes:
a main body
2
having a first half housing
20
and a second half housing
21
, an longitudinal accommodation
200
in connection with an angle channel
203
extending to the bottom end of the main body
2
, a conduit tee
30
and an elbow joint
31
being fitted to the connection position between the accommodation
200
and the angle channel
203
, a buzzer
22
being provided at one side of the monitoring device while two leads of the buzzer
22
being connected to two indirect points at the bottom of the conduit tee
30
;
a pointed bar
3
whose bottom end is secured to the conduit tee
30
and whose top end is inserted into the solution bottle, said pointed bar
3
having an outlet
36
arranged at the bottom thereof and corresponding to the side leg of the elbow joint
31
which is in connection with an solution tube
32
, a number of longitudinal inlets
33
being provided on the pointed bar
3
; and
a magnetic induction assembly
4
having a float
34
floatable with the liquid surface and fitted to the inside of the pointed bar
3
, a first magnet
40
fixed at the bottom of the float
34
and second magnets
411
,
412
which are arranged in the accommodation
200
and move a movable piece
410
upward and downward.
When the float
34
is lowered to a certain level, the first magnet
40
will attract the second magnet
411
upwards to the bottom of the conduit tee
30
. Meanwhile, an electric connection is created between both contact points through the conductivity of the second magnet
411
; therefore, the buzzer
32
is automatically activated to give out a warning sound. However, the above-mentioned configuration is not only precise but also complicated and its production cost is high so that the product is not competitive. Moreover, the small float
34
and the magnets
40
,
411
,
412
don't react sensitively because of the insufficiency of the buoyancy and the magnetic force. In addition, this device can't be reused after sterilization so that the disposable feature will increase the cost burden of the users.
Another prior art, like Taiwan Pat. No. 394026, describes another monitoring device (see
FIG. 4
) which includes:
an insertion member
20
having an inserting head
21
;
an accommodation
30
having a reducing pipe
31
at the bottom thereof for connecting with an injection hose
60
while the insertion member
20
can be stuck to the opening at the top of the accommodation
30
; and
a stopper
40
with buoyancy disposed inside the accommodation
30
.
The accommodation
30
furthermore includes a reducing conic channel
32
at the bottom thereof for connection with a smaller channel
33
, and the reducing conic channel
32
has a circular engaging groove
321
at the bottom thereof. When all the infusion solution has flowed out and the solution in the accommodation
30
is reduced to a certain level, the stopper
40
will be engaged into the circular engaging groove
321
of the reducing conic channel
32
of the accommodation
30
, thereby forming a sealing state, keeping the air above the remaining solution around the stopper
40
and preventing air from coming into the patient's blood vessel through the injection hose
60
. However, the stopper
40
can't exactly seal the circular engaging groove
321
of the accommodation
30
due to the processing precision and the structural restriction, thereby creating clearance therebetween so that the air could enter into the blood vessel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a primary object according to the present invention to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks and to provide a nonreturn warning device for an intravenous drip infusion which includes a top member and a bottom member both of which forms an accommodation which has an inlet pipe and an outlet pipe at the top and bottom thereof. The outlet pipe includes a flange around which a recess is provided. A conic valve with a middle hole is arranged onto the flange. A float with a cylindrical stopper is received in the accommodation formed after connection of the top member and the bottom member. The cylindrical stopper falls down against the middle hole of the conic valve when the float sinks with the fluid surface in the accommodation. And the outlet pipe can be choked when all the solution flows out, thereby preventing air from entering into the blood vessel.
It's another object of the present invention to provide a nonreturn warning device for an intravenous drip infusion which has a warning device for clamping the top and bottom members in position. The warning device contains a magnetic reed switch and the float has a magnetic element. When the float sinks with the fluid surface in the accommodation, the magnetic element approaches the magnetic reed switch and a buzzer is activated to give out a warning sound.
It's a further object of the present invention to provide a nonreturn warning device for an intravenous drip infusion in which the warning device is provided with a radio transmitter or a earphone jack in order to facilitate the reception of the warning signal for indicating the end the intravenous drip infusion.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3931818 (1976-01-01), Goldowsky
patent: 4340050 (1982-07-01), Noiles
patent: 6419662 (2002-07-01), Solazzo
Hayes Michael J.
Kamrath Alan
Kontos Lina R
Rider Bennett LLP
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