Other

Manresa, Inc.

Johnson & Johnson Gmbh

Vlv Associates, Inc.

Critikon, Inc

Sherwood Medical Company

Bard Access Systems, Inc.

Chesebrough-pond's Inc.

Whitman Medical Corporation

The Telescope Folding Furniture Co., Inc.

Gyno Pharma Inc.

Vincent L Vaillancourt

Michael J Vaillancourt

John J Welter

Patricia Vaillancourt, Legal Representative

Joseph Lichtenstein

Marcus J Millet

Joseph J Thomas

Stephen Kocanowski

Robert Caspari

William F Smith

Herbert Spoon

Michael John Vaillancourt

A safety needle device includes a housing, a Huber needle, a cap and a sheath. The Huber needle has a first needle leg disposed in the housing and a second needle leg extending perpendicularly of the first needle leg. The cap is disposed over the second needle leg and is movable relative thereto from a first position with the second needle leg extending through the cap to a second position with a tip of the needle disposed in sealed relation in the cap. The sheath is concentrically disposed on and about the needle in a collapsed state, and secured to and between the housing and the cap. The sheath is extendable from the collapsed state to an extended state in response to movement of the cap from the first position to the second position.

Safety needle with collapsible sheath

A needle guard is attached to a needle hub by a polyester film strip and a needle passes through longitudinally spaced apart apertures in the strip. The film strip is housed in the needle guard in a corrugated manner. When the needle guard is pulled over the needle, the needle moves into a housing of the needle guard and into abutment with the housing while the strip is stretched between the hub and the housing to retain the housing connected to the hub under a biasing force.

Needle guard

A male adaptor is provided with a nose for penetrating into a housing of the female connector. A septum is disposed over the nose of the male adaptor to maintain a seal with the female connector during coupling and uncoupling. Upon coupling, the septum dilates to allow the nose to pass through. The female connector may have a septum that also dilates to allow penetration of the nose of the male adaptor. Alternatively, the septum of the female connector may be retractable under the force of the nose of the male adaptor.

Closed system connector assembly

The needle of a syringe, wire guide, biopsy needle, Huber needle and the like is drawn into a protective cap and sheath arrangement after use for disposal purposes. The cap is tethered to a housing in which the needle is mounted by the sheath. The sheath is made of a film material that has a high tensile strength and a low percent of elongation, such as polyester. The sheath is initially mounted about the needle in a collapsed accordion-like condition between the cap and housing. When the cap is moved along the needle, the sheath is played out over the needle. The cap houses a spring clip to snap over the bore through which the needle is retracted to prevent re-emergence of the needle. The flexible nature of the sheath allows the sheath to pass about the two legs of the Huber needle.

The needle guard is attached to the needle hub by a polyester film strip and the needle passes through longitudinally spaced apart apertures in the strip. The film strip is housed in the needle guard in corrugated manner. When the needle guard is pulled over the needle, the needle moves into the housing of the needle guard and into abutment with the housing while the strip is stretched between the hub and the housing to retain the housing connected to the hub under a biasing force.

The Huber needle is drawn into a protective cap and sheath arrangement after use for disposal purposes. The cap is tethered to a housing in which the needle is mounted by the sheath. The sheath is made of a film material that has a high tensile strength and a low percent of elongation, such as polyester. The sheath is initially mounted about the needle in a collapsed accordion-like condition between the cap and housing. When the cap is moved along the needle, the sheath is played out over the needle. The cap houses a spring clip to snap over a bore through which the needle is retracted to prevent re-emergence of the needle. The flexible nature of the sheath allows the sheath to pass about the two legs of the Huber needle.

The safety needle employs a manually operable actuator that can be depressed into a housing in order to release a spring-biased slider that carries a hollow needle. Upon release, the slider moves into a position to retract the needle over a blunt cannula so that the blunt cannula protects against cutting by the needle. An actuator guard may also be employed to prevent inadvertent actuation of the actuator.

Safety needle

A plastic needle guard is mounted on a hub in which a needle is secured. In order to cover the end of the needle, the needle guard is slid manually off the hub and over the end of the needle to position the needle end within the guard. A washer that is loosely mounted within the guard and through which the needle passes drops off the end of the needle to block any return movement of the needle out of the guard. Other embodiments use lock-type washers to prevent a return movement of the needle.

The over-the-needle catheter is provided with a septum seal within the hub of the catheter. The introducer needle passes through the septum seal and into the catheter. Upon removal of the introducer needle, the septum seal reseals so that blood is prevented from flowing from the patient out of the hub. A male luer adaptor is used to form a connection, for example, to an IV bag by pushing the seal onto a tube secured within the hub and communicating with the catheter or, in another embodiment, by pushing a piercing ring through a slit in the septum seal to form a permanent lumen.

Bloodless catheter

The suction tube set employs a compressed cellulosic sponge mass as a fluid absorber in the suction line for absorbing an amount of fluid, for example 1.5 cc, without any significant increase in resistance to air flow. The compressed sponge mass is secured in place within a tubular housing of the suction tube set with a gap formed between each end of the sponge mass and an end cap of the housing to avoid blockage of air flow.

Fluid absorber for a suction tube set

The hollow cannula is made with a smooth tip to avoid sharp corners on the inside diameter or outside diameter in order to avoid scraping or scoring of a slit or pre-pre-pierced septum during passage through the septum. The cannula may be employed in various types of embodiments including swabable valve connectors.

Valve connector

The suction tube employs a fluid absorber in the suction line in which a compressed cellulosic sponge mass is provided for absorbing an amount of fluid, for example 1.5 cc of fluid without any significant increase in resistance to air flow. The compressed sponge mass is secured in place within the tubular housing with a gap formed between each end of the sponge mass and an end cap of the housing to avoid blockage of air flow.

A method and apparatus for manufacturing a fluid coupling employs a rod having a bore at one end into which a plurality of plastic tubes may be inserted. The rod is sized to pass through a lumen of a Luer connector and an elastomeric washer placed within a surface of the Luer connector. The rod and plastic tubes are pulled through the Luer connector and washer. After removal of the rod and back tapping of the tubes flush with the end of the connector, a packing material is introduced into the remote end of the connector to fix the tubes in place. The washer then acts as a dam to prevent a flow of packing material from reaching the distal end of the connector. The apparatus employs tube locator blocks which are sandwiched around the rod for guiding the tubes into place in the end of the rod. A piston and cylinder arrangement is used to pull the rod downwardly through these blocks.

Method and apparatus for manufacturing a fluid coupling and a fluid

The closed system medication administering system employs an adaptor having a hollow penetrating which can directly access a drug vial by piercing through a bung in the drug vial. A collapsible sleeve is placed around the hollow penetrating member and a membrane is disposed across the end of the sleeve to seal the hollow penetrating member when not in use. The hollow penetrating member also pierces the membrane when pushed into a drug vial. Resilient locking prongs may be provided to fixedly secure the drug vial to the adaptor or may be omitted. A reservoir bag may also be provided in a second line to fill with fluid from the primary line in order to effect reconstitution or dilution of a powdered or crystalline type drug in the drug vial. Simple manipulations of the unit consisting of the flexible bag, adaptor and drug vial allow the powdered drug to be reconstituted or diluted and subsequently dispensed.

Growing community of inventors

Livingston, NJ, United States of America

Vincent L Vaillancourt