ES2303750A1 - Temporary closure for medical waste containers and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a temporary closure for medical waste containers and the like, consisting of a plate (3) that can be internally coupled to the mouth of the body (1) of the container in a considerably recessed position, having a perfect perimetral fit preventing gases from being released, said plate (3) having a wide window (5) that can in turn be blocked by means of a cover (6) which is tightly coupled to said window and which is hinged at one of its edges to the plate (3). The closure conditions are thus maintained substantially leak-tight during the entire process in which the container (1) is being filled, the latter not having its conventional permanent and tamper-proof cover, and once said filling is complete, the permanent cover is coupled to the mouth of the body (1), without removing the plate (3) or its cover (6), and the container can be permanently dosed for disposal thereof without the possibility of accessing the inside.

Description

Temporary closure for waste containers Hospital and similar.

Object of the invention

The present invention relates to a closing device that has been specially conceived as temporary closure means for containers used in hospital centers and the like, in which by the nature of the content and once they have been used it becomes accurate establish an inaccessible tight seal that prevents tampering in such waste, which could be dangerous for the manipulator.

The object of the invention is to achieve some means of temporary closure for the container from the moment begins its use until such time as the filling of the same, it must proceed to its definitive closure, ensuring some good closing conditions throughout that period, preventing the volatile elements of cytotoxic drugs surface and consequently improving conditions of use of the container.

Background of the invention

Especially in certain centers hospital waste is generated that pose a risk of pollution for people, so they require a special handling until the time of disposal, usually by incineration.

Containers are used for this purpose. allow opening and closing, as many times as necessary, during its filling, but once its disposal must allow a tight and immovable closure, for storage and transport to the point of incineration, preventing that can be unduly accessed inside, to avoid risks that the opening of the container may derive.

In this regard, the model of utility U9201433, which describes a container for hospital waste and the like, in whose body it is defined, to level of its mouth, a perimeter edge framed by a also perimeter and external grooving, while in the lid a perimeter groove is defined, capable of receiving the perimeter flange of the body, with interposition of a joint of tightness, counting on the outer wall of said groove with harpoons that penetrate the groove or groove of the base body, that pass through body windows of the same and that are interlocked surpass them.

This solution, although it turns out perfectly valid in terms of the results obtained, that is to say in terms of tightness in the closure and inviolability thereof, presented in counterpart as a fundamental problem the fact that the harpoons of the cover constitute prominent elements that suppose a permanent risk of cuts and scratches for personnel who handle the container for both your hands and gloves of latex that they normally use as means of protection, of so that the inadvertent breakage of one of said gloves can bring unpredictable consequences.

Through European Patent 2196095 it is known another waste container with closure and opening tool for same, which is practically a solution equivalent to that of utility model mentioned above, since it incorporates a virtually identical structure at the lid level, with the only except that in this case the harpoons are oriented towards outside instead of inward, and with the peculiarity that level of the mouth of the body presents a flange considerably narrower, and outside it a partition in "T" also provided with grooves or windows for the passage of harpoons This solution keeps harpoons protected in a situation of definitive closing for the container, but nevertheless it continues maintaining the same problem described above during the  multiple opening and closing operations of the container prior to its final closure, which in the case of the aforementioned model of utility.

This patent also describes and claims a tool that allows the container to open after closing definitive of it, which does not have much interest because for these containers a character is planned mono-use, so that they are incinerated in conjunction with its content.

Regardless of the problem previously exposed, during the use of the container until its total filling, which in practice can be appreciably long, the closure of the container moves away considerably from the sealing conditions, so that if it is deposit, as usual, cytotoxic drugs, of which volatile elements emanate, they go outside the container. In addition, when handling the lid with contaminated gloves, or when occur on the same exterior splashes, there is a risk of cross contamination.

Description of the invention

The temporary closure that the invention proposes solves in a fully satisfactory manner the above-mentioned problem, on the one hand because it allows the conventional and definitive sealing lid of the container not to be used until the moment of definitive closure, so that not even It forms part of the container, constituting an annex that can be kept stored in any appropriate place until the moment of its use, and on the other because this temporary closure fits substantially tightly to the body of the container and substantially maintains the sealing characteristics until the moment of its elimination, logically with a practicable character to allow the sequential deposition of the residues in its
inside.

To do this and more specifically said closure temporary part of the existence usually in the containers of hospital waste from a perimeter widening and staggered next to its mouth, and materializes on a plate provided with support on said staggering, so that the perimeter of the aforementioned plate formally and dimensionally copy the interior perimeter of the body at the level of its implantation zone, getting a perfect fit between plate and body of container, determinant of a coupling practically watertight.

As a complement to the structure described, the said plate has a large central window complemented with a tilting lid, which is tongue and groove coupled to the said window, determining a closure also substantially waterproof, lid that also presents the particularity of incorporating, In addition to a deformation in handle functions to facilitate its opening, some limiters of tilting of the same, that make the opening unstable and that the lid tends automatically by gravity to the closing situation.

According to this structuring the closure temporary gives the container body the intended sealing characteristics during the entire filling process of the same, and finished said process, without needing to extract the temporary closure, at the mouth of the container body is applicable conventional cap with harpoons that establishes the closure Definitive and inviolable.

Description of the drawings

To complement the description that is being performing and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to a preferred example of practical realization of it, is accompanied as part member of that description, a set of drawings where with illustrative and non-limiting nature, what has been represented next:

Figure 1.- Shows, according to a view in perspective, the body of a hospital waste container to which the temporary closure object of this is applicable invention.

Figure 2.- Shows, also according to a view in perspective, the aforementioned temporary closure.

Figure 3.- Shows, again according to a perspective view, the temporary closure of figure 2 duly coupled to the container body of figure 1, with the lid of the cited temporary closure in intermediate opening situation.

Figure 4.- Shows, finally, a detail in cross section of the assembly represented in figure 3.

Preferred Embodiment of the Invention

In view of the figures outlined you can be observed as the temporary closure that the invention proposes requires for its implementation of a container whose body (1) incorporate a stepped widening (2), relatively next to its mouth, to constitute the means of support and stabilization for said temporary closure, which materializes in a plate (3) provided with lower and perimeter supports (4) intended to sit on the stepping (2) of the body (1) of the container, and so that in said support position the perimeter of the plate (3) formally and dimensionally coincides with the section interior and corresponding body (1), settling between both elements a stable and tight coupling.

The plate (1) is affected by a wide central window (5), preferably rectangular, of vertices rounded, which is normally kept sealed by a lid (6), mostly affected by a lower drawing (7) that penetrates tightly into the window (5), also establishing a tight closure.

This cover (6) is centered on one of its edges with a deformation (8) in handle functions, and the ends of its opposite edge are materialized in individual lugs cylindrical and coaxial determinants of the tilt axis of the door, which swings on bushings (9) single piece with the plate (3), which are also provided with stops (10) limiters of tilting of said cover (6), so that it is not capable of achieve verticality, far from exceeding it, with what that when the manual action on it ceases, it tends automatically to the closing situation.

In accordance with the foregoing during the filling phase of the container, which can be extended more or less in time, the cover (7) is used as a means of access to its inside, and once the final filling has occurred and that it will proceed to its elimination, the cover (1) is attached to the body definitive, not represented in the drawings by itself of any kind conventional, for which purpose the body (1) incorporates at the level of its mouthpiece clamps (11) of strangulated mouthpiece, elastically deformable, capable of receiving, by snap coupling, to the shafts or tilting pins that constitute the conventional hinged means of the lid. In this way and as follows from the observation in Figure 3, the container can be definitively closed by the aforementioned conventional cover and not shown, staying inside the temporary closure (3-6), which is also disposable, keeping said final closure the classic characteristics of definitive inaccessibility within the container.

Claims (4)

1. Temporary closure for containers of hospital waste and the like, specifically for containers whose body is fitted with a swingarm with a lid equipped with inviolable closure means on the mouth of the body, characterized in that it consists of a plate (3) provided perimetrically and inferiorly of supports (4) destined to settle on a perimeter and internal step (2) of the body (1) of the container, said plate (3) presenting a perimeter formally and dimensionally coinciding with the internal section of the body (1) at the level of its implantation zone, said plate (3) being provided to be affected by a large window (5) assisted in turn by a lid (6) hinged to said plate (3), all in such a way that through said plate ( 3) and cover (6) a temporary closure of the body (1) of the container is established until it is completely filled, at which time the body (1) receives the conventional and definitive interlocking closure lid inamo vividly at the mouth of it. 2. Temporary closure for hospital waste containers and similar, according to claim 1, characterized in that said lid (6) has a drawing (7) that affects it mostly, formally and dimensionally suitable to fit tightly in the window (5) of the plate (3), said cover (6) being provided with a marginal deformation (8) in handle functions and, in opposition to it, a tilting axis that plays in a pair of bushings (9) integrated in the plate (3). 3. Temporary closure for hospital waste containers and the like, according to previous claims, characterized in that the articulation bushings (9) for the axis of the lid (6) are provided with stops (10) that limit the movement of the lid tilting (6), preventing said movement from reaching 90 °. 4. Temporary closure for containers of hospital waste and the like, according to previous claims, characterized in that the body of the container incorporates at its mouth level strangulated and elastically deformable mouthpieces (11), for coupling of the tilting shafts that constitute the means of hinge of the final cover, whose closing situation is not hindered by the inner plate (3) or its cover (6).