AU2015202976A1 - Needle disposal apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Hypodermic needle disposal apparatus including: a housing; a grinding wheel assembly having a grinding wheel supported in the housing for rotation about an upstanding axis and providing an uppermost grinding face; a constricted inlet assembly in the top of the housing for receiving the body of a syringe such that its hypodermic needle passes through a lower constricted opening thereof into engagement with the uppermost grinding face; and confining means about the grinding wheel for confining ground particulate material discharged from the grinding face into a releasable container supported within the housing. cHAY05102-2015-06-01.DOCX 2g2 9z

Description

1 NEEDLE DISPOSAL APPARATUS THIS INVENTION relates to methods of and apparatus for disposal of needles. Disposal of hypodermic needles has become a major issue for people regularly administering injections as well as persons in the general public who may find a discarded syringe which needs to be disposed of safely. In both cases unsafe handling of a hypodermic needle can lead to a needle stick injury which is at best inconvenient and at worst life-threatening. In hospitals and other areas, disposal of biological waste is regulated to ensure that infectious diseases are not spread by improper disposal of contaminated materials. Accordingly, apart from the fear of needles stick injuries there is a need for safe disposal of syringes and their associated needles as biological waste. In hospitals where there is a large throughput of syringes the regular disposal of used syringes and the associated needles is accommodated as a necessary hospital routine. However, such regular disposal of contaminated hypodermic needles in smaller practices may be inconvenient and expensive. If regular disposal is not practised, contaminated needles may be stored for long periods potentially increasing the risks of injury or illegal use of used hypodermic needles. At present hospitals and surgeries provide locked containers into which used syringes containing hypodermic needles are discarded and regular collection services are provided whereby trained personnel collect or empty the containers and dispose of the syringes and hypodermic needles in a safe and effective manner, such as by incineration. Many smaller surgeries however, which may include medical and veterinary surgeries may be located remotely where such collection services are not available and if available, the cost may not be warranted. CHAY05102_205.-06-O1.DocX 2 Accordingly there exists a need for a simple and effective method of disposal of syringes and their associated hypodermic needles in particular, which eliminates the possibility of subsequent needle stick injury. There is also a need for a method of disposal of syringes and their supported needles which may be practised on a regular basis without substantially increasing the risk of needle stick injuries. With the foregoing in view, this invention in one aspect resides broadly in a method of disposal of syringes and their associated hypodermic needles including: providing a secure containment into which a hypodermic needle may be inserted through a constricted inlet for reduction of the needle into small particles; providing storage means within the secure containment for receiving and containing hypodermic needle particles; inserting the needle on a syringe through the constricted inlet for reduction into small particles and subsequent passage to the storage means; disposing of the syringe bodies independently of the hypodermic needles; and disposing of the stored hypodermic needles particles as required. The stored needle particles may be disposed of on a time basis of they may be disposed of after a criterion has been reached such as the weight of the contained particles of the number of needles process and for this purpose the method of this invention may include an antiseptic solution within which the particles are stored and/or irradiation means which may be provided within the container to sterilise the needle particles. In a preferred method according to this invention the constricted inlet is a small central opening at the base of a syringe socket which may taper toward the constricted inlet for CHAY05102-2015-06-Oi.DOCX 3 guiding the needles of a syringe through the constricted inlet. In use, a needle may be progressively pushed through the constricted inlet for contact which suitable reduction means, which may be for example, grinding means or other reduction means, until the full length of the exposed needle has been reduced to small particles. Preferably the reduction 'means includes a high-speed grinding wheel arranged with its axis of rotation substantially parallel to the axis of the syringe socket and more preferably the grinding wheel is supported with its grinding end face adjacent the constricted inlet for oscillation thereacross whereby the needle is not progressively forced onto the grinding wheel at a constant distance from its axis of rotation. If desired the grinding wheel could present a peripheral grinding face to the constricted inlet and the peripheral grinding face could be moved to and fro across the constricted inlet. In another aspect this invention resides broadly in hypodermic needle disposal apparatus including: a housing; a grinding wheel assembly having a grinding wheel supported in the housing for rotation about an upstanding axis and providing an uppermost grinding face; a constricted inlet assembly in the top of the housing for receiving the body of a syringe such that its hypodermic needle passes through a lower constricted opening thereof into engagement with the uppermost grinding face; and confining means about the grinding wheel for confining ground particulate material discharged from the grinding face into a releasable container supported within the housing. Preferably oscillating means is provided for displacing the grinding wheel in a radial direction for continually varying CHAY051022015-06-01.DOCX 4 the distance between the constricted opening and the axis of the grinding wheel. The oscillation means may impart regular or irregular oscillations to the grinding wheel. The oscillation means may be in the form of a cam for continually varying the position of the grinding wheel relative to the constricted opening. For this purpose the grinding assembly may be pivotally attached at its lower end to the housing such that the grinding wheel is moved to and fro as the grinding wheel rotates about the axis. Preferably the grinding wheel assembly is supported about an upstanding support axis spaced from the drive axis of the grinding wheel and drive means is provided for oscillating the grinding wheel assembly about the upstanding support axis. The confining means may be fixedly supported within the housing and be provided with suitable clearance for accommodating the oscillations of the grinding wheel which may be provided with vanes or formations which aid the creation of circulating air entering the confining means through the clearance space about the grinding wheel and exiting downstream from the confining means to assist in carrying substantially all ground particles away from the grinding wheel and toward the releasable storage container. While the grinding wheel may be rotated at a suitable grinding speed to suit the type of grinding material it is preferred that the grinding wheel be in the form of a high rotational speed wheel or disc to eject ground particles from the grinding zone beneath the constricted opening into the confining means from where the grindings gravitate into the releasable container for storage therein. For this purpose the confining means may taper from the grinding wheel toward the releasable container and the base wall of the confining means may be inclined downwardly towards the releasable container. CHAY05102_2015-06-01.DOCX 5 High speed grinding may also facilitate a high needle feed rate into the apparatus which may result in melting of the plastic needle cap in which the needle stub is encased as well deformation of the encased needle portion resulting in substantial blocking or sealing of the hollow stem and preventing gravitational flow of potentially contaminated fluid from the syringe. Alternatively the confining means may be sealably engaged with the grinding wheel or its support axle and be so supported that the confining means or a portion thereof may oscillate with the grinding wheel. It is also preferred that the constricted inlet be provided with illumination means such that its use in a darkened ward, for example, will provide an illuminated target for accurate insertion of the needle of a syringe into the constructed inlet. If desired this light or any other sensing means may be utilised to actuate the grinding wheel upon insertion of a syringe into the constricted inlet. In order that this invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a typical embodiment of the invention, wherein: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a hypodermic needle disposal apparatus embodying this invention; Fig. 2 is a front view of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1 with the outer housing removed; Fig. 3 is an opposite side view of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an end view of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 2; and CRAY05102.2015-06-o1.DOCX 6 Fig. 5 is an opposite end view of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 2. Referring to the drawings it will be seen that the hypodermic needle disposal apparatus 10 illustrated in Fig. 1 is a self-contained battery operated assembly adapted to sit on the bench or be attached to a wall for use by personnel administering injections. After an injection has been administered, then according to this invention the used syringe 11 is inserted needle first into a guide socket 12. accessible through an opening 15 provided in the top wall 13 of the disposal apparatus 10 for engagement with grinding apparatus located immediately below the guide socket. Upon insertion of the syringe boy, a monitoring light 14 within the guide socket detects the presence of the inserted syringe and switches on the grinding apparats so that the inserted needle 16 will be progressively ground away as the syringe is pushed into the guide socket. The guide socket is positioned relative to the grinding apparatus so that the exposed metal needle is completely ground away when the base wall 17 of the syringe abuts the base wall of the guide socket whereupon the syringe may be withdrawn and disposed of in a suitable manner. A plug-in charging connection 18 is provided for recharging a battery supported within the housing to provide power for the electric motors driving the grinding apparatus. Of course the apparatus could be permanently plugged into a power socket and operated without a battery if desired. In this embodiment the housing 19 is secured to a rectangular base wall 20 with security screws such that only service personnel are able to remove the housing 19 to access the grindings and for servicing purposes. CHAYOS1022O015-06-OL.DOCX 7 Referring to Fig. 2 it will be seen that the rectangular base wall 20 supports an upright end plate 21 adjacent each end thereof which supports a pivot mounting assembly 22 for the electric drive motor 23 and grinding wheel assembly 24. Fixed upper and lower cross members 26 and 28 extend from one end plate 21 to the base plate 27 of the pivot mounting assembly attached to the other end plate 21. The lower cross member 26 contains the grinding wheel assembly within a recess 25 which is enclosed by a removable base plate 29 which combine to form the discharge passage 30 leading to a spout 31 supported by the base plate and to which an elongated container or bag may be connected to receive and hold the particulate material discharges from the grinding wheel assembly. As illustrated the discharge passage may be formed with a base wall which inclines downwardly from the grinding wheel assembly to the spout and away from the clearance opening 32 for the grinding wheel shaft 33. The lower cross member 28 also supports a further electric drive motor 34 which drives a crank pin 35 which is attached to the pivot mounting assembly 22 at 37 by a connecting rod 36 such that rotation of the crank pin by the motor 34 will cause the connecting rod to swing the pivot mounting assembly 22 back and forth through a small arc about the pivot axis 38. The motor 34 is a geared motor such that the crank pin 35 rotates slowly at a rate in the order of 20 RPM whereas the motor 23 is a high speed motor which rotates the grinding wheel at a speed in the order of 10,000 RPM. This ensures that the contact point of the needle against the grinding wheel assembly is constantly varied wo that in use, wear is relatively even across the surface of the grinding wheel. It will also be seen that both electric motors are supported with their axes vertical and parallel to the axis 38 of the pivot mounting assembly 22 and that the motor shaft 40 CHAY05102_2015-06-O1.DOCX 8 is attached to the grinding wheel shaft 33 through a connecting member 42 so as to support the grinding wheel assembly in an elevated position whereby ground particulate material discharged from grinding a needle will be discharged into the recess 25, through the spout 31 into an elongate removable container which has the capacity to store the grinding from many needles. The upper cross member 26 also supports a socket assembly 45 in which the guide socket 12 is formed. It will be seen that the guide socket has a substantially cylindrical upper portion 46 of substantially circular section which extends to a constricted opening 47 through a tapered transition section 48. The constricted opening is formed to closely accommodate a plastic needle cap 50 which plugs onto the tapered lower nozzle portion of the syringe assembly 11. A typical needle shaft is about 15 mm long and it is supported by a stub thereof about 5 mm long which is embedded into the lower end of the needle cap 50 which is about 15 mm long. In this embodiment the length of the constricted opening is about 10 mm and it is adapted to closely accommodate the needle cap so that a syringe when seated against the base wall of the socket assembly 46 will have the exposed needle shaft fully ground away as well as a lower portion of the needle stub embedded in the needle cap 50. In a preferred arrangement the grinding configuration, that is, the combination of grinding material and in feed is arranged to deform the lower end of the encased needle and to heat the contacted plastic such that its open end cap is effectively closed, thereby reducing the chance of accidental spillage of contaminated liquid which may be contained within the syringe. In this embodiment the grinding wheel 24 is about 40 mm in diameter and its upper face is coated with Borazon. The grinding wheel is rotated by the motor 23 at a speed of around CHAY051022015-06-oL.DOCX 9 10, 000 RPM which ensures that the ground needle particles are ejected into the passage 25 from which they gravitate into a storage container supported on the spout 31. The socket assembly 45 also supports a light sensor 55 at one side thereof and a light source 56 at the opposite side thereof such that interruption of the light beam across the socket 12 by insertion of a syringe into the socket will trigger a switching circuit 56 and commence operation of the grinding wheel assembly. The switching circuit is mounted on one end plate 21 and is connected to a battery 57 supported on the base wall at one side of the lower cross member 28 by leads, not shown, which are terminated on a terminal strip 60, where the leads from the light supply and sensors, the charging and overload circuit to an on/off switch supported accessibly on the housing 19, are also terminated. The switching circuit 56 is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. In use when a syringe supported needle is inserted into the guide socket 12, the motors 23 and 34 are actuated and the needle tip will abut the upper Borazon coated face 60 of the grinding wheel assembly 24 which will progressively grins away the needle 16 until the base 17 of the syringe abuts the base wall 20 of the needle socket 12 at which point all of the metal needle will have been ground away together with some of the needle's plastic supporting cap 50. The syringe 11 may then be withdrawn and disposed of in a suitable manner and rather than in a sharps container. The lower cross member 28 could enclose the lower portion of the housing in which the motors operate and air circulation means could be provided in this portion of the housing to cool the motors without circulating potentially contaminated air from within the upper portion to assist in the required movement of the ground particles into the storage container. CHAYOSIO2_2015-06-O.DOCX 10 It will of course be realised that the above has been given by way of illustrative example of this invention and that all such modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of this invention as set forth above and defined by the following claims. CHAY05102..2015-06-01.DOCX

Claims (13)

1. Hypodermic needle disposal apparatus including: a housing; a grinding wheel assembly having a grinding wheel supported in the housing for rotation about an upstanding axis and providing an uppermost grinding face; a constricted inlet assembly in the top of the housing for receiving the body of a syringe such that its hypodermic needle passes through a lower constricted opening thereof into engagement with the uppermost grinding face; and confining means about the grinding wheel for confining ground particulate material discharged from the grinding face into a releasable container supported within the housing.

2. The hypodermic needle disposal apparatus according to Claim 1 and including oscillating means operatively associated with the grinding wheel for continually varying the distance between the constricted opening and the axis of the grinding wheel.

3. The hypodermic needle disposal apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein the oscillation means is operable to impart regular oscillations to the grinding wheel.

4. The hypodermic needle disposal apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein the oscillation means is operable to impart irregular oscillations to the grinding wheel.

5. The hypodermic needle disposal apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the grinding wheel assembly is supported about an upstanding support axis spaced from the drive axis of the grinding wheel and drive means is provided for oscillating the grinding wheel assembly about the upstanding support axis. CRAY05102-2015-06-O1.DOCX 12

6. The hypodermic needle disposal apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the confining means is fixedly supported within the housing with suitable clearance for accommodating the oscillations of the grinding wheel.

7. The hypodermic needle disposal apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, and including formations formed to aid creation of circulating air entering the confining means through the clearance space about the grinding wheel and exiting downstream from the confining means to assist in carrying substantially all ground particles away from the grinding wheel and toward the releasable storage container.

8. The hypodermic needle disposal apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the grinding wheel is in the form of a high rotational speed wheel or disc to eject ground particles from the grinding zone beneath the constricted opening into the confining means from where the grindings gravitate into the releasable container for storage therein. For this purpose the confining means may taper from the grinding wheel toward the releasable container and the base wall of the confining means may be inclined downwardly towards the releasable container.

9. The hypodermic needle disposal apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the confining means is sealably engaged with the grinding wheel or its support axle, being so supported that the confining means or a portion thereof oscillates with the grinding wheel.

10. The hypodermic needle disposal apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein and including illumination means to provide an illuminated target for accurate insertion of the needle of a syringe into the constructed inlet.

11. The hypodermic needle disposal apparatus according to Claim 10, and including light sensing means operable to actuate CHAY05102_2015-06-01.DOCX 13 the grinding wheel upon insertion of a syringe into the constricted inlet.

12. A method of disposal of syringes and their associated hypodermic needles including: providing a secure containment into which a hypodermic needle may be inserted through a constricted inlet for reduction of the needle into small particles; providing storage means within the secure containment for receiving and containing hypodermic needle particles; inserting the needle on a syringe through the constricted inlet for reduction into small particles and subsequent passage to the storage means; disposing of the syringe bodies independently of the hypodermic needles; and disposing of the stored hypodermic needles particles as required.

13. The method according to Claim 12, and including melting the plastic needle cap in which the needle stub is encased as well deformation of the encased needle portion for sealing potentially contaminated fluid in the syringe. CHAY05102_2015-06-O .DOCX