Dispensing – With cutter and/or punch – To form dispensing opening in container
Patent
1994-06-09
1995-11-07
Shaver, Kevin P.
Dispensing
With cutter and/or punch
To form dispensing opening in container
222 89, 604240, B67D 500
Patent
active
054641233
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a vial connector system, namely to a system for use in bringing the interior of a vial into fluid flow communication with a conduit.
Particularly in the medical field, many substances are packaged in vials, to maintain their integrity and cleanliness. This is particularly important for medicaments for administration and substances for addition to blood or plasma for eventual administration. It is frequently desirable to have a system that ensures that once a vial is connected to a conduit generally leading to a bag of fluid, disconnection is impossible or very difficult. Thus a medical worker can be confident that once the correct vial has been connected, in clean and sterile conditions, it cannot then be removed, giving a risk of contamination and possible replacement by an incorrect vial.
A standard vial has a body, a narrow neck, and an enlarged head closed by a pierceable closure. The enlarged head generally includes collar means for retaining the closure. The head has a rearwardly pointing shoulder.
Examples of vial connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,020 and EP-A-285,424. A simple connector may have a circular base, a tubular spike passing through the centre of the base, and an annular array of detent members surrounding the spike. Each detent member comprises a wall portion and a radially inner projection. The dimensions are such that a vial can be pushed onto the spike and, as the spike penetrates the closure thereof, the head of the vial pushes past the detents. The wall portions flex outwards slightly to allow this, and then snap-engage behind the shoulder to lock the vial in place. To prevent the direct application of force to the detent members to facilitate removal of the vial, there may be a further annular wall surrounding them.
Nevertheless, such a connector cannot be fully reliable. As a practical matter, the array of detent members and the base will be formed by a moulding technique. Since it must be possible to withdraw the mould components from the formed article, the detent teeth cannot be formed so as to grip the vial head irreversibly. FIG. 1 shows an example of this type of connector, taken from EP-A-285,424. A single moulded unit provides the circular base 10, the circular array of detent elements 12 and an outer annular wall 14. The detent elements 12 each have a head 16 which, in profile, has a tapering upper surface 18 and a relatively abrupt lower surface 20. This is so that a vial can be pushed in relatively easily, but resists withdrawal. Nevertheless, for reasons explained above, the lower surfaces 20 cannot be formed without any taper. Therefore EP-A-285,424 teaches the provision of further means for locking a vial in place, namely a retainer that engages over the vial, e.g. engaging in ratchet teeth 22 provided in the outer wall 14.
Broadly, the present invention concerns a vial connector that includes a plurality of circumferentially arranged detent elements for engaging a vial, the elements being separately formed and resiliently urged independently of any encircling array of detent means as shown in FIG. 1.
In a preferred form, the invention provides a vial connector for use in bringing the interior of a vial into fluid flow communication with a conduit, said connector comprising: a base portion; a tubular spike projecting from said base portion; means defining an encircling wall projecting from the base portion so as to substantially encircle the spike; a plurality of detent elements circumferentially distributed in relation to the wall means and formed separately from the wall means; and resilient means formed separately from the wall means and arranged to urge the detent elements radially inwardly of the wall means; so that a vial having an enlarged head with a mouth closed by a pierceable closure can be engaged with the connector by urging the closure against the spike so that the spike pierces the closure and the detent elements engage behind the head to resist disengagement of the vial.
The encircling wall means may com
REFERENCES:
patent: 2158593 (1939-05-01), Scrimgeour
patent: 3154227 (1964-10-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 3330449 (1967-07-01), Bloomfield et al.
patent: 4296786 (1981-10-01), Brignola
patent: 4624393 (1986-11-01), Lopez
DRG Medical Packaging Supplies Limited
Shaver Kevin P.
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