Other

Daltex Medical Sciences, Inc.

Anthony W Szabo

Louis R Del Guercio

Robert E Hunt

A mechanical drive system for driving a syringe, or other fluid infusion system, over extended period of times, which drive system also provides manual advance and quick release features. Manual advance and quick release is selectively provided by mechanically decoupling the gear train from the syringe drive mechanism.

Fail-safe mechanical drive for syringe

A high reliability drive arrangement produces a rate-controlled output displacement and is particularly suited for driving a medical infusion apparatus. Energy for producing the output displacement is derived from a wound spring which, in a preferred embodiment, is coupled to an output shaft by a redundant gearing system. First and second drive gears, and their associated pinions on the output shaft, are rotationally displaced with respect to one another to prevent alignment of potentially defective gear teeth and to align the teeth on one gear with the inter-tooth spacings on the other. The output shaft additionally engages a rate-control arrangement which governs the rate of rotation, and consequently, the rate of the displacement. The possibility of uncontrolled rotation is reduced by providing a safety arrangement having a safety gear plate which has fewer teeth than its associated drive gear. Additionally, an associated driven gear, which may be a pinion, is provided with at least one indentation which accommodates the teeth of the safety gear plate. A final gear in the rate-control system, which may be an escapement ratchet wheel, is provided with an associated centrifugal braking arrangement which operates to terminate rotation if a predetermined rate of rotation is exceeded.

A portable, automatic fluid infusion apparatus is presented for the administration to an ambulatory patient of a predetermined amount of fluid at an adjustable, predetermined rate over an extended time period. A feature of the invention is a soft plastic bag from which the predetermined amount of fluid is dispensed.

Fluid infusion apparatus

An improved fluid infusion apparatus is presented of the type having a power means and a syringe connected therewith. The syringe is comprised, in part, of a piston and a cylindrical body. The improvement comprises a flexible connecting member for connecting the piston of the syringe to the power means, thereby permitting the syringe to be responsive to the power means, even when the two are not coaxially aligned, for the administration of a predetermined amount of fluid at a predetermined rate.

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Livingston, NJ, United States of America

Anthony W Szabo