US20130245594A1 - Needle safety guard adapted to attach to a liquid container - Google Patents
Needle safety guard adapted to attach to a liquid container Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20130245594A1 US20130245594A1 US13/889,127 US201313889127A US2013245594A1 US 20130245594 A1 US20130245594 A1 US 20130245594A1 US 201313889127 A US201313889127 A US 201313889127A US 2013245594 A1 US2013245594 A1 US 2013245594A1
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- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- shield
- vial
- iris
- disk
- opening
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
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Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61J—CONTAINERS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR MEDICAL OR PHARMACEUTICAL PURPOSES; DEVICES OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR BRINGING PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS INTO PARTICULAR PHYSICAL OR ADMINISTERING FORMS; DEVICES FOR ADMINISTERING FOOD OR MEDICINES ORALLY; BABY COMFORTERS; DEVICES FOR RECEIVING SPITTLE
- A61J1/00—Containers specially adapted for medical or pharmaceutical purposes
- A61J1/14—Details; Accessories therefor
- A61J1/20—Arrangements for transferring or mixing fluids, e.g. from vial to syringe
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61J—CONTAINERS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR MEDICAL OR PHARMACEUTICAL PURPOSES; DEVICES OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR BRINGING PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS INTO PARTICULAR PHYSICAL OR ADMINISTERING FORMS; DEVICES FOR ADMINISTERING FOOD OR MEDICINES ORALLY; BABY COMFORTERS; DEVICES FOR RECEIVING SPITTLE
- A61J1/00—Containers specially adapted for medical or pharmaceutical purposes
- A61J1/14—Details; Accessories therefor
- A61J1/1412—Containers with closing means, e.g. caps
- A61J1/1425—Snap-fit type
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61J—CONTAINERS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR MEDICAL OR PHARMACEUTICAL PURPOSES; DEVICES OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR BRINGING PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS INTO PARTICULAR PHYSICAL OR ADMINISTERING FORMS; DEVICES FOR ADMINISTERING FOOD OR MEDICINES ORALLY; BABY COMFORTERS; DEVICES FOR RECEIVING SPITTLE
- A61J1/00—Containers specially adapted for medical or pharmaceutical purposes
- A61J1/14—Details; Accessories therefor
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61M—DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO, OR ONTO, THE BODY; DEVICES FOR TRANSDUCING BODY MEDIA OR FOR TAKING MEDIA FROM THE BODY; DEVICES FOR PRODUCING OR ENDING SLEEP OR STUPOR
- A61M5/00—Devices for bringing media into the body in a subcutaneous, intra-vascular or intramuscular way; Accessories therefor, e.g. filling or cleaning devices, arm-rests
- A61M5/178—Syringes
- A61M5/31—Details
- A61M5/32—Needles; Details of needles pertaining to their connection with syringe or hub; Accessories for bringing the needle into, or holding the needle on, the body; Devices for protection of needles
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
- B65D39/00—Closures arranged within necks or pouring openings or in discharge apertures, e.g. stoppers
- B65D39/02—Disc closures
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61J—CONTAINERS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR MEDICAL OR PHARMACEUTICAL PURPOSES; DEVICES OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR BRINGING PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS INTO PARTICULAR PHYSICAL OR ADMINISTERING FORMS; DEVICES FOR ADMINISTERING FOOD OR MEDICINES ORALLY; BABY COMFORTERS; DEVICES FOR RECEIVING SPITTLE
- A61J1/00—Containers specially adapted for medical or pharmaceutical purposes
- A61J1/14—Details; Accessories therefor
- A61J1/16—Holders for containers
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61M—DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO, OR ONTO, THE BODY; DEVICES FOR TRANSDUCING BODY MEDIA OR FOR TAKING MEDIA FROM THE BODY; DEVICES FOR PRODUCING OR ENDING SLEEP OR STUPOR
- A61M5/00—Devices for bringing media into the body in a subcutaneous, intra-vascular or intramuscular way; Accessories therefor, e.g. filling or cleaning devices, arm-rests
- A61M5/178—Syringes
- A61M5/1782—Devices aiding filling of syringes in situ
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61M—DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO, OR ONTO, THE BODY; DEVICES FOR TRANSDUCING BODY MEDIA OR FOR TAKING MEDIA FROM THE BODY; DEVICES FOR PRODUCING OR ENDING SLEEP OR STUPOR
- A61M5/00—Devices for bringing media into the body in a subcutaneous, intra-vascular or intramuscular way; Accessories therefor, e.g. filling or cleaning devices, arm-rests
- A61M5/178—Syringes
- A61M5/31—Details
- A61M5/32—Needles; Details of needles pertaining to their connection with syringe or hub; Accessories for bringing the needle into, or holding the needle on, the body; Devices for protection of needles
- A61M5/3205—Apparatus for removing or disposing of used needles or syringes, e.g. containers; Means for protection against accidental injuries from used needles
- A61M5/321—Means for protection against accidental injuries by used needles
- A61M5/3213—Caps placed axially onto the needle, e.g. equipped with finger protection guards
Definitions
- This invention relates to a device that attaches to a liquid container, de-caps the container and prevents medical personnel from being injured by a syringe used to draw liquid from the container.
- a healthcare provider During procedures, it is often necessary for a healthcare provider to inject medications into a patient. It is not desirable for the healthcare provider to remove his or her gloves and touch a vial or a liquid container that contains medications or medical solutions. A nurse or a medical assistant may hold the vial while the healthcare provider sticks a needle laden syringe into the vial to withdraw the medications from the vial. Accidents sometimes occur whereby the healthcare provider inadvertently injures the nurse or medical assistant's hand with a sharp needle of the syringe. Furthermore, a vial that contains medications or other liquid material normally has a pierce-able cover, which is protected with a vial cap. When a healthcare provider removes the vial cap with gloves on, the pierce-able cover may be contaminated.
- This disclosure advances the art and overcomes the problems outlined above by providing a safety guard adapted to attach to a vial for protecting medical personnel holding a vial from injury when a healthcare provider withdraws medication from the vial with a needle laden syringe.
- the safety guard also minimizes contamination of the pierce-able cover of the vial during removal of the vial cap that covers the pierce-able cover.
- a needle safety guard device adapted to attach to a liquid container.
- the device includes a disk-shaped shield having a medial opening connected with a radial opening between two radial edges.
- the device also includes a substantially U-shaped holder having two sidewalls coupled substantially perpendicular to the disk-shaped shield along the two radial edges, and a top cover connecting to the two sidewalls and extending from the shield above the radial opening.
- the U-shaped holder includes a wedged protrusion and a curved protrusion extending from each of the two sidewalls, the curved protrusion being between the top cover and the wedged protrusion for blocking a cap of the liquid container from moving toward the medial opening.
- the wedged protrusion has a tapered portion near an outer edge of the shield such that the tapered portion generates enough upward wedging force to remove the cap.
- the disk-shaped shield includes a recessed bottom portion below an outer circumferential edge of the disk-shaped shield and an inner circumferential edge around the medial opening. The two radial edges are separated by a distance gradually decreasing toward the medial opening such that the liquid retainer is retained within the medial opening.
- the two sidewalls and the wedged protrusion and the curved protrusion are substantially symmetric to the top cover.
- the shield and raised U-shaped holder include a plastic.
- a needle safety guard device adapted to attach to a liquid container.
- the device includes a disk-shaped shield having a medial opening connected with a radial opening between two radial edges.
- the device also includes a substantially U-shaped holder having two sidewalls coupled substantially perpendicular to the disk-shaped shield along the two radial edges, and a top cover connecting to the two sidewalls and extending from the shield above the radial opening.
- the U-shaped holder includes a wedged protrusion and a curved protrusion extending from each of the two sidewalls, the curved protrusion being between the top cover and the wedged protrusion for blocking a cap of the liquid container from moving toward the medial opening.
- the wedged protrusion has a tapered portion near an outer edge of the shield such that the tapered portion generates enough upward wedging force to remove the cap.
- the disk-shaped shield includes a recessed bottom portion below an outer circumferential edge of the disk-shaped shield and an inner circumferential edge around the medial opening. The two radial edges are separated by a distance gradually decreasing toward the medial opening such that the liquid retainer is retained within the medial opening.
- the two sidewalls and the wedged protrusion and the curved protrusion are substantially symmetric to the top cover.
- the shield and raised U-shaped holder include a plastic.
- a needle safety guard device adapted to attach to a liquid container.
- the device includes a shield base having a medial opening connected with a radial opening.
- the device also includes a ratchet component coupled to a bottom of the shield base.
- the device further includes a rotary slider coupled to the ratchet component with a plurality of teeth.
- the slider has a neck portion being movable for fitting to the liquid container.
- the device also includes a pawl attached to the bottom of the shield base to engage with one of the plurality of teeth of the ratchet component.
- the device also includes a rail component attached to the bottom of the shield base for retaining the rotary slider.
- the device further includes a substantially U-shaped holder coupled to a top of the shield base above the radial opening.
- the neck portion of the rotary slider is substantially concave shaped such that the liquid container partially contacts the neck portion of the rotary slider and partially contacts the medial opening of the shield base and is retained within the shield base.
- the position of the neck portion of the rotary slider relative to the medial opening is adjustable by manually moving a handle coupled to the rotary slider.
- the U-shaped holder includes two sidewalls coupled substantially perpendicular to the shield base along two radial edges of the radial opening, and a top cover connecting to the two sidewalls and extending from the shield base above the radial opening.
- the U-shaped holder includes a wedged protrusion and a curved protrusion extending from each of the two sidewalls.
- the curved protrusion is between the top cover and the wedged protrusion for blocking a cap of the liquid container from moving toward the medial opening.
- the wedged protrusion has a tapered portion near an outer edge of the shield such that the tapered portion generates enough upward wedging force to remove the cap.
- the two sidewalls and the wedged protrusion and the curved protrusion are substantial
- the shield base includes a recessed bottom portion below an outer circumferential edge of the disk-shaped shield and an inner circumferential edge around the medial opening.
- the shield base is substantially disk-shaped. Two radial edges of the radial opening are separated by a distance gradually decreasing toward the medial opening such that the liquid retainer is retained within the medial opening.
- the shield and raised U-shaped holder include a plastic.
- a needle safety guard device adapted to attach to a liquid container.
- the device includes a top shield having a central opening, and a plurality of through-holes spaced along a first circle between the central opening and an outer edge of the top shield.
- the device also includes a plurality of snap clip guides extending from a bottom of the top shield and being positioned along a second circle between the outer edge and the first circle.
- the device further includes a shield base having a plurality of sliding slots and a plurality of snap clips attached on a top of the shield base, where the snap clips are configured to attach to the snap clip guides and to be movable along the respective snap clip guides.
- the device also includes an Iris capture component coupled to a bottom of the top shield near the central opening for adjusting to fit to the liquid container, the Iris capture component including a plurality of Iris blades coupled to the top shield and the plurality of sliding slots of the shield base.
- the device also includes a handle attached to the bottom of the shield base for manually moving the blades within the respective sliding slots to adjust the Iris capture component to fit to the liquid container.
- each of the Iris blade includes a protrusion on a bottom side of the Iris blade, the protrusion being coupled to each respective sliding slot.
- the device also includes a plurality of blade tabs, each of the Iris blade having a hole on a top side of the Iris blade for attaching the Iris blades to the top shield with the plurality of blade tabs, and the hole being aligned with the respective through-hole in the top shield and sized for press fits with the blade tabs.
- the shield base includes a plurality of teeth along an outer edge of the shield base.
- the handle includes a locking component engaged with the plurality of teeth for locking the position of the blades.
- the top shield includes a recessed portion between an outer edge and the medial opening.
- the device includes a plastic.
- the top shield and the shield base are substantially disk-shaped.
- a method for decapping a vial with a safety shield with a substantially U-shaped holder extending upward from a shield base.
- the method includes placing the vial with a vial cap on a pair of wedged protrusions extending from two opposing sidewalls of the U-shaped holder, where the two opposing sidewalls are separated by a top wall of the U-shaped holder.
- the method also includes sliding the vial along the wedged protrusion toward a central opening and forcing the vial against a pair of curved protrusions extending from the two sidewalls between the top wall and the wedged protrusions.
- the method further includes retaining the vial cap within the substantially U-shaped holder and the vial within the central opening.
- FIG. 1A is a perspective bottom view of the safety guard in an embodiment.
- FIG. 1B is a top, center perspective view of the safety guard of FIG. 1A in an embodiment.
- FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram of a vial or a liquid container in an embodiment.
- FIG. 3A is a simplified cross-sectional view of sidewall of U-shaped holder in an embodiment.
- FIG. 3B is a simplified top view of curved protrusion and wedged protrusion from sidewall in an embodiment.
- FIGS. 4A-4C are side views of the safety guard of FIG. 1A in an embodiment.
- FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the safety guard of FIG. 1A in an embodiment.
- FIG. 6A is a perspective view of a safety guard in use on a vial in an embodiment.
- FIG. 6B is a side view of a safety guard in use on a vial in an embodiment.
- FIG. 7 is a top view of a safety guard in use on a vial of FIG. 6 in an embodiment.
- FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an adjustable safety guard with rotary slider for adjustable vial size prior to assembly in an embodiment.
- FIG. 9A is a perspective top view of the assembled adjustable safety guard of FIG. 8 .
- FIG. 9B is a perspective bottom view of the assembled adjustable safety guard of FIG. 8 .
- FIG. 9C is a top view of the slider of FIG. 8 .
- FIG. 9D is an enlarged view of the ratchet-pawl mechanism with exemplary dimensions of FIG. 8 .
- FIG. 10A is a top view of the assembled adjustable safety guard of FIG. 8 .
- FIG. 10B is a side view of the assembled adjustable safety guard of FIG. 8 .
- FIG. 10C is a bottom view of the assembled adjustable safety guard of FIG. 8 .
- FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a safety shield with an Iris capture for adjustable vial size prior to assembly in an embodiment.
- FIG. 12A is a perspective top view of the assembled safety shield with Iris blades of FIG. 11 in an embodiment.
- FIG. 12B is a perspective bottom view of the assembled safety shield with Iris blades of FIG. 11 in an embodiment.
- FIG. 13A is a bottom view of the upper disk of the safety shield of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 13B is a top view of the upper disk of the safety shield of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 13C is a side view of the upper disk of the safety shield of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 13D is a perspective view of the upper disk of the safety shield of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 14A is a bottom view of the lower disk of the safety shield of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 14B is a side view of the lower disk of the safety shield of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 14C is a side view of the lower disk snap clip of the safety shield of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 15A is a bottom view of the Iris blade of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 15B is a side view of the Iris blade of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 16 is an exploded view of the upper disk component near the ribbed sidewall of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a safety guard from the bottom and outside in an embodiment.
- Safety guard 100 is adapted to attach to a vial (see FIG. 2 for a simplified diagram).
- Safety guard 100 includes a disk-shaped shield 102 and a substantially U-shaped holder 112 .
- Disk-shaped shield 102 serves as a guard to protect a medical assistant from being injured by a needle as a physician or other user inserts the needle into the vial to withdraw liquid.
- U-shaped holder 112 attached to disk-shaped shield 102 removes a vial cap 104 from the vial, and retains the vial cap removed from the vial.
- Disk-shaped shield 102 has an outer circumferential edge 106 , an inner circumferential edge 116 , and a middle portion 126 therebetween.
- Middle portion 126 is recessed from outer circumferential edge 106 and inner circumferential edge 116 .
- Recessed middle portion 126 may be curved as illustrated by curved edge 122 . The recessed middle portion with outer circumferential edge 106 raised from recessed middle portion 126 will stop a needle that may accidentally strike the shield when a physician uses the syringe to withdraw medications from a vial.
- Disk-shaped shield 102 includes a substantially medial opening 130 surrounded by inner edge 116 and a radial opening connected to the medial opening 130 .
- the radial opening is bounded by two radial edges 108 A-B (Item 108 B not shown in FIG. 1A ).
- Radial edges 108 A-B are straight and flat.
- a vial can be pushed through the radial opening toward the medial opening 130 of disk-shaped shield 102 .
- the vial is retained within the medial opening that is smaller than the sealed cover 204 of the vial, but larger than the vial neck 206 (see FIG. 2 ).
- Radial edges 108 A-B help guide the vial through the radial opening.
- U-shaped holder 112 includes a top portion 112 A connected to two sidewalls 112 B-C. Sidewalls 112 B-C are attached perpendicularly to disk-shaped shield 102 such that top portion 112 A is raised above the radial opening of disk-shaped shield 102 .
- the attachments 140 A-B are along two radial edges 108 A-B, but at a distance from the two radial edges.
- U-shaped holder 112 also includes wedged protrusions 114 A-B extending from respective sidewalls 112 B-C configured for removing and retaining vial cap 104 .
- the wedged protrusions have dimensional variations in both radial direction and vertical direction as shown by arrows R and V, respectively. Details of wedged protrusions are further illustrated in FIGS. 3A-3B .
- U-shaped holder 112 also includes curved protrusions 132 A and 132 B (not shown) extending from respective sidewalls 112 B-C, for blocking vial cap 104 from moving toward the medial opening 130 of disk-shaped shield 102 .
- Curved protrusions 132 A-B are positioned above wedged protrusions 114 A-B closer to top portion 112 A.
- the curvatures of curved protrusions 132 A-B match to the circumference of vial cap 104 , such that when a vial is forced through the radial opening toward the medial opening 130 of disk-shaped shield 102 , vial cap 104 is blocked by the curved protrusions 132 A-B.
- vial cap 104 is removed from the vial without touching the vial cap 104 by the medical personnel (see FIG. 3B and related detailed description on the mechanism for removing the cap). Vial cap 104 is then retained on the top of wedged protrusions 114 A-B.
- U-shaped holder 112 also includes a locking mechanism or bump 120 near the outer edge of top portion 112 A for locking vial cap 104 inside U-shaped holder 112 , such that vial cap 104 does not fall from the disk-shaped shield 102 .
- FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the safety guard 100 of FIG. 1A from the top and center in an embodiment.
- FIG. 1B shows a raised circumferential outer edge 106 , a recessed middle portion 126 for disk-shaped shield 102 .
- FIG. 1B also illustrates that U-shaped holder 112 is raised above disk-shaped shield 102 by sidewalls 112 B-C.
- top portion 112 A of U-shaped holder 112 has a curved edge 124 near the medial opening 130 of disk-shaped shield 102 .
- the curved edge 124 is substantially circular and is sized to expose the pierce-able cover 208 of vial 202 (see FIG. 2 ). Curved protrusion 132 A and wedged protrusion 114 A are viewed from the center.
- FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified diagram of a vial in an embodiment.
- Vial 200 includes a liquid container 202 and a sealed cover 204 connected to container 202 by a vial neck portion 206 .
- Neck portion 206 has a smaller diameter than sealed cover 204 .
- Sealed cover 204 has a center opening to expose a pierce-able cover 208 manufactured from rubber, vinyl, silicone or similar materials known in the industry (also see a photo of a safety guard in FIG. 7 ).
- Sealed cover 204 may be made of a metal, such as aluminum.
- Vial cap 104 covers and protects the pierce-able cover 208 and the sealed cover 204 is removable from vial 200 .
- vial caps 104 are removably fastened to the seal 206 and are easily removed with moderate upward force.
- Vial 200 may optionally have an annual ring 210 around the neck portion 206 . Space between sealed cover 204 and ring 210 must be larger than the thickness of radial edges 108 A-B.
- FIG. 3A is a simplified cross-sectional view of the sidewall of U-shaped holder in an embodiment.
- sidewall 112 B of U-shaped holder is connected to top portion 112 A of U-shaped holder 112 .
- Curved protrusion 132 A is positioned near the medial opening 130 of disk-shaped shield 102 and, is located above wedged protrusion 114 A, close to top portion 112 A.
- Wedged protrusion 114 A tapers to become thinner near the outer edge 106 of disk-shaped shield 102 than near the medial opening 130 of disk-shaped shield 102 .
- the tapered portion 306 A allows the vial cap 104 to move toward the medial medial opening 130 without decapping near outer edge 106 of safety guard 100 , and provides an upward force and assists vial cap 104 removal from sealed cover 206 .
- the tapered portion 306 A ends at point 308 A.
- Radial edge 108 A is below wedged protrusion 114 A for guiding the vial through the radial opening toward medial opening 130 .
- FIG. 3B is a simplified top view of curved protrusion and wedged protrusion from the sidewall in an embodiment.
- two curved protrusions 132 A and 132 B extend from respective sidewalls 112 B and 112 C.
- Curved protrusions 132 A and 132 B have outer curved sides 134 A and 134 B toward the medial opening 130 of disk-shaped shield 102 for exposing the pierce-able cover 208 of vial 200 .
- Curved protrusions 132 A and 132 B also have inner curved sides 304 A and 304 B for fitting to vial cap 104 to block movement of vial cap 104 toward the medial opening 130 .
- Wedged protrusions 114 A and 114 B have reduced dimensions from outer edge 106 of disk-shaped shield 102 toward the medial opening 130 of disk-shaped shield 102 , such that vial neck 204 contacts wedged protrusions 114 A-B near outer edge 106 .
- Wedged protrusions 114 A-B also have clearance from protrusion 114 A-B toward the medial opening 130 . Sizes of wedged protrusions 114 A-B are determined such that upward wedging force is generated between sealed cover 204 and wedged protrusions 114 A-B near outer edge 106 . The upward wedging force is high enough to remove vial cap 104 .
- wedged protrusion 114 A is tapered toward outer edge 106 such that the vial is retained within the medial opening 130 , and curved protrusion 132 A extends more than wedged protrusion 114 A from sidewall 112 B for blocking the cap 104 from moving toward the medial opening 130 .
- vial cap 104 is pressed against inner sides 304 A and 304 B of curved protrusions 132 A and 132 B, and a portion of vial cap 104 bridges on wedged protrusions 114 A- 114 B. Note that end 308 A of the tapered portion is near inner side 304 A of curved protrusion 132 A.
- This configuration allows removal of vial cap 104 without touching the vial cap 104 by a user. For example, a medical personnel holding a vial may push the vial toward the medial opening 130 .
- Vial cap 104 is then engaged with the inner sides 304 A and 304 B of the curved protrusions 132 A and 132 B, and blocked by the curved protrusions from moving toward the medial opening 130 .
- the lower edge 152 of the vial cap 104 bridges across the upper edges 302 A and 302 B of the wedged protrusions 134 A- 134 B.
- FIGS. 4A-4C are different side views of safety guard 100 that is adapted to attach to a vial in an embodiment.
- FIG. 4A is a side view from the opposite side facing the U-shaped holder.
- FIG. 4B shows that U-shaped holder 112 is raised from disk-shaped shield 102 .
- FIG. 4C is a front view facing the U-shaped holder.
- FIG. 5 is a bottom view of safety guard 100 in an embodiment.
- radial edges 108 A-B are straight to allow the sealed cover 204 of vial 200 to slide toward the medial opening 130 of the disk-shaped shield 102 .
- Raised edges 108 A-B become closer toward the medial opening 130 such that radial opening 502 becomes narrow toward the medial opening 130 , which helps the vial 200 retain within the medial opening 130 .
- Radial opening 502 between radial edges 108 A-B is sized large enough to allow neck portion 206 of vial 200 to pass through with clearance, but small enough to retain the vial 200 .
- Vial 200 may be made of glass or plastic or any other material.
- locking mechanism or bump 120 is positioned near outer edge 106 of disk-shaped shield 102 .
- FIG. 5 also shows that radial edges 108 A-B are wedge-shaped. Curved protrusions 132 A-B extend beyond radial edges 108 A-B.
- FIG. 5 further shows that top portion 112 A has a curved edge 124 toward medial opening 130 . Bottom portion of disk-shaped shield 102 is curved as illustrated by curvature 122 .
- Safety guard 100 is designed for easy use.
- a vial is manipulated into the safety guard by aligning the vial neck portion 206 with the opening.
- the sealed cap 204 is positioned between sidewalls 112 B-C above raised edges 108 A-B.
- the vial cap 104 is forced onto wedged protusions 114 A-B and blocked by curved protrusions 132 A-B, and is removed by the upward wedge force.
- the vial cap can be removed with the safety guard and retained in the vial cap holder. More specifically, a neck portion of the vial can be pushed through the radial opening toward the medial opening 130 of disk-shaped shield 102 .
- vial cap 104 is removed and retained on wedged edges 114 A-B and secured by curved protrusions 132 A-B and locking mechanism 120 in the U-shaped holder.
- FIG. 6A is a perspective view of safety guard 100 that is attached to a vial of medication or other liquid material in an embodiment.
- Safety guard 600 includes a disk-shaped shield 602 and a U-shaped holder 612 that has a top portion and two sidewalls that attach to disk-shaped shield 602 . Between radial edges 608 A-B is an open space for vial 606 to pass through. Vial 606 is frictionally engaged to wedged edge 614 A-B of U-shaped holder 612 . Vial cap 604 is removed from sealed cover portion 610 of vial 606 by the frictional force between sealed cover portion 610 and wedged edges 614 A-B and is held in the U-shaped holder 612 .
- FIG. 6A also shows wedged protrusions 614 A-B extending from sidewalls 612 B-C for holding vial cap 604 .
- FIG. 6B is a front view of the safety guard of FIG. 6A . It is referenced to a pen to illustrate a size of the safety guard. Radial edges 608 A-B are flat to allow neck portion 610 of vial 606 to slide inward toward the medial opening of the disk-shaped shield 602 . Attachments 620 A-B for sidewalls to shield are along two radial edges 608 A-B, but at a distance from radial edges.
- Vials may vary in sizes or volumes, generally ranging from 5 ml to 250 ml.
- a vial of 30 ml may have vial cap of about 20 mm diameter, a bottom diameter of 30 mm and a height of about 65 mm.
- the disk-shaped shield 602 may be 75 mm in diameter.
- U-shaped Holder 612 may be raised from disk-shaped shield 602 for about 10 mm, 30 mm across the radial opening and a radial length of about 35 mm.
- Vial cap 604 may have a diameter of about 23 mm slightly larger than the vial cover 610 . It will be appreciated by those of skilled in the art that safety guard 100 may vary in dimensions, shapes or geometries.
- FIG. 7 is a top view of the safety guard 600 of FIG. 6 .
- FIG. 7 illustrates that U-shaped holder 612 covers a portion of disk-shaped shield 602 or the radial opening of disk-shaped shield 602 .
- U-shaped holder 612 has a curved edge 708 to expose the pierce-able cover 704 of vial 606 .
- a safety shield may adjust for holding vials of various sizes.
- some exemplary designs are presented.
- a rotary slider may be included to adjust an opening to fit a vial of any size.
- a safety shield may include an Iris capture for adjusting an opening for fitting to a vial of any size.
- FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an adjustable safety guard 800 prior to assembly in an embodiment.
- FIGS. 9A and 9B are perspective views of the adjustable safety guard 800 in assembled condition according to embodiments of the disclosure.
- the adjustable safety guard 800 includes a rotary slider 802 and a shield base 804 .
- the slider 802 is rotatable against the shield base 804 such that a central opening 818 of the safety guard 800 may be adjusted to fit to a vial neck of any size.
- the shield base 804 includes a substantially disk-shaped ratchet component 810 and a substantially ring-shaped rail 808 .
- the ratchet component 810 includes a number of railing holding ratchet teeth 838 on its circular outer edge and has a straight inner edge 834 toward central opening 818 .
- the rail 808 extends along the circular outer edge of the ratchet component 810 to guide the rotation of the slider 802 .
- the shield base 804 also includes another curved rail 812 , which is on the opposite side of the central opening 818 to the ratchet component 810 .
- the slider 802 includes a handle 822 for manually rotating the slider against the ratchet component 810 .
- the slider 802 also includes a pawl 814 for locking the slider 802 in a position when one of the teeth 838 is pressed against the pawl 814 .
- This ratchet-pawl mechanism allows the rotation in only one direction, locks the position of the slider 802 , and thus fixes the size of the central opening 818 for a particular vial of any size.
- the slider 802 further includes a slider base component 832 with a slider neck 816 and a curved clearance slot 806 that is aligned with the ratchet component 810 to allow 90 degree articulation of the slider along rails 808 and 812 .
- curved clearance slot 806 allows the rotation of the slider 802 under the railing holding ratchet teeth 838 .
- the central opening 818 is adjusted to fit to a vial of any size.
- Safety guard 100 may be made of a plastic.
- the plastic may be polyethylene or polypropylene.
- Safety guard 100 may be injection molded and fabricated in one piece.
- the safety guard may also be fabricated by making U-shaped holder 112 and disk-shaped shield 102 separately, and then assembled them together by using adhesives.
- the adjustable safety guard 800 may also be fabricated from plastic like safety guard 100 . Additionally, the slider 802 , the shield base 804 with ratchet component 810 with rail 808 , and rail 812 may be fabricated individually and assembled together to form the adjustable safety guard 800 by a press fit.
- the handle 822 may be fabricated separately from a slider base component 832 and attached to the slider base component 832 by using an adhesive.
- the pawl 814 may be fabricated separately from the slider base component 832 and attached to the slider base component 832 by using an adhesive or fabricated with the slider base component 832 together.
- the fabrication method includes injection molding among others.
- the ratchet component 810 may be fabricated with a relatively flexible polymer material. The flexible material and curved clearance slot 806 allow the pawl 814 to pass over a tooth when the slider 802 is rotated manually.
- the rotation is in a counter clockwise direction as viewed from the top. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the design of the slider, ratchet component, and pawl may vary to allow only clockwise rotation.
- FIG. 9A is a perspective top view of the assembled adjustable safety guard of FIG. 8 .
- FIG. 9B is a perspective bottom view of the assembled adjustable safety guard of FIG. 8 .
- FIG. 9C is a top view of slider 802 .
- FIG. 9D is an enlarged view of the ratchet-pawl mechanism with exemplary dimensions in millimeters.
- the position of the handle 822 is adjustable in a clockwise direction.
- the spacing between the teeth 838 of the ratchet component 810 and the dimension of the teeth 838 may vary based upon the neck size of the vial.
- the teeth 838 of the ratchet component 810 may be sloped as illustrated in FIG. 9D .
- slider 802 When handle 822 rotates clockwisely, as viewed from the top, outer edge 824 of slider 802 is against curved rail 812 , which is slightly concave shaped to guide the rotation of the slider 802 .
- the slider 802 also includes an end portion 826 , which is outside rail 808 in assembled condition (see FIG. 9B ).
- the clearance between the outer edge of ratchet component 810 and the inner edge 902 near recessed area allows a press fit for the slider 802 into the shield base 804 during assembling.
- slider neck 816 has a concaved edge for enclosing a vial neck, as illustrated.
- FIG. 10A is a top view of the adjustable safety guard 800 in an embodiment.
- the slider neck 816 and a portion of inner edge 840 of shield base 804 cooperate to form adjustable opening 818 when the handle 822 is turned clockwise as viewed from the top.
- the adjustable opening 818 becomes smaller when the slider 802 is rotated clockwise, in the general direction of arrow 830 .
- FIG. 10B is a side view of the adjustable safety guard 800 in an embodiment. Note that handle 822 is at the bottom of the adjustable safety guard 800 .
- FIG. 10C is a bottom view of the adjustable safety guard 800 in an embodiment. The handle 822 rotates counter-clockwisely as pointed by arrow 828 , as viewed from the bottom.
- Arrow 840 illustrates the rotation of the slider 802 against the ratchet component 810 .
- Exemplary dimensions in mm are provided as in the FIGS. 10A-10C . It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the geometry, shapes, dimensions, configurations of the safety guard or shield may vary. The ratchet- pawl mechanism may also have variations.
- FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a safety shield with an Iris capture for adjustable vial size prior to assembly in an embodiment.
- Safety shield 1000 includes an upper disk component 1006 , an Iris capture component 1004 , and a lower disk component 1002 .
- the upper disk component 1006 has an upper central opening 1110 A in its center.
- the upper disk component 1006 also includes a number of blade tabs 1100 arranged circularly around its central opening 1110 A.
- the upper disk component 1006 further includes ribbed sidewalls 1106 extending downward from its outer edge to provide gripping surface for locking position of the Iris capture 1004 .
- the ribbed sidewalls 1106 are spaced by clearance slots 1130 that are areas without any ribbed sidewalls 1106 .
- the Iris capture component 1004 includes a number of Iris capture blades 1112 , which are assembled to form the Iris capture.
- the blade tabs 1100 are used to attach the blades 1112 to the bottom of the upper disk component
- the lower disk component 1002 includes a lower central opening 1110 B and a number of linear sliding slots 1102 arranged around the lower central opening 1110 B, which is aligned with the central opening 1100 of the upper disk component when assembled.
- the lower disk component 1002 further includes a handle 1008 attached to its bottom near its outer edge.
- the lower disk component 1002 also includes a number of snap clips 1120 arranged near its outer edge for attaching to the upper disk component 1006 when assembled.
- the number of Iris capture blades 1112 is equal to the number of linear sliding slots 1102 and the number of the blade tabs are the same. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the number of Iris capture blades, linear sliding slots, and blade tabs may vary.
- FIG. 12A is a perspective top view of the assembled safety shield of FIG. 11 .
- FIG. 12B is a perspective bottom view of the assembled safety shield with Iris blades of FIG. 11 .
- an Iris opening 1104 enclosed by the blades 1112 is adjusted to fit to the neck size of any vial.
- the Iris opening 1140 is equal or smaller than both the upper central opening 1110 A and lower central opening 1110 B.
- the rotating movements of the Iris blades are enabled by linearly moving the blades 1112 within respective linear sliding slots 1102 .
- Holes 1100 on the upper disk component 1006 are through-holes for the blade tabs 1114 to pass through and to attach the blades to the upper disk component 1006 .
- FIGS. 13A-D are a bottom view, a top view, a side view and a perspective view of the upper disk component 1006 in an embodiment.
- the upper disk component 1006 includes a number of snap clip guides 1202 arranged between the holes 1100 and the sidewalls 1106 .
- the snap clip guides 1202 protrude from the disk base 1302 of the upper disk component 1006 for the snap clips 1120 of the lower disk component 1002 to attach the upper disk component 1006 and lower disk component 1002 together.
- the snap clip guides also provide spacing for the blades 1112 to retract along the respective linear sliding slots 1102 of the lower disk component 1002 .
- the snap clip guides 1202 are curved bars and aligned with the respective ribbed sidewall 1106 .
- the snap clip guides 1202 have heights equal to or less than the ribbed sidewall 1106 .
- the length of the ribbed sidewall 1106 needs to be long enough to cover the entire range of the linear movement of the blade 1112 within the respective slot 1102 .
- the slot size and the configuration of the blades vary with the desirable range of adjustable opening 1104 .
- the upper disk component 1006 also includes clearance slots 1130 between ends of two nearest ribbed sidewalls 1106 .
- the clearance slots 1130 are sized for viewing the snap clips 1120 of the lower disk component 1002 during assembly.
- the exemplary embodiment illustrates four ribbed sidewalls, the number of ribbed sidewalls may vary with the configuration of the blades including the number of blades and arrangement of the blades.
- FIGS. 14A-B are a bottom view and a side view of the lower disk component 1002 of the assembled safety shield of FIG. 11 .
- five linear sliding slots 1102 are arranged around central opening 1110 B of the lower disk component 1002 for allowing the Iris blades 1112 to rotate.
- Handle 1008 is located near the outer edge of the lower disk component 1002 .
- snap clips 1120 move along the snap slip guides 1202 and the linear sliding slots move the blades to adjust the Iris opening 1104 .
- the number of sliding slots may vary for other designs.
- FIG. 14C is a side view of the lower disk snap clip 1120 . Note that handle 1008 is on opposite side from snap clips 1120 , which are L-shaped.
- FIGS. 15A-B are a bottom view and a side view of the Iris blade 1112 in an embodiment.
- Iris blade 1112 includes a blade base 1504 , a protrusion 1116 from the blade base on its bottom, which fits to the slot 1102 of the lower shield base 1002 .
- Protrusion 1116 from the blade base 1504 is sized to fit within the slot 1102 to allow the blade to linearly move within the slot 1102 .
- the blade 1112 also includes a clearance hole 1502 on its top side for blade tab 1114 to press fit into.
- the blade tab 1114 passes through hole 1100 to attach the blades 1112 to the upper disk component.
- the blade 1112 also includes a curved inner edge 1506 and a curved outer edge 1508 to allow enclosing vials of different sizes.
- Exemplary dimensions of the components are provided in millimeters as in the FIGS. 13A-13C , 14 A- 14 C and 15 A- 15 B. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that dimensions, shapes, and configurations may vary.
- FIG. 16 is an enlarged view of the ribbed sidewall 1106 and the snap clip guide 1202 separated by a clearance 1602 .
- the clearance 1602 is sized to allow the snap slip 1120 to fit in to attach to the snap clip guide 1202 .
- Ribbed sidewall 1106 has a number of grooves to provide gripping surface for a user.
- a user may hold the safety shield near the ribbed sidewall with one hand and manually rotates the handle with another hand to adjust the Iris opening 1104 to fit to a vial neck.
- the safety shield 1000 may also have a locking mechanism (not shown) for locking the Iris opening 1104 .
- the safety shield 1000 may be fabricated by plastic.
- the upper disk component, Iris blades and the lower component may be fabricated individually and assembled together to form the safety shield 1000 , with the blade tabs and the snap clips.
- the handle 1008 may be fabricated separately from a disk base 1402 of the lower disk component 1002 , and may be attached to the disk base 1402 by using an adhesive (see FIG. 14A ).
- the fabrication method includes injection molding among others.
- a vial cap may be manually removed, as this safety shield 1000 does not have a cap removal mechanism, like safety guards 100 and 800 .
- the upper disk component 1006 may have a recessed portion (not shown) adapted to collect a needle which may fall onto the safety shield.
- One of the benefits of the safety guards 100 , 800 , and 1000 is to protect a medical assistant from injury. Additional benefit includes that a vial cap may be removed with the U-shape holder in safety guards 100 and 800 , rather than manually removing with a hand or other tool.
- the safety guards 100 and 800 minimize hand contamination on the pierce-able cover of the vial.
- the vial cap can be removed with the safety guards 100 and 800 without touching the vial cap by a medical personnel.
- Additional benefit of the adjustable safety guard 800 and safety shield 1000 is to fit to vial necks of various sizes.
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Abstract
A needle safety guard device adapted to attach to a liquid container is provided. The device includes a disk-shaped shield having a medial opening connected with a radial opening between two radial edges. The device also includes a substantially U-shaped holder having two sidewalls coupled substantially perpendicular to the disk-shaped shield along the two radial edges, and a top cover connecting to the two sidewalls and extending from the shield above the radial opening. The U-shaped holder includes a wedged protrusion and a curved protrusion extending from each of the two sidewalls, the curved protrusion being between the top cover and the wedged protrusion for blocking a cap of the liquid container from moving toward the medial opening.
Description
- This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/214,960, filed on Aug. 22, 2011, which claimed priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 61/375,853, filed on Aug. 22, 2010, both of which are incorporated by reference herein.
- This invention relates to a device that attaches to a liquid container, de-caps the container and prevents medical personnel from being injured by a syringe used to draw liquid from the container.
- During procedures, it is often necessary for a healthcare provider to inject medications into a patient. It is not desirable for the healthcare provider to remove his or her gloves and touch a vial or a liquid container that contains medications or medical solutions. A nurse or a medical assistant may hold the vial while the healthcare provider sticks a needle laden syringe into the vial to withdraw the medications from the vial. Accidents sometimes occur whereby the healthcare provider inadvertently injures the nurse or medical assistant's hand with a sharp needle of the syringe. Furthermore, a vial that contains medications or other liquid material normally has a pierce-able cover, which is protected with a vial cap. When a healthcare provider removes the vial cap with gloves on, the pierce-able cover may be contaminated.
- Therefore, it is desirable to develop a safety device for protecting medical personnel from needle sticks.
- This disclosure advances the art and overcomes the problems outlined above by providing a safety guard adapted to attach to a vial for protecting medical personnel holding a vial from injury when a healthcare provider withdraws medication from the vial with a needle laden syringe. The safety guard also minimizes contamination of the pierce-able cover of the vial during removal of the vial cap that covers the pierce-able cover.
- In one embodiment, a needle safety guard device adapted to attach to a liquid container is provided. The device includes a disk-shaped shield having a medial opening connected with a radial opening between two radial edges. The device also includes a substantially U-shaped holder having two sidewalls coupled substantially perpendicular to the disk-shaped shield along the two radial edges, and a top cover connecting to the two sidewalls and extending from the shield above the radial opening. The U-shaped holder includes a wedged protrusion and a curved protrusion extending from each of the two sidewalls, the curved protrusion being between the top cover and the wedged protrusion for blocking a cap of the liquid container from moving toward the medial opening.
- According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the wedged protrusion has a tapered portion near an outer edge of the shield such that the tapered portion generates enough upward wedging force to remove the cap. The disk-shaped shield includes a recessed bottom portion below an outer circumferential edge of the disk-shaped shield and an inner circumferential edge around the medial opening. The two radial edges are separated by a distance gradually decreasing toward the medial opening such that the liquid retainer is retained within the medial opening. The two sidewalls and the wedged protrusion and the curved protrusion are substantially symmetric to the top cover. The shield and raised U-shaped holder include a plastic.
- In a particular embodiment, a needle safety guard device adapted to attach to a liquid container is provided. The device includes a disk-shaped shield having a medial opening connected with a radial opening between two radial edges. The device also includes a substantially U-shaped holder having two sidewalls coupled substantially perpendicular to the disk-shaped shield along the two radial edges, and a top cover connecting to the two sidewalls and extending from the shield above the radial opening. The U-shaped holder includes a wedged protrusion and a curved protrusion extending from each of the two sidewalls, the curved protrusion being between the top cover and the wedged protrusion for blocking a cap of the liquid container from moving toward the medial opening. The wedged protrusion has a tapered portion near an outer edge of the shield such that the tapered portion generates enough upward wedging force to remove the cap. The disk-shaped shield includes a recessed bottom portion below an outer circumferential edge of the disk-shaped shield and an inner circumferential edge around the medial opening. The two radial edges are separated by a distance gradually decreasing toward the medial opening such that the liquid retainer is retained within the medial opening. The two sidewalls and the wedged protrusion and the curved protrusion are substantially symmetric to the top cover. The shield and raised U-shaped holder include a plastic.
- In another embodiment, a needle safety guard device adapted to attach to a liquid container is provided. The device includes a shield base having a medial opening connected with a radial opening. The device also includes a ratchet component coupled to a bottom of the shield base. The device further includes a rotary slider coupled to the ratchet component with a plurality of teeth. The slider has a neck portion being movable for fitting to the liquid container. The device also includes a pawl attached to the bottom of the shield base to engage with one of the plurality of teeth of the ratchet component. The device also includes a rail component attached to the bottom of the shield base for retaining the rotary slider. The device further includes a substantially U-shaped holder coupled to a top of the shield base above the radial opening.
- According to embodiments of the disclosure, the neck portion of the rotary slider is substantially concave shaped such that the liquid container partially contacts the neck portion of the rotary slider and partially contacts the medial opening of the shield base and is retained within the shield base. The position of the neck portion of the rotary slider relative to the medial opening is adjustable by manually moving a handle coupled to the rotary slider. The U-shaped holder includes two sidewalls coupled substantially perpendicular to the shield base along two radial edges of the radial opening, and a top cover connecting to the two sidewalls and extending from the shield base above the radial opening. The U-shaped holder includes a wedged protrusion and a curved protrusion extending from each of the two sidewalls. The curved protrusion is between the top cover and the wedged protrusion for blocking a cap of the liquid container from moving toward the medial opening. The wedged protrusion has a tapered portion near an outer edge of the shield such that the tapered portion generates enough upward wedging force to remove the cap. The two sidewalls and the wedged protrusion and the curved protrusion are substantial The shield base includes a recessed bottom portion below an outer circumferential edge of the disk-shaped shield and an inner circumferential edge around the medial opening. The shield base is substantially disk-shaped. Two radial edges of the radial opening are separated by a distance gradually decreasing toward the medial opening such that the liquid retainer is retained within the medial opening. The shield and raised U-shaped holder include a plastic.
- In a further embodiment, a needle safety guard device adapted to attach to a liquid container is provided. The device includes a top shield having a central opening, and a plurality of through-holes spaced along a first circle between the central opening and an outer edge of the top shield. The device also includes a plurality of snap clip guides extending from a bottom of the top shield and being positioned along a second circle between the outer edge and the first circle. The device further includes a shield base having a plurality of sliding slots and a plurality of snap clips attached on a top of the shield base, where the snap clips are configured to attach to the snap clip guides and to be movable along the respective snap clip guides. The device also includes an Iris capture component coupled to a bottom of the top shield near the central opening for adjusting to fit to the liquid container, the Iris capture component including a plurality of Iris blades coupled to the top shield and the plurality of sliding slots of the shield base. The device also includes a handle attached to the bottom of the shield base for manually moving the blades within the respective sliding slots to adjust the Iris capture component to fit to the liquid container.
- According to embodiments of the disclosure, each of the Iris blade includes a protrusion on a bottom side of the Iris blade, the protrusion being coupled to each respective sliding slot. The device also includes a plurality of blade tabs, each of the Iris blade having a hole on a top side of the Iris blade for attaching the Iris blades to the top shield with the plurality of blade tabs, and the hole being aligned with the respective through-hole in the top shield and sized for press fits with the blade tabs. The shield base includes a plurality of teeth along an outer edge of the shield base. The handle includes a locking component engaged with the plurality of teeth for locking the position of the blades. The top shield includes a recessed portion between an outer edge and the medial opening. The device includes a plastic. The top shield and the shield base are substantially disk-shaped.
- In still yet another embodiment, a method is provided for decapping a vial with a safety shield with a substantially U-shaped holder extending upward from a shield base. The method includes placing the vial with a vial cap on a pair of wedged protrusions extending from two opposing sidewalls of the U-shaped holder, where the two opposing sidewalls are separated by a top wall of the U-shaped holder. The method also includes sliding the vial along the wedged protrusion toward a central opening and forcing the vial against a pair of curved protrusions extending from the two sidewalls between the top wall and the wedged protrusions. The method further includes retaining the vial cap within the substantially U-shaped holder and the vial within the central opening.
- Additional embodiments and features are set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the specification or may be learned by the practice of the invention. A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings.
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FIG. 1A is a perspective bottom view of the safety guard in an embodiment. -
FIG. 1B is a top, center perspective view of the safety guard ofFIG. 1A in an embodiment. -
FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram of a vial or a liquid container in an embodiment. -
FIG. 3A is a simplified cross-sectional view of sidewall of U-shaped holder in an embodiment. -
FIG. 3B is a simplified top view of curved protrusion and wedged protrusion from sidewall in an embodiment. -
FIGS. 4A-4C are side views of the safety guard ofFIG. 1A in an embodiment. -
FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the safety guard ofFIG. 1A in an embodiment. -
FIG. 6A is a perspective view of a safety guard in use on a vial in an embodiment. -
FIG. 6B is a side view of a safety guard in use on a vial in an embodiment. -
FIG. 7 is a top view of a safety guard in use on a vial ofFIG. 6 in an embodiment. -
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an adjustable safety guard with rotary slider for adjustable vial size prior to assembly in an embodiment. -
FIG. 9A is a perspective top view of the assembled adjustable safety guard ofFIG. 8 . -
FIG. 9B is a perspective bottom view of the assembled adjustable safety guard ofFIG. 8 . -
FIG. 9C is a top view of the slider ofFIG. 8 . -
FIG. 9D is an enlarged view of the ratchet-pawl mechanism with exemplary dimensions ofFIG. 8 . -
FIG. 10A is a top view of the assembled adjustable safety guard ofFIG. 8 . -
FIG. 10B is a side view of the assembled adjustable safety guard ofFIG. 8 . -
FIG. 10C is a bottom view of the assembled adjustable safety guard ofFIG. 8 . -
FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a safety shield with an Iris capture for adjustable vial size prior to assembly in an embodiment. -
FIG. 12A is a perspective top view of the assembled safety shield with Iris blades ofFIG. 11 in an embodiment. -
FIG. 12B is a perspective bottom view of the assembled safety shield with Iris blades ofFIG. 11 in an embodiment. -
FIG. 13A is a bottom view of the upper disk of the safety shield ofFIG. 11 . -
FIG. 13B is a top view of the upper disk of the safety shield ofFIG. 11 . -
FIG. 13C is a side view of the upper disk of the safety shield ofFIG. 11 . -
FIG. 13D is a perspective view of the upper disk of the safety shield ofFIG. 11 . -
FIG. 14A is a bottom view of the lower disk of the safety shield ofFIG. 11 . -
FIG. 14B is a side view of the lower disk of the safety shield ofFIG. 11 . -
FIG. 14C is a side view of the lower disk snap clip of the safety shield ofFIG. 11 . -
FIG. 15A is a bottom view of the Iris blade ofFIG. 11 . -
FIG. 15B is a side view of the Iris blade ofFIG. 11 . -
FIG. 16 is an exploded view of the upper disk component near the ribbed sidewall ofFIG. 11 . - The present disclosure may be understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings as briefly described below. It is noted that, for purposes of illustrative clarity, certain elements in the drawings may not be drawn to scale.
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FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a safety guard from the bottom and outside in an embodiment.Safety guard 100 is adapted to attach to a vial (seeFIG. 2 for a simplified diagram).Safety guard 100 includes a disk-shapedshield 102 and a substantiallyU-shaped holder 112. Disk-shapedshield 102 serves as a guard to protect a medical assistant from being injured by a needle as a physician or other user inserts the needle into the vial to withdraw liquid.U-shaped holder 112 attached to disk-shapedshield 102, removes avial cap 104 from the vial, and retains the vial cap removed from the vial. - Disk-shaped
shield 102 has an outercircumferential edge 106, an innercircumferential edge 116, and amiddle portion 126 therebetween.Middle portion 126 is recessed from outercircumferential edge 106 and innercircumferential edge 116. Recessedmiddle portion 126 may be curved as illustrated bycurved edge 122. The recessed middle portion with outercircumferential edge 106 raised from recessedmiddle portion 126 will stop a needle that may accidentally strike the shield when a physician uses the syringe to withdraw medications from a vial. - Disk-shaped
shield 102 includes a substantiallymedial opening 130 surrounded byinner edge 116 and a radial opening connected to themedial opening 130. The radial opening is bounded by tworadial edges 108A-B (Item 108B not shown inFIG. 1A ). Radial edges 108A-B are straight and flat. A vial can be pushed through the radial opening toward themedial opening 130 of disk-shapedshield 102. The vial is retained within the medial opening that is smaller than the sealedcover 204 of the vial, but larger than the vial neck 206 (seeFIG. 2 ). Radial edges 108A-B help guide the vial through the radial opening. -
U-shaped holder 112 includes atop portion 112A connected to twosidewalls 112B-C. Sidewalls 112B-C are attached perpendicularly to disk-shapedshield 102 such thattop portion 112A is raised above the radial opening of disk-shapedshield 102. Theattachments 140A-B are along tworadial edges 108A-B, but at a distance from the two radial edges. -
U-shaped holder 112 also includes wedgedprotrusions 114A-B extending fromrespective sidewalls 112B-C configured for removing and retainingvial cap 104. The wedged protrusions have dimensional variations in both radial direction and vertical direction as shown by arrows R and V, respectively. Details of wedged protrusions are further illustrated inFIGS. 3A-3B . -
U-shaped holder 112 also includescurved protrusions respective sidewalls 112B-C, for blockingvial cap 104 from moving toward themedial opening 130 of disk-shapedshield 102.Curved protrusions 132A-B are positioned above wedgedprotrusions 114A-B closer totop portion 112A. The curvatures ofcurved protrusions 132A-B match to the circumference ofvial cap 104, such that when a vial is forced through the radial opening toward themedial opening 130 of disk-shapedshield 102,vial cap 104 is blocked by thecurved protrusions 132A-B. As the vial is manually forced to move toward themedial opening 130 by a personnel holding a vial,vial cap 104 is removed from the vial without touching thevial cap 104 by the medical personnel (seeFIG. 3B and related detailed description on the mechanism for removing the cap).Vial cap 104 is then retained on the top of wedgedprotrusions 114A-B. -
U-shaped holder 112 also includes a locking mechanism or bump 120 near the outer edge oftop portion 112A for lockingvial cap 104 insideU-shaped holder 112, such thatvial cap 104 does not fall from the disk-shapedshield 102. -
FIG. 1B is a perspective view of thesafety guard 100 ofFIG. 1A from the top and center in an embodiment.FIG. 1B shows a raised circumferentialouter edge 106, a recessedmiddle portion 126 for disk-shapedshield 102.FIG. 1B also illustrates thatU-shaped holder 112 is raised above disk-shapedshield 102 by sidewalls 112B-C. As shown,top portion 112A ofU-shaped holder 112 has acurved edge 124 near themedial opening 130 of disk-shapedshield 102. Thecurved edge 124 is substantially circular and is sized to expose the pierce-able cover 208 of vial 202 (seeFIG. 2 ).Curved protrusion 132A and wedgedprotrusion 114A are viewed from the center. -
FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified diagram of a vial in an embodiment.Vial 200 includes aliquid container 202 and a sealedcover 204 connected tocontainer 202 by avial neck portion 206.Neck portion 206 has a smaller diameter than sealedcover 204.Sealed cover 204 has a center opening to expose a pierce-able cover 208 manufactured from rubber, vinyl, silicone or similar materials known in the industry (also see a photo of a safety guard inFIG. 7 ).Sealed cover 204 may be made of a metal, such as aluminum.Vial cap 104 covers and protects the pierce-able cover 208 and the sealedcover 204 is removable fromvial 200. Generally, vial caps 104 are removably fastened to theseal 206 and are easily removed with moderate upward force. -
Vial 200 may optionally have anannual ring 210 around theneck portion 206. Space between sealedcover 204 andring 210 must be larger than the thickness ofradial edges 108A-B. -
FIG. 3A is a simplified cross-sectional view of the sidewall of U-shaped holder in an embodiment. As illustrated,sidewall 112B of U-shaped holder is connected totop portion 112A ofU-shaped holder 112.Curved protrusion 132A is positioned near themedial opening 130 of disk-shapedshield 102 and, is located above wedgedprotrusion 114A, close totop portion 112A.Wedged protrusion 114A tapers to become thinner near theouter edge 106 of disk-shapedshield 102 than near themedial opening 130 of disk-shapedshield 102. The taperedportion 306A allows thevial cap 104 to move toward the medialmedial opening 130 without decapping nearouter edge 106 ofsafety guard 100, and provides an upward force and assistsvial cap 104 removal from sealedcover 206. Note that the taperedportion 306A ends atpoint 308A.Radial edge 108A is below wedgedprotrusion 114A for guiding the vial through the radial opening towardmedial opening 130. -
FIG. 3B is a simplified top view of curved protrusion and wedged protrusion from the sidewall in an embodiment. As illustrated, twocurved protrusions respective sidewalls Curved protrusions curved sides medial opening 130 of disk-shapedshield 102 for exposing the pierce-able cover 208 ofvial 200.Curved protrusions curved sides vial cap 104 to block movement ofvial cap 104 toward themedial opening 130. -
Wedged protrusions outer edge 106 of disk-shapedshield 102 toward themedial opening 130 of disk-shapedshield 102, such thatvial neck 204 contacts wedgedprotrusions 114A-B nearouter edge 106.Wedged protrusions 114A-B also have clearance fromprotrusion 114A-B toward themedial opening 130. Sizes of wedgedprotrusions 114A-B are determined such that upward wedging force is generated between sealedcover 204 and wedgedprotrusions 114A-B nearouter edge 106. The upward wedging force is high enough to removevial cap 104. After removable ofvial cap 104, wedging force is reduced when thevial cap 104 moves away from theouter edge 106 of disk-shapedshield 102. As illustrated inFIG. 3B , wedgedprotrusion 114A is tapered towardouter edge 106 such that the vial is retained within themedial opening 130, andcurved protrusion 132A extends more than wedgedprotrusion 114A fromsidewall 112B for blocking thecap 104 from moving toward themedial opening 130. - As illustrated in
FIG. 3B ,vial cap 104 is pressed againstinner sides curved protrusions vial cap 104 bridges on wedgedprotrusions 114A-114B. Note thatend 308A of the tapered portion is nearinner side 304A ofcurved protrusion 132A. This configuration allows removal ofvial cap 104 without touching thevial cap 104 by a user. For example, a medical personnel holding a vial may push the vial toward themedial opening 130.Vial cap 104 is then engaged with theinner sides curved protrusions medial opening 130. Thelower edge 152 of thevial cap 104 bridges across the upper edges 302A and 302B of the wedgedprotrusions 134A-134B. -
FIGS. 4A-4C are different side views ofsafety guard 100 that is adapted to attach to a vial in an embodiment.FIG. 4A is a side view from the opposite side facing the U-shaped holder.FIG. 4B shows thatU-shaped holder 112 is raised from disk-shapedshield 102.FIG. 4C is a front view facing the U-shaped holder. -
FIG. 5 is a bottom view ofsafety guard 100 in an embodiment. As illustrated inFIG. 5 , radial edges 108A-B are straight to allow the sealedcover 204 ofvial 200 to slide toward themedial opening 130 of the disk-shapedshield 102. Raised edges 108A-B become closer toward themedial opening 130 such thatradial opening 502 becomes narrow toward themedial opening 130, which helps thevial 200 retain within themedial opening 130.Radial opening 502 betweenradial edges 108A-B is sized large enough to allowneck portion 206 ofvial 200 to pass through with clearance, but small enough to retain thevial 200.Vial 200 may be made of glass or plastic or any other material. - As illustrated in
FIG. 5 , locking mechanism or bump 120 is positioned nearouter edge 106 of disk-shapedshield 102.FIG. 5 also shows thatradial edges 108A-B are wedge-shaped.Curved protrusions 132A-B extend beyondradial edges 108A-B.FIG. 5 further shows thattop portion 112A has acurved edge 124 towardmedial opening 130. Bottom portion of disk-shapedshield 102 is curved as illustrated bycurvature 122. -
Safety guard 100 is designed for easy use. A vial is manipulated into the safety guard by aligning thevial neck portion 206 with the opening. The sealedcap 204 is positioned betweensidewalls 112B-C above raisededges 108A-B. As thevial 200 is forced towardmedial opening 130, thevial cap 104 is forced onto wedged protusions 114A-B and blocked bycurved protrusions 132A-B, and is removed by the upward wedge force. The vial cap can be removed with the safety guard and retained in the vial cap holder. More specifically, a neck portion of the vial can be pushed through the radial opening toward themedial opening 130 of disk-shapedshield 102. By pushing through the radial opening of disk-shapedshield 102,vial cap 104 is removed and retained on wedgededges 114A-B and secured bycurved protrusions 132A-B andlocking mechanism 120 in the U-shaped holder. -
FIG. 6A is a perspective view ofsafety guard 100 that is attached to a vial of medication or other liquid material in an embodiment.Safety guard 600 includes a disk-shapedshield 602 and aU-shaped holder 612 that has a top portion and two sidewalls that attach to disk-shapedshield 602. Betweenradial edges 608A-B is an open space forvial 606 to pass through.Vial 606 is frictionally engaged to wedged edge 614A-B ofU-shaped holder 612.Vial cap 604 is removed from sealedcover portion 610 ofvial 606 by the frictional force between sealedcover portion 610 and wedged edges 614A-B and is held in theU-shaped holder 612.FIG. 6A also shows wedged protrusions 614A-B extending from sidewalls 612B-C for holdingvial cap 604. -
FIG. 6B is a front view of the safety guard ofFIG. 6A . It is referenced to a pen to illustrate a size of the safety guard. Radial edges 608A-B are flat to allowneck portion 610 ofvial 606 to slide inward toward the medial opening of the disk-shapedshield 602.Attachments 620A-B for sidewalls to shield are along tworadial edges 608A-B, but at a distance from radial edges. - Vials may vary in sizes or volumes, generally ranging from 5 ml to 250 ml. In a particular embodiment, a vial of 30 ml may have vial cap of about 20 mm diameter, a bottom diameter of 30 mm and a height of about 65 mm. The disk-shaped
shield 602 may be 75 mm in diameter.U-shaped Holder 612 may be raised from disk-shapedshield 602 for about 10 mm, 30 mm across the radial opening and a radial length of about 35 mm.Vial cap 604 may have a diameter of about 23 mm slightly larger than thevial cover 610. It will be appreciated by those of skilled in the art thatsafety guard 100 may vary in dimensions, shapes or geometries. -
FIG. 7 is a top view of thesafety guard 600 ofFIG. 6 .FIG. 7 illustrates thatU-shaped holder 612 covers a portion of disk-shapedshield 602 or the radial opening of disk-shapedshield 602.U-shaped holder 612 has acurved edge 708 to expose the pierce-able cover 704 ofvial 606. - It may be desirable for a safety shield to adjust for holding vials of various sizes. In this disclosure, some exemplary designs are presented. In one embodiment, a rotary slider may be included to adjust an opening to fit a vial of any size. In another embodiment, a safety shield may include an Iris capture for adjusting an opening for fitting to a vial of any size.
-
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of anadjustable safety guard 800 prior to assembly in an embodiment.FIGS. 9A and 9B are perspective views of theadjustable safety guard 800 in assembled condition according to embodiments of the disclosure. Theadjustable safety guard 800 includes arotary slider 802 and ashield base 804. Theslider 802 is rotatable against theshield base 804 such that acentral opening 818 of thesafety guard 800 may be adjusted to fit to a vial neck of any size. Theshield base 804 includes a substantially disk-shapedratchet component 810 and a substantially ring-shapedrail 808. Theratchet component 810 includes a number of railing holdingratchet teeth 838 on its circular outer edge and has a straightinner edge 834 towardcentral opening 818. Therail 808 extends along the circular outer edge of theratchet component 810 to guide the rotation of theslider 802. Theshield base 804 also includes anothercurved rail 812, which is on the opposite side of thecentral opening 818 to theratchet component 810. - The
slider 802 includes ahandle 822 for manually rotating the slider against theratchet component 810. Theslider 802 also includes apawl 814 for locking theslider 802 in a position when one of theteeth 838 is pressed against thepawl 814. This ratchet-pawl mechanism allows the rotation in only one direction, locks the position of theslider 802, and thus fixes the size of thecentral opening 818 for a particular vial of any size. Theslider 802 further includes aslider base component 832 with aslider neck 816 and acurved clearance slot 806 that is aligned with theratchet component 810 to allow 90 degree articulation of the slider alongrails curved clearance slot 806 allows the rotation of theslider 802 under the railing holdingratchet teeth 838. As a result of rotating theslider 802, thecentral opening 818 is adjusted to fit to a vial of any size. -
Safety guard 100 may be made of a plastic. For example, the plastic may be polyethylene or polypropylene.Safety guard 100 may be injection molded and fabricated in one piece. The safety guard may also be fabricated by makingU-shaped holder 112 and disk-shapedshield 102 separately, and then assembled them together by using adhesives. - The
adjustable safety guard 800 may also be fabricated from plastic likesafety guard 100. Additionally, theslider 802, theshield base 804 withratchet component 810 withrail 808, andrail 812 may be fabricated individually and assembled together to form theadjustable safety guard 800 by a press fit. Thehandle 822 may be fabricated separately from aslider base component 832 and attached to theslider base component 832 by using an adhesive. Thepawl 814 may be fabricated separately from theslider base component 832 and attached to theslider base component 832 by using an adhesive or fabricated with theslider base component 832 together. The fabrication method includes injection molding among others. Theratchet component 810 may be fabricated with a relatively flexible polymer material. The flexible material andcurved clearance slot 806 allow thepawl 814 to pass over a tooth when theslider 802 is rotated manually. - In this particular embodiment, the rotation is in a counter clockwise direction as viewed from the top. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the design of the slider, ratchet component, and pawl may vary to allow only clockwise rotation.
-
FIG. 9A is a perspective top view of the assembled adjustable safety guard ofFIG. 8 .FIG. 9B is a perspective bottom view of the assembled adjustable safety guard ofFIG. 8 .FIG. 9C is a top view ofslider 802.FIG. 9D is an enlarged view of the ratchet-pawl mechanism with exemplary dimensions in millimeters. The position of thehandle 822 is adjustable in a clockwise direction. The spacing between theteeth 838 of theratchet component 810 and the dimension of theteeth 838 may vary based upon the neck size of the vial. Theteeth 838 of theratchet component 810 may be sloped as illustrated inFIG. 9D . When handle 822 rotates clockwisely, as viewed from the top,outer edge 824 ofslider 802 is againstcurved rail 812, which is slightly concave shaped to guide the rotation of theslider 802. Theslider 802 also includes anend portion 826, which is outsiderail 808 in assembled condition (seeFIG. 9B ). The clearance between the outer edge ofratchet component 810 and theinner edge 902 near recessed area allows a press fit for theslider 802 into theshield base 804 during assembling. Note thatslider neck 816 has a concaved edge for enclosing a vial neck, as illustrated. -
FIG. 10A is a top view of theadjustable safety guard 800 in an embodiment. Theslider neck 816 and a portion ofinner edge 840 ofshield base 804 cooperate to formadjustable opening 818 when thehandle 822 is turned clockwise as viewed from the top. Theadjustable opening 818 becomes smaller when theslider 802 is rotated clockwise, in the general direction ofarrow 830.FIG. 10B is a side view of theadjustable safety guard 800 in an embodiment. Note that handle 822 is at the bottom of theadjustable safety guard 800.FIG. 10C is a bottom view of theadjustable safety guard 800 in an embodiment. Thehandle 822 rotates counter-clockwisely as pointed byarrow 828, as viewed from the bottom.Arrow 840 illustrates the rotation of theslider 802 against theratchet component 810. Exemplary dimensions in mm are provided as in theFIGS. 10A-10C . It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the geometry, shapes, dimensions, configurations of the safety guard or shield may vary. The ratchet- pawl mechanism may also have variations. -
FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a safety shield with an Iris capture for adjustable vial size prior to assembly in an embodiment.Safety shield 1000 includes anupper disk component 1006, anIris capture component 1004, and alower disk component 1002. Theupper disk component 1006 has an uppercentral opening 1110A in its center. Theupper disk component 1006 also includes a number ofblade tabs 1100 arranged circularly around itscentral opening 1110A. Theupper disk component 1006 further includes ribbed sidewalls 1106 extending downward from its outer edge to provide gripping surface for locking position of theIris capture 1004. The ribbed sidewalls 1106 are spaced byclearance slots 1130 that are areas without anyribbed sidewalls 1106. TheIris capture component 1004 includes a number ofIris capture blades 1112, which are assembled to form the Iris capture. Theblade tabs 1100 are used to attach theblades 1112 to the bottom of theupper disk component 1006. - The
lower disk component 1002 includes a lowercentral opening 1110B and a number of linear slidingslots 1102 arranged around the lowercentral opening 1110B, which is aligned with thecentral opening 1100 of the upper disk component when assembled. Thelower disk component 1002 further includes ahandle 1008 attached to its bottom near its outer edge. Thelower disk component 1002 also includes a number ofsnap clips 1120 arranged near its outer edge for attaching to theupper disk component 1006 when assembled. The number ofIris capture blades 1112 is equal to the number of linear slidingslots 1102 and the number of the blade tabs are the same. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the number of Iris capture blades, linear sliding slots, and blade tabs may vary. -
FIG. 12A is a perspective top view of the assembled safety shield ofFIG. 11 .FIG. 12B is a perspective bottom view of the assembled safety shield with Iris blades ofFIG. 11 . When theIris capture blades 1112 retract and contract with a respective clockwise rotation or counter-clockwise rotation, anIris opening 1104 enclosed by theblades 1112 is adjusted to fit to the neck size of any vial. The Iris opening 1140 is equal or smaller than both the uppercentral opening 1110A and lowercentral opening 1110B. The rotating movements of the Iris blades are enabled by linearly moving theblades 1112 within respective linear slidingslots 1102.Holes 1100 on theupper disk component 1006 are through-holes for theblade tabs 1114 to pass through and to attach the blades to theupper disk component 1006. -
FIGS. 13A-D are a bottom view, a top view, a side view and a perspective view of theupper disk component 1006 in an embodiment. Theupper disk component 1006 includes a number of snap clip guides 1202 arranged between theholes 1100 and thesidewalls 1106. The snap clip guides 1202 protrude from thedisk base 1302 of theupper disk component 1006 for the snap clips 1120 of thelower disk component 1002 to attach theupper disk component 1006 andlower disk component 1002 together. The snap clip guides also provide spacing for theblades 1112 to retract along the respective linear slidingslots 1102 of thelower disk component 1002. The snap clip guides 1202 are curved bars and aligned with the respectiveribbed sidewall 1106. The snap clip guides 1202 have heights equal to or less than the ribbedsidewall 1106. The length of theribbed sidewall 1106 needs to be long enough to cover the entire range of the linear movement of theblade 1112 within therespective slot 1102. The slot size and the configuration of the blades vary with the desirable range ofadjustable opening 1104. Theupper disk component 1006 also includesclearance slots 1130 between ends of two nearestribbed sidewalls 1106. Theclearance slots 1130 are sized for viewing the snap clips 1120 of thelower disk component 1002 during assembly. Although the exemplary embodiment illustrates four ribbed sidewalls, the number of ribbed sidewalls may vary with the configuration of the blades including the number of blades and arrangement of the blades. -
FIGS. 14A-B are a bottom view and a side view of thelower disk component 1002 of the assembled safety shield ofFIG. 11 . In this particular embodiment, five linear slidingslots 1102 are arranged aroundcentral opening 1110B of thelower disk component 1002 for allowing theIris blades 1112 to rotate.Handle 1008 is located near the outer edge of thelower disk component 1002. Whenlower disk component 1002 rotates by manually movinghandle 1008,snap clips 1120 move along the snap slip guides 1202 and the linear sliding slots move the blades to adjust theIris opening 1104. Again, the number of sliding slots may vary for other designs.FIG. 14C is a side view of the lowerdisk snap clip 1120. Note thathandle 1008 is on opposite side fromsnap clips 1120, which are L-shaped. -
FIGS. 15A-B are a bottom view and a side view of theIris blade 1112 in an embodiment.Iris blade 1112 includes ablade base 1504, aprotrusion 1116 from the blade base on its bottom, which fits to theslot 1102 of thelower shield base 1002.Protrusion 1116 from theblade base 1504 is sized to fit within theslot 1102 to allow the blade to linearly move within theslot 1102. Theblade 1112 also includes a clearance hole 1502 on its top side forblade tab 1114 to press fit into. Theblade tab 1114 passes throughhole 1100 to attach theblades 1112 to the upper disk component. Theblade 1112 also includes a curvedinner edge 1506 and a curvedouter edge 1508 to allow enclosing vials of different sizes. - Exemplary dimensions of the components are provided in millimeters as in the
FIGS. 13A-13C , 14A-14C and 15A-15B. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that dimensions, shapes, and configurations may vary. -
FIG. 16 is an enlarged view of theribbed sidewall 1106 and thesnap clip guide 1202 separated by aclearance 1602. Theclearance 1602 is sized to allow thesnap slip 1120 to fit in to attach to thesnap clip guide 1202.Ribbed sidewall 1106 has a number of grooves to provide gripping surface for a user. When thesafety shield 1000 is used, a user may hold the safety shield near the ribbed sidewall with one hand and manually rotates the handle with another hand to adjust theIris opening 1104 to fit to a vial neck. Thesafety shield 1000 may also have a locking mechanism (not shown) for locking theIris opening 1104. - The
safety shield 1000 may be fabricated by plastic. For example, the upper disk component, Iris blades and the lower component may be fabricated individually and assembled together to form thesafety shield 1000, with the blade tabs and the snap clips. Thehandle 1008 may be fabricated separately from adisk base 1402 of thelower disk component 1002, and may be attached to thedisk base 1402 by using an adhesive (seeFIG. 14A ). The fabrication method includes injection molding among others. - By using the
safety shield 1000, a vial cap may be manually removed, as thissafety shield 1000 does not have a cap removal mechanism, likesafety guards upper disk component 1006 may have a recessed portion (not shown) adapted to collect a needle which may fall onto the safety shield. - One of the benefits of the
safety guards safety guards safety guards adjustable safety guard 800 andsafety shield 1000 is to fit to vial necks of various sizes. - Having described several embodiments, it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention. Additionally, a number of well-known processes and elements have not been described in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. Accordingly, the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.
- Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the presently disclosed instrumentalities teach by way of example and not by limitation. Therefore, the matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. The following claims are intended to cover all generic and specific features described herein, as well as all statements of the scope of the present method and system, which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.
Claims (8)
1. A needle safety guard device adapted to attach to a liquid container, the device comprising:
a top shield having a central opening, and a plurality of through-holes spaced along a first circle between the central opening and an outer edge of the top shield;
a plurality of snap clip guides extending from a bottom of the top shield and being positioned along a second circle between the outer edge and the first circle;
a shield base having a plurality of sliding slots;
a plurality of snap clips attached on a top of the shield base, the snap clips configured to attach to the snap clip guides and to be movable along the respective snap clip guides;
an Iris capture component coupled to a bottom of the top shield near the central opening for adjusting to fit to the liquid container, the Iris capture component comprising a plurality of Iris blades coupled to the top shield and the plurality of sliding slots of the shield base; and
a handle attached to the bottom of the shield base for manually moving the blades within the respective sliding slots to adjust the Iris capture component to fit to the liquid container.
2. The device of claim 1 , wherein each of the Iris blade comprises a protrusion on a bottom side of the Iris blade, the protrusion being coupled to each respective sliding slot.
3. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of blade tabs, each of the Iris blade having a hole on a top side of the Iris blade for attaching the Iris blades to the top shield with the plurality of blade tabs, and the hole being aligned with the respective through-hole in the top shield and sized for press fits with the blade tabs.
4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the shield base comprises a plurality of teeth along an outer edge of the shield base.
5. The device of claim 4 , wherein the handle comprises a locking component engaged with the plurality of teeth for locking the position of the blades.
6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the top shield comprises a recessed portion between an outer edge and the medial opening.
7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device comprises a plastic.
8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the top shield and the shield base are substantially disk-shaped.
Priority Applications (1)
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US13/889,127 US20130245594A1 (en) | 2010-08-22 | 2013-05-07 | Needle safety guard adapted to attach to a liquid container |
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US37585310P | 2010-08-22 | 2010-08-22 | |
US13/214,960 US8460268B2 (en) | 2010-08-22 | 2011-08-22 | Needle safety guard adapted to attach to a liquid container |
US13/889,127 US20130245594A1 (en) | 2010-08-22 | 2013-05-07 | Needle safety guard adapted to attach to a liquid container |
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US13/214,960 Continuation US8460268B2 (en) | 2010-08-22 | 2011-08-22 | Needle safety guard adapted to attach to a liquid container |
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US13/889,127 Abandoned US20130245594A1 (en) | 2010-08-22 | 2013-05-07 | Needle safety guard adapted to attach to a liquid container |
US13/889,106 Expired - Fee Related US9101533B2 (en) | 2010-08-22 | 2013-05-07 | Needle safety guard adapted to attach to a liquid container |
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US13/889,106 Expired - Fee Related US9101533B2 (en) | 2010-08-22 | 2013-05-07 | Needle safety guard adapted to attach to a liquid container |
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EP (1) | EP2605741A4 (en) |
KR (1) | KR20140011299A (en) |
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CN106215267B (en) * | 2016-07-26 | 2019-11-12 | 吉林大学 | A kind of drop medicine bottle suspension arrangement |
KR200485257Y1 (en) * | 2016-07-29 | 2017-12-12 | 황하영 | Jig for Anti-Loosening of a Cap |
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JP6808229B2 (en) * | 2017-03-27 | 2021-01-06 | 武蔵エンジニアリング株式会社 | Lid for liquid material storage container and liquid material storage container |
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WO2020219724A1 (en) * | 2019-04-26 | 2020-10-29 | Midas Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | Drug security systems and methods |
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-
2011
- 2011-08-22 CN CN201180050129.8A patent/CN103200921B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2011-08-22 EP EP11820467.6A patent/EP2605741A4/en not_active Withdrawn
- 2011-08-22 KR KR1020137007426A patent/KR20140011299A/en active IP Right Grant
- 2011-08-22 CA CA2809432A patent/CA2809432A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 2011-08-22 US US13/214,960 patent/US8460268B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2011-08-22 WO PCT/US2011/048653 patent/WO2012027280A2/en active Application Filing
- 2011-08-22 AU AU2011293603A patent/AU2011293603B2/en not_active Ceased
-
2013
- 2013-05-07 US US13/889,127 patent/US20130245594A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 2013-05-07 US US13/889,106 patent/US9101533B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2013-10-24 HK HK13111997.5A patent/HK1184361A1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
-
2016
- 2016-04-01 AU AU2016202034A patent/AU2016202034A1/en not_active Abandoned
Patent Citations (7)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20020019622A1 (en) * | 1997-02-28 | 2002-02-14 | Richard F. Daubert | Container cap assembly having an enclosed penetrator |
US5925032A (en) * | 1998-02-17 | 1999-07-20 | Alcon Laboratories, Inc. | Syringe cannula holder |
US20040167476A1 (en) * | 2003-02-24 | 2004-08-26 | Westbye Lars Tommy | Tamper evident needle guard for syringes |
US20070083164A1 (en) * | 2003-08-21 | 2007-04-12 | Laurent Barrelle | Device for oral administration of a medicine |
US20070093775A1 (en) * | 2005-10-20 | 2007-04-26 | Sherwood Services Ag | Connector for enteral fluid delivery set |
US7611502B2 (en) * | 2005-10-20 | 2009-11-03 | Covidien Ag | Connector for enteral fluid delivery set |
US20100168712A1 (en) * | 2006-05-25 | 2010-07-01 | Bayer Healthcare Llc | Reconstitution device |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
AU2011293603A1 (en) | 2013-04-11 |
AU2016202034A1 (en) | 2016-04-21 |
EP2605741A4 (en) | 2015-05-06 |
AU2011293603B2 (en) | 2016-05-19 |
WO2012027280A3 (en) | 2012-06-07 |
US8460268B2 (en) | 2013-06-11 |
KR20140011299A (en) | 2014-01-28 |
US20130245593A1 (en) | 2013-09-19 |
HK1184361A1 (en) | 2014-01-24 |
EP2605741A2 (en) | 2013-06-26 |
CN103200921B (en) | 2015-07-08 |
US20120046635A1 (en) | 2012-02-23 |
CA2809432A1 (en) | 2012-03-01 |
WO2012027280A2 (en) | 2012-03-01 |
US9101533B2 (en) | 2015-08-11 |
CN103200921A (en) | 2013-07-10 |
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Legal Events
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AS | Assignment |
Owner name: MERCY MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, MISSOURI Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:HEDGEPETH, BRUCE;HUCKFELDT, ROGER;LOWE, CINDY;AND OTHERS;SIGNING DATES FROM 20130516 TO 20130530;REEL/FRAME:031225/0068 |
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STCB | Information on status: application discontinuation |
Free format text: ABANDONMENT FOR FAILURE TO CORRECT DRAWINGS/OATH/NONPUB REQUEST |