Bioject Inc.

James P Casey, I

Steven F Peterson

Charles N McKinnon, Jr

Victor L Bartholomew

J Thomas Morrow

John W Ashley

A method and mold for making an ampule for a needleless or jet injector device. The tip of a core pin is guided into a clearance hole sufficiently large to prevent the tip from hitting the mold cavity. Plastic is injected into the mold and flows into the space between the core pin tip and the clearance hole forming a vestigial nozzle pilot cylinder around and over the ampule nozzle. The ampule is removed from the mold and the vestigial nozzle pilot cylinder is removed to form a finished ampule. A core pin tip is made of drawn wire or is separately replaceable on the core pin. A nozzle of an ampule is cast in place. An ampule is molded with an enlarged nozzle and a separate orifice is installed in the ampule to provide the desired nozzle opening.

Method for manufacturing an ampule

The assembly includes an injection device which includes a housing having an ampule-receiving chamber, a gas charge, and means for delivering a predetermined amount of gas to the ampule-receiving chamber. The device includes an injection-counting ring which is received in a groove extending about the housing wherein the ring includes a counting mechanism thereon and is constructed to allow one-way only rotation thereof relative to the housing. The patient-fillable ampule of the invention includes an ampule body having a plunger end and an orifice end, a medication retaining cavity and an elongate plunger which is received in one end of the cavity. An orifice-bearing end cap is fixed to the orifice end of the body. A truncated hypodermic needle is received in the end cap. A removable needle is provided for filling the ampule and allows use of the ampule as a conventional syringe. The ampule is attached to the hypodermic device by means of an ampule sleeve which extends about the ampule body along the length thereof and which cooperates with a retainer collar located on the device.

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Forest Grove, OR, United States of America

James P Casey, I