CN110115789B

CN110115789B - Painless injection device

Info

Publication number: CN110115789B
Application number: CN201811486078.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 崔尧成
Original assignee: Ptech
Current assignee: Ptech
Priority date: 2018-02-07
Filing date: 2018-12-06
Publication date: 2021-11-30
Anticipated expiration: 2038-12-06
Also published as: CN110115789A; KR101859735B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a painless injection device which can have a sufficient pressure to rapidly inject a medicine and can significantly reduce noise generated when the medicine is instantaneously injected by air pressure, thus minimizing the noise effect on an injection subject such as a young child, and more particularly, is very effectively applied to an animal operation for small birds or the like which may die due to impact noise. According to the present invention, there is provided a painless injection device comprising: the valve comprises a valve body, a liquefied gas container, a valve body, an operation unit, a cylinder, a piston rod body and an extrusion gas supply unit.

Description

Painless injection device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a painless injection device, and more particularly, to a painless injection device which can have a sufficient pressure to rapidly inject a medicine and can significantly reduce noise generated when the medicine is instantaneously injected by air pressure, and thus can minimize the influence of noise on an injection object such as a baby, and particularly, is very effectively applied to an animal operation on small birds or the like which may die due to impact noise.

Background

Generally, a syringe is considered to be a tool used by a nurse or physician to inject a drug directly into a patient.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a general syringe. As shown in fig. 1, a conventional syringe includes an injection needle 1, and a piston 2 is pressed to inject medicine in a cylinder 3 into a patient.

However, in the case of a user who needs to perform a plurality of injections a day, for example, in the case of a diabetic, it is necessary to perform the injection at any time even at home rather than at a hospital, and in this case, there is a difficulty in that not only the injection using a general syringe (a syringe formed only by an outer tube into which a needle is inserted and a plunger) but also the injection by the user himself into his body is necessary.

Also, in the case where an ordinary patient intends to perform injection by himself or a child having a tendency of hyperactivity, there is a considerable difficulty in injection, unless the injection technique is excellent, and in the case of a thick needle, there is a problem that pain in penetrating the skin is difficult to solve.

On the other hand, as one solution for solving such a problem, a syringe is proposed, which inserts a general syringe into a sleeve to perform instantaneous injection by elastic force of a spring or air pressure, or provides a fine hole (about 0.1mm in diameter) at a front end of the syringe instead of an injection needle, and applies pressure from the rear of the syringe to penetrate injection liquid to the skin.

However, in the case of a conventional painless syringe in which a piston is struck in a spring-rebound manner, when a spring is compressed and loaded for instantaneous striking, a very large force is required to compress the spring, and therefore, an additional loading jig (jig) is required, and these are used after being separated each time the loading jig is combined and loaded in compression and loading, and thus, there is a problem that it is very complicated and time-consuming to use.

Further, in the case of the conventional spring-rebound type painless syringe, since the injection liquid is injected at one time when the hitting block hits the syringe once, there is a problem that a small amount of injection liquid cannot be injected many times, which is not suitable for skin beauty or the like, and further, when the spring is hit, a large hitting sound is generated to give discomfort to an injection subject, and particularly, in the case of an animal such as a young bird, which is very sensitive to sound, death may occur due to the hitting sound.

On the other hand, as another example of the conventional painless syringe, in the case of a painless syringe that hits the piston by air pressure, there is a problem that a sufficient pressing force required for hitting the piston is not provided, and a large hitting sound is generated by the compression of the compressed gas in the pressing path, thereby causing a sense of discomfort.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, an object of the present invention, which has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, is to provide a painless injection device which can have a sufficient pressure to rapidly inject a medicine and can remarkably reduce noise generated when the medicine is instantaneously injected by air pressure, can minimize the influence of noise on an injection object such as an infant, and is particularly effectively applied to an animal operation on a small bird or the like which may die due to impact noise.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a painless injection device which is easy to use, and can be used for various purposes such as skin beauty in addition to human and animal medical treatment, thereby improving applicability.

The technical problems of the present invention are not limited to the aspects described above, and other technical problems not mentioned may be clearly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains through the following descriptions.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above objects and various features of the present invention, there is provided a painless injection device comprising: a valve body having an interior space; a liquefied gas container having a nozzle portion connected to and coupled to an inner space of the valve body in an open state, so that the valve body is filled with an extrusion gasification gas; a valve body having a center portion penetrated and sliding so as to airtightly seal an internal space of the valve body; an operation unit provided on one side of the valve body and configured to slide the valve body by a back-and-forth operation; a cylinder coupled to one side of the valve body, having an inner space, and to which a syringe unit having a syringe rod is detachably coupled; a piston rod body slidably provided in the inner space of the cylinder; and an extrusion gas supply unit having a communication relationship in which the extrusion-gasification gas filled in the inner space of the valve body is supplied to the piston rod body by the operation of the operation unit, and the extrusion-gasification gas slides back and forth.

According to the painless injection device of the present invention, the following effects are provided: when the injection medicine is instantaneously injected by the air pressure, there may be enough pressure to rapidly inject the medicine and the generated noise may be significantly reduced.

Further, the present invention has the following effects: can minimize the influence of noise on an injection subject such as an infant, and is particularly effectively applicable to animal surgery on small birds or the like which may die due to impact noise.

Further, the present invention has the following effects: the utility model is convenient to use, can effectively use the striking driving source, and can be used in various aspects such as skin beauty besides the medical treatment of human and animals, thereby improving the applicability.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a general syringe.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a painless injection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a neutral state of the operation unit as a diagram showing an operating state of the painless injection device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an operation state of the painless injection device according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram showing a state of an advancing operation (an injection operation or an ejection operation) of the operation unit.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an operation state of the painless injection device according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram showing a state of a retraction operation (loading operation) of the operation unit.

Fig. 6 is a view showing a painless injection device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a diagram showing a painless injection device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, a painless injection device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The painless injection device of the present invention comprises: a liquefied gas container filled with liquefied gas; a valve body having an internal space, in which a nozzle portion of the liquefied gas container is connected to one end portion in an open manner and communicates with the nozzle portion; a valve body that slides so as to airtightly seal an internal space of the valve main body; an operation unit provided on one side of the valve body and configured to move the valve body forward and backward by a forward and backward operation; a cylinder coupled to one side of the valve body, having an inner space, and detachably coupled to one end of the cylinder; a piston rod body slidably provided in the inner space of the cylinder; and a compressed gas supply unit for supplying compressed gas supplied from the liquefied gas container to the piston rod body by the operation of the operation unit.

The present invention is characterized in that the extrusion gas supply unit has the following structure: in the neutral state of the operation unit, the internal space of the valve body is filled with the extrusion-gasification gas, the extrusion-gasification gas filled in the internal space of the valve body is supplied by one-direction operation of the operation unit so that the piston rod body moves toward the syringe unit, the gasification gas filled in the cylinder is discharged to the outside, and the extrusion-gasification gas filled in the internal space of the valve body is supplied by the other-direction operation of the operation unit so that the piston rod body moves in the opposite direction.

In other words, the present invention is characterized in that the extruding gas supplying means is configured such that, when the operating means is in a neutral position, the internal space of the valve body is filled with the gasified gas discharged from the liquefied gas container, the gasified gas discharged from the liquefied gas container is discharged toward the internal space of the valve body together with the discharge operation (advancing operation) of the operating means, the internal space of the valve body and one side of the internal space of the cylinder body are communicated with each other via a communicating member, the gas filled in the internal space of the valve body is supplied to the rear of the plunger rod body which is one side of the internal space of the cylinder body, and the other side of the internal space of the cylinder body is communicated with the outside and the plunger rod body is moved to move the syringe rod of the syringe unit, thereby injecting the drug, together with the loading operation (retracting operation) of the operating means, and a piston rod body having a piston rod body, the piston rod body being provided with a communication member for communicating with the cylinder body, the communication member being provided with a vent hole for discharging the extrusion-gasified gas.

Hereinafter, a specific embodiment of the painless injection device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to fig. 2 to 7.

Fig. 2 is a structural view showing a painless injection device according to an embodiment of the present invention, fig. 3 to 5 are views showing an operation state of the painless injection device according to the embodiment of the present invention, fig. 3 is a view showing a neutral state of an operation unit, fig. 4 is a view showing a forward operation (an injection operation or an ejection operation) state of the operation unit, and fig. 5 is a view showing a backward operation (a loading operation) state of the operation unit. Fig. 6 and 7 are views showing a painless injection device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 2 to 5, the painless injection device of the present invention comprises: a valve body 100 having an inner space 101 along a longitudinal direction, one end of which is closed; a spool (spool) type valve member 200 having both end portions and a central portion slidably provided in airtight contact with a wall forming an internal space of the valve body 100, and a through hole 201 formed in the central portion; a liquefied gas container 400 detachably coupled to the other end of the valve body 100, and a nozzle portion provided at the one end communicates with an internal space of the valve body 100 in an open state; an operation unit provided on one side of the valve body 100 and moving the valve member 200 by a predetermined operation; a cylinder 500 coupled to one side of the valve body 100, having one end closed, and having an inner space along a longitudinal direction; a piston member 600 having one end slidably provided in airtight contact with a wall forming an internal space of the cylinder 500 and a piston rod 610 provided at the other end; a syringe unit 700 detachably coupled to the other end of the cylinder 500, and having a syringe rod 711 that contacts the piston rod 610 or is coupled to a recess; and a gas flow passage forming mechanism for communicating and sealing the internal space of the cylinder 500 and the internal space of the valve main body 100 where the one end portion side of the piston member 600 is located, and communicating and sealing the internal space of the cylinder 500 and the outside air (outside) by the operation of the operation unit.

The valve body 100 has an inner space (circular inner space) having a length larger than that of the valve member 200, and a holder to which a nozzle portion of the liquefied gas container 400 is detachably coupled is formed at the other end.

The valve member 200 described above includes: a cylindrical main body portion; a plurality of extended flange portions extending outward at both end portions and a central portion of the cylindrical body; and a sliding seal member (e.g., an O-ring) 210 coupled to an end surface of the extended flange portion and slidably contacting an inner surface of the valve body 100 to maintain airtightness.

The extended space portion formed between the plurality of extended flange portions of the valve member 200 constitutes a structural element of a gas flow passage forming mechanism to be described in detail below.

The liquefied gas container 400 may be filled with a gas, for example, liquefied carbon dioxide (CO), which is capable of being discharged by opening a nozzle portion of the liquefied gas container 400 while the liquefied gas container 400 is coupled to the valve body 100 to vaporize the gas filled in the liquefied gas container 400 in a liquid state through the nozzle portion of the liquefied gas container 400₂) But is not limited thereto.

The nozzle portion of the liquefied gas container 400 is coupled to the holder of the valve body 100 and configured to vaporize and discharge the filled liquefied gas (e.g., liquefied carbon dioxide), and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, for example, the operation unit includes: an operation knob 410 slidably provided to the valve main body 100; and an interlocking member (not shown) provided to the valve main body 100 so as to be interlocked with the operation knob 410, and configured to move the valve member 200 forward and backward by a predetermined operation (for example, a forward/backward movement operation) of the operation knob. It is preferable that the operation knob 410 of the operation unit further includes an elastic restoring member (not shown) for elastically supporting to be elastically restored to an original state after the forward movement.

The cylinder 500 has a cylindrical shape with one side formed in the internal space 501 and the other side formed with a guide hole communicating with the internal space and guiding the piston rod 610 of the piston member 600 in an airtight manner, and the other end formed with a coupling portion 510 detachably coupled to a rod protection cap of the syringe unit 700 described later.

The piston member 600 provided in the cylinder 500 includes: a piston rod 610 sliding along an inner surface of the guide hole of the cylinder 500 in an airtight manner; a piston head 620 formed at one end of the piston rod 610 and contacting an inner surface of the cylinder 500; and a sliding seal member (e.g., an O-ring) 630 provided on an outer periphery of the piston head 620 and slidably contacting an inner surface of the cylinder 500 to maintain airtightness.

The piston member 600 further includes a buffer member 640 provided at an edge portion of a rear surface (a surface opposite to the base end side of the piston rod 620) of the piston head 620. The cushioning member 640 may be provided on the front surface of the piston head 620 (a surface forming the proximal end portion side of the piston rod 620).

As described above, when piston head 620 formed of a large diameter portion having a diameter relatively larger than that of piston rod 610 instantaneously slides in the internal space of cylinder 500 with a strong force, cushioning member 640 provided in piston member 600 prevents piston head 620 from directly colliding with cylinder 500 and being cushioned by cushioning member 640.

Then, the above-described syringe unit 700 includes: an injector 710 having an injector rod 711; and a rod protecting cap 720 having an injector coupling portion 721 of which one end is coupled to the injector 710 and the other end is detachably coupled to the coupling portion 510 of the cylinder 500.

The coupling between the coupling portion 510 of the cylinder 500 and the syringe coupling portion 721 of the rod protecting cap 720 is not particularly limited as long as it has a structure in which components can be detachably coupled. For example, the cylinder 500 and the syringe unit 700 may be coupled to each other by a bayonet coupling (bayonet mounting) method so as to be easily attached and detached, and in the bayonet coupling (bayonet mounting) method, the coupling portion 510 of the cylinder 500 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the syringe coupling portion 721 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and is coupled to an extension of the coupling portion 510 in an insertion manner and rotated toward one side to be locked and fixed.

The gas flow path forming mechanism includes: an inflow communication path 810 that communicates one side of the internal space 101 of the valve main body 100 with one end side of the internal space 501 of the cylinder 500; a discharge communication path 820 for communicating the other side of the internal space 101 of the valve main body 100 with the other end side of the internal space 501 of the cylinder 500; an extension communication path 830 formed in an extension of the valve member 200, and communicating with and being blocked from the discharge communication path 820 by the forward and backward movement of the valve member 200; and a discharge path 840 formed in the valve main body 200 so as to communicate with the extension communication path 830.

As shown in fig. 3, in the neutral position of the operation knob 410 of the operation unit among the inflow communication path 810, the discharge communication path 820, the epitaxial communication path 830, and the discharge path 840, the inflow communication path 810, the discharge communication path 820, the epitaxial communication path 830, and the discharge path 840 have a state in which they do not communicate with each other and a first gas flow path filled with the pushed-down vaporization gas is formed in the internal space 101 of the valve main body 10.

In the inflow communication path 810, the discharge communication path 820, the extension communication path 830, and the discharge path 840, in a state where the operation knob 410 for injecting the injection liquid of the syringe unit is operated (advanced operation), as shown in fig. 4, the inflow communication path 810 is opened, and the pushed-off vaporization gas (or the filling gas) filled in the internal space 101 of the valve main body 100 is supplied to one side of the internal space 501 of the cylinder 500 to move the piston member 600, and the discharge communication path 820, the extension communication path 830, and the discharge path 840 have a second gas flow path formation state communicating with the other side of the internal space 501 of the cylinder 500.

In the inflow communication path 810, the discharge communication path 820, the extension communication path 830, and the discharge path 840, as shown in fig. 5, in the loaded (retreated) state of the operation knob 410, the inflow communication path 810 is blocked, the discharge communication path 820 communicates with the internal space 501 of the valve main body 100 to supply the filling gas filled in the internal space 101 of the valve main body 100, and the extension communication path 830 and the discharge path 840 have a third gas flow path formation state not communicating with the discharge communication path 820.

The present invention can provide a painless injection device which can instantaneously inject a liquid without generating noise by transmitting a rapid and strong ejection pressure to the piston member 600 by transmitting a pressurized vaporization gas ejected from the liquefied gas container 400 to an internal filling gas (a vaporization gas filled in advance in the internal space 101 of the valve main body 100) in a ready state (i.e., a loaded state) when an operation knob is operated by the gas flow path forming means configured as described above.

On the other hand, the painless injection device of the present invention may further include a drug solution injection control unit which can inject the injection drug at a prescribed speed through the syringe unit in a very short time by controlling the sliding (e.g., constant movement) of the piston member 600 when the piston member 600 is instantaneously moved (less than 1 second) by pressing the pressure of the vaporized gas (filling gas).

As shown in the drawings as an embodiment, the chemical liquid injection control unit includes: a plurality of stopper grooves 910 formed at intervals along the longitudinal direction of the piston rod 610 of the piston member 600 to extend outward; a mounting hole formed in one side of the guide long hole of the cylinder 500 in a direction perpendicular to the guide long hole; a ball stopper 920 provided to the mounting hole on the inner wall side of the guide long hole so as to be linearly movable; a cap 930 coupled to cover the mounting hole; and an elastic member (i.e., a coil spring) 940 disposed between the ball stopper 920 and the cap 930, for elastically supporting the ball stopper 920.

The mounting hole included in the chemical injection control unit is screw-coupled to the cap 930, the cap 930 is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise to adjust the elastic force of the elastic member, and an elastic mark indicating the acting elastic force of the elastic member based on the coupling pitch of the cap 930 may be designed on the outer surface of the cap 930 using the outer surface of the cylinder 500 coupled to the cap 930 as a reference line mark.

Accordingly, the elastic force of the elastic member is adjusted by adjusting the coupling distance of the cap 930, so that the pressure of the ball stopper 920 against the piston rod 610 can be adjusted.

By configuring such a liquid medicine injection control unit, not only noise can be reduced by controlling the moving speed, but also scars on the injection surface can be reduced, and relative pain can be further alleviated.

On the other hand, although the case where the liquid vaporization container 400 is coupled along the longitudinal direction of the valve main body 100 has been described as an example in the above, the liquid vaporization container 400 may be coupled to the valve main body 100 in a perpendicular manner in the painless injection device of the present invention as shown in fig. 6.

Specifically, the painless injection device of the present invention may be configured in a gun (gun) type so that the usability can be further increased by simply holding the same, and as shown in fig. 6, a housing 120 for accommodating a liquid vaporization container and a handle is further provided on a lower surface of one end portion of the valve main body 100, and a holder to which a nozzle portion of a liquefied gas container 400 is detachably coupled is formed on a lower surface of one end portion of the valve main body 100, and the holder communicates with the internal space 101 of the valve main body 100 through a communication flow path.

The liquefied gas container 400 is mounted and coupled to the receiving space of the handle housing 120.

As shown in fig. 7, the liquefied gas container 400 may be coupled to the upper surface of the valve body 100 so as to be perpendicular thereto, and a coupling case such as a case for accommodating and holding a handle in a liquid vaporizing container as shown in fig. 6 may be provided.

According to the painless injection device of the present invention as described above, there are the following advantages: when the injection medicine is instantaneously injected by the air pressure, it can have a sufficient pressure to rapidly inject the medicine and can remarkably reduce the generated noise, can minimize the noise influence on the injection object such as the infant, and particularly, is very effectively applied to the animal operation on the small birds, etc., which may die due to the impact noise.

Also, according to the present invention, there are the following advantages: the utility model is convenient to use, can effectively use the striking driving source, and can be used in various aspects such as skin beauty besides the medical treatment of human and animals, thereby improving the applicability.

Description of reference numerals

100: valve body

101: inner space of valve main body

200: valve member

210. 630: sliding seal member

400: liquefied gas container

410: operation knob

500: cylinder body

510: joining part

501: inner space of cylinder

600: piston component

610: piston rod

620: piston head

640: buffer member

700: syringe unit

710: syringe with a needle

711: syringe rod

720: rod protective cap

721: joining part

810: inflow communication path

820: discharge communication path

830: epitaxial communication path

840: discharge path

910: stop groove

920: spherical stop

930: cap cap

940: an elastic member.

Claims

1. A painless injection device, comprising:

a valve body having an interior space;

a liquefied gas container having a nozzle portion connected to and coupled to an inner space of the valve body in an open state, so that the valve body is filled with an extrusion gasification gas;

a valve body having a center portion penetrated and sliding so as to airtightly seal an internal space of the valve body;

an operation unit provided on one side of the valve body and configured to slide the valve body by a back-and-forth operation;

a cylinder coupled to one side of the valve body, having an inner space, and to which a syringe unit having a syringe rod is detachably coupled;

a piston rod body slidably provided in the inner space of the cylinder; and

and an extrusion gas supply unit which supplies extrusion gasification gas filled in the inner space of the valve body to the piston rod body by the operation of the operation unit, and has a communication relation that the extrusion gasification gas slides back and forth.

2. The painless injection device of claim 1,

the extruding gas supply unit supplies gas filled in the valve body to one side of the inner space of the cylinder to move the piston rod body to the injector unit side when the valve body is moved in one direction by one-direction operation of the operation unit,

when the valve body is moved in the other direction by the operation of the operation unit in the other direction, the extruding gas supply unit supplies gas filled in the valve body to the other side of the internal space of the cylinder body to move the piston rod body in the opposite direction to the syringe unit side.

3. A painless injection device, comprising:

a valve body having an inner space along a length direction, one end of which is closed;

a spool valve member having both end portions and a center portion slidably provided in contact with a wall of the valve body forming an internal space, the center portion having a through hole;

a liquefied gas container detachably coupled to the other end portion of the valve main body, and a nozzle portion provided at the one end portion communicates with an internal space of the valve main body in an open state;

an operation unit provided on one side of the valve body and configured to move the valve member by a predetermined operation;

a cylinder coupled to one side of the valve body and having an inner space along a longitudinal direction;

a piston member having one end slidably provided in contact with a wall of the cylinder forming the internal space and a piston rod provided at the other end;

a syringe unit detachably coupled to the other end portion of the cylinder and having a syringe rod facing the piston rod; and

and a gas flow path forming mechanism for communicating and sealing the internal space of the cylinder with the internal space of the valve body on the one end side of the piston member by operation of the operation unit, and communicating and sealing the internal space of the cylinder with the outside.

4. The painless injection device of claim 3,

the valve member includes:

a cylindrical main body portion;

a plurality of extended flange portions extending outward at both end portions and a central portion of the cylindrical body; and

a sliding seal member coupled to an end surface of the extended flange portion and slidably contacting an inner surface of the valve body to provide airtightness,

the cylinder has a cylindrical shape having an internal space formed at one side thereof and a guide hole formed at the other side thereof, the guide hole communicating with the internal space and guiding the piston rod of the piston member in an airtight manner, the cylinder has a coupling portion formed at the other end thereof and detachably coupled to a coupling portion forming a rod protection cap of the syringe unit,

the piston member includes:

a piston rod sliding along an inner surface of the guide hole of the cylinder;

a piston head formed at one end of the piston rod and contacting an inner surface of the cylinder; and

and a sliding seal member provided on an outer periphery of the piston head and slidably contacting an inner surface of the cylinder to provide airtightness.

5. The painless injection device of claim 4, further comprising a cushioning member disposed on the edge portions of the front and rear faces of the piston head.

6. The painless injection device of any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the gas flow path forming mechanism comprises:

an inflow communication path for communicating one side of the internal space of the valve main body with one end side of the internal space of the cylinder;

a discharge communication path for communicating the other side of the internal space of the valve main body with the other end side of the internal space of the cylinder;

one or more extension communication paths formed in an extension of the valve member, and communicating with and being blocked by the discharge communication path by the forward and backward movement of the valve member; and

and a discharge path formed in the valve body so as to communicate with the outside and the extended communication path.

7. The painless injection device of claim 4, further comprising a drug solution injection control means provided on one side of the piston rod of the piston member to control the sliding of the piston member when the piston member moves to move the syringe rod of the syringe unit.

8. The painless injection device of claim 7, wherein the liquid medicine injection control unit comprises:

a plurality of stopper grooves formed at intervals along the length direction of the piston rod in an extension thereof;

a mounting hole formed in one side of the guide long hole of the cylinder body in a direction orthogonal to the guide long hole;

a ball stopper provided in the mounting hole on the inner wall side of the guide long hole so as to be linearly movable;

a cap coupled to cover the mounting hole; and

and the elastic component is arranged between the spherical stop piece and the cover cap and is used for elastically supporting the spherical stop piece.