IE922564A1 - A fluid drop applicator - Google Patents

Abstract

The applicator, which may be for animal vaccine, has a body to be held between a user's fingers and thumb and a hollow interior in which is held a squeezable cartridge (3) holding sufficient fluid for repeated dosing. A conduit (5) leads from the hollow interior to a delivery end of the applicator and is of dimensions such that fluid is inhibited from gravity flow therefrom, means (7, 7a) being provided in a side wall of the body to enable expression of a drop or droplets of fluid from the conduit, and a scratcher (8) being provided for scratching the skin of the animal before or after applying a drop of the fluid.

Description

Λ· inveutioo cxapriaea «η applicator for sdelnlstarlng droplet· of a fluid aadioasent auoh as a fluid vaccine for ezaapie, particularly to anisals.

Som ssdlcasanls aucb ae vaccines suet be delivered in fluid fore percutaneously i.e» onto the cells of the cutaneous layer of the akin. In the esse of fluid vaccine· to vaccinate anIml a agalnat disease or treat then for a presexiatiag.condition for eraepla^ ttia-cau be easily ' Anisals are vaccinated as described, the vaccine comprising a carrier fluid cospriaing the live orf virus. It asy sisilarly bo necessary to apply other sedieasents percutaneously, to anisals or tutsans.

Ona knows foes of vaccine applicator for percutaneous application to animl h is described in New Sealand patent specification 131723 and cosprisss a Basil container of a sise to be hand held, with a stopper closing one end of the container, and two wire ends protruding through the stopper. In the patent specification it is described that vaccine is applied by inverting the tool onto the skin of tbe anisal to be vaccinated and drawing” a line with the ser etcher. However, in practice the applicator sast be «hakes to deliver a drop of the vaocina os to the skis of the aniaal and the line then scratched through the drop, A disadvantage with this fore of vaccine applicator is that, particularly because of the shaking often required in practice, little precision in the dosage delivered can be achieved. Also, the outlet orifice of the applicator tends to plug up with aniaal hair and oils fro· aniaal skin and the applicator leaks during transit when not in use.

Another technique . which is employed to percutaneously deliver a vaccine ie alaply a darning needle which has been cut through the eye of the needle and which in use is inverted with the two prongs of the open eye being used to scratch the skin of the aniaal. Before scratching, the cut-through eye end of the needle is dipped into a jar of the liquid vaccine and the vaccine is then scratched onto the animal's skin. A aajor disadvantage of thia technique is the requirement to use two hands during vaccination and also the possibility of spillage of all the vaccine fro· the open container. Also, again, the systse cannot reliably deliver a naasnred doee of the vaccine.

The present invention provides a new or at least improved fox» of applicator which can repeatedly and reliably deliver a eeasured dose of fluid such as a vaccine, and in a one-handed operation.

In broad tares the invention aay be said to eoeprise an applicator for a fluid aedicaaent, comprising a body of a ala· to bo hand bald between a nwn fingers and thuab, having a bellow interior far holding a volume of fluid sufficient for repeated doelng, a conduit fro· the hollow interior to a delivery end of the ΓΓ1 ^**47 Preferably the hollow interlux u£ Uim applicaLar ia adapted to receive and retain the fluid in a separate swell fluid container or cartridge such as a vial or enpoula or the like, inserted into the hollow interior of the applicator. Such a container or cartridge way be a thin walled plastics container one end of which is sealed with a piereahle plug, such than when the container is inserted into the applicator it will be pierced by the inner end of the conduit to connect the conduit to the supply of medicament in the container or cartridge. When ewptied the medicament cartridge nay be removed and disposed of and replaced with a fresh cartridge and the applicator itself way be reused. Instead of the inner end of the conduit spiking into the medicawent cartridge the cartridge way have a connection end having a ewall plastic valve systew or a diaphxagw arranged to be punctured on screwing of the fluid cartridge onto a threaded part fitting within the’ interior of the applicator, for exaaple. - 4 la another foa of eppHratoc of the invention instead of utilising separata disposable fluid containers or cartridge· th· applicator itself in disposable and ocaprisee an integral volune or chanber for holding a supply of th· fluid, ft· applicator is thrown away when the nedicaaant has bean used op and a new applicator filled with fluid used.

Preferred fora· of applicator of the invention .«re .further ..described sdth reference to. the. aecoapanyiag drawings by way of exaaple and without intending to be Hearing. in the drawings j Fig. 1 is e side view of the preferred fora applicator without a nodi caaant cartridge inserted) Fig. 2 is a cross-section view of the preferred fora applicator without a cartridge insert ad, along line I-I of Fig. 1t Fig. 3 ie a side view of a preferred fora of disposable, cartridge for fluid aadiceaant each as vaccina; Fig. 4 ie a view of tha disposable cartridge siailar to Fig. 3 except that the cartridge has bean rotated 90 degrees) Fig. 5 is a oross-seotional view of the cartridge along along line II-II of Fig. 4) Fig. < ia a oroee-sectiooal view aiailar to rig. 2 «hewing tha cartridge inserted; rig. 7 ie a view similar to Fig. 1 bat of an alternative fon of applieator of the invention; and Figo 8 and 9 show in exo··· section th· delivary end· of farther for·· of applicator of th· invention.

The preferred for· application shows in Pigs 1 to 6 comprises e tabular body 1 having a hollow interior 2 open at one end la (see Pig. 2), to receive a cartridge each ae ehown in Pig· 3 to 5. the cartridge 3 ie In nee inserted into the hallow i pi srinr 2 oi the applicator; Pig. 6 shorn* the preferred fora applicator with cartridge inserted in cr ob β-aect ion. The applicator ia of a else that it nay be hand held by a user in a pen-like fashion.

The applicator ha· a delivery end 4. A conduit 5, in this fora foraadby a tube for exaaple a fine bore stainless steel tabs, extends through the delivery and 4 of the applieator to ccaauaicat· with the interior of the fluid cartridge (see Pig. 2). At both ends the conduit 5 ie open. The diaensions of the conduit' should' be enoh that the fluid J •ed j caaent is inhibited frea flowing under gravity fro· the eoodalt, bat can be expressed froa the end of the condo it when tieing the applicator as will be described. The internal dieaeter of the condnit 5 aay be of the order of 0.3ae, for exaaple. Alternatively it is possible that the bore forming - β tha oonduit 5 may ba fozaed directly into the applicator ------- body, esc by any other suitable arrangement.

Tha preferred fen applicator shown ie injection oulded fro· a plastics material auoh ae polycarbonate which ie preferred, but it ie possible that the applicator could be formed fro· a lightweight natal auoh ee aluminium for exaaple. The applicator ia generally .tubular in shape, but it ia aleo possible that, the body .of Jhe^appligatgr coaid be ' 'r ' ' · V of other shapes such ae hexagonal for exaaple and in any other general fora etill providing the essential features as described herein.

JL window 6 ia fozaed in a side wall of the body of the applicator. zn the preferred fora applicator a resiliently flexible member 7 for exaaple injection moulded with the body of the applicator, extends across the window 6. The aeaber 7 has a finger or thumb grip portion 7a. On the underside of the end of the aeaber 7 is preferably provided a button pressure point 7b ae shown. The aeaber can flex in the direction of arrow a in rig. 2, portion lo of the body of the applicator acting as a hinge portion between the flexible and the major part of the body of the applicator.

The appl also oampriees a scxatchar 8 with small prongs 8a extending from the delivery end of the applicator, in the applicator ehown in the drawings the scxatchar 8 ie integrally moulded from the plastic material of the applicator body hut alternatively the ecratcher could be a fork shaped natal ecratoher with aaall natal scratching prongs fee exaaple. •v X - ..........

Figa 3 to 9 show th· preferred font fluid nsdicasent container or cartridge 3 in a aide view. rig. 4 shows the cartridge in aide view hot rotated around its long axis by 90°. Fig. 5 shows the cartridge 3 in cross «action. The preferred fora cartridge is of a thin-veiled construction ^preferafciy formed from a suitable plastics material having a stepper 9 which is fitted into the open end to close the cartridge after filling with fluid vaccine or medicament.

Zn ase, the cartridge 3 is inserted stopper end first into the hollow interior 2 of the applicator. Referring to Fig. 6 the cartridge ia poshed hone so that the end of the conduit 5 which is preferably pointed as shown will pierce through the stopper 9 to communicate with the fluid aadicanent within. The stopper 9 is suitably formed from rubber or si suitable synthetic material that can be pierced and which will also seal around tha eondnit 9 to prevent leakage. Other than the stepper 9 tbe cartridge 3 should be node of a natarial such as thin walled plastic as referred to, that will return to its original shape after being depressed. While in the fox* of cartridge shown in Figs 3 to 5 the stopper and cartridge body are separate parts, they could be scalded as one. At the other end froa the stopper 9 the cartridge 3 has a tab 10 to aid the removal of the cartridge from the applicator when empty, when another cartridge of vaccine nay ba inserted into tha applicator.

Aa applicator aay ba used la a ana handed operation to deliver a aaasurad done of fluid aedicaaent. Aa stated the applicator ia held by tha near ia a pen-like fashion. At aeaber 7 can than ba depressed by tha nears thnab or a finger tc ia torn apply pressure to the fide ef the cartridge 3 and hy gentle squeezing pash vaccina down tha conduit 4. Further depression of tha aeaber 7 against tha side of. the cartridge will cause the droplet to fall away from .the delivery^end.ofM£hg condnit .¾^ on to the skin of the aniaal. ringer pressure is then removed and the drop on the skin is scratched with the scratcher 8 td eempleLw application of the vs no ine or asdlrsaant. On releasing of pressure from the users thsab or finger, the aeaber 7 will return to its normal position and the fluid cartridge side wall to its noraal shape, in eo doing drawing a saall amount of air back into the fluid cartridge through the conduit 5 to equilibfiate the pressure. The applicator aay be used repeatedly, until the fluid in the cartridge is exhausted. Typically the fluid container 7 aay be of a else containing, for example, sufficient vaccine for 150-300 doses.

Fig. 7 shows another form of applicator of the invention. This foixa is siailar tc that of Figs 1 to 6 exoeptthat the means in the side wall of the applicator for expressing a drop · or droplets of ths aedicamant is slightly different. In thia fora the applicator has a window 11 in its side wall and no aeaber equivalent to the asmber 7. in uee a user· finger or thnab can apply pressure directly to - 9 « the aid· wall of the fluid cartridge la the applicator by presaing through the window 10.

Mgs 8 and 9 show the delivery ends of alternative forae of applicator. In both of thee· fores the applicator haa a drop-fozaing chaaber 12 at the delivery end of the conduit 5. In the fora of Pig. 8 the tube fozaing the conduit S ie flared aa ehown, rather than being a staple open-ended tube, ia the fora of Mg. 9 the drop-foralng * chaaber 12 ia integrally foraed in the body of the applicator ” by a aaall counter bore foraed in the delivery end of the applicator of a suitable voltoae, aa shown. Such drop fozaing chaabera are useful where the applicator ia to deliver larger drops of aadioaaant while still having a conduit fro· the fluid supply sufficiently aaall to inhibit leakage froa gravity flow of fluid froa the applicator.

In the foregoing description the applicator haa been described with reference to the vaccination of aniaala but it ia possible that the applicator could also be used for applying aedioaaanta or the like to huaana aad the words “fluid aad aniaala* in thia .apacification are to be under a toad aooordingly.

The foregoing describes the invention including preferred fozae thereof. Alterations sad aodifioations aa will ba obvious to those skilled in the ert are intended to be incorporated within the scope hereof as defined in the following dales.

Claims (9)

1. An applicator for a fluid medicament, comprising a body of a airs to ba hand bald a naan finger· end thumb \ ---having a hollow interior for holding a volume of fluid sufficient for repeated doming, a oondnit from the hollow interior to a delivery end of the applicator of dimensions «uch that fluid ie inhibited from gravity flow from the delivery and of the oondnit, means in a aide wall of the body of the applicator enabling expressing of a drop or droplet· of fluid- from _the delivery and of * the conduit, and aj •cratoher for scratching the shin before or after applying a^ drop of the fluid.

2. An applicator as claimed in elaim 1, wherein the hollow interior of the applicator is accessible to reaaive and retain said'volume of fluid in a container or cartridge inserted into said hollow interior.

3. An applicator as claimed in claim 2, wherein the hollow interior of the applicator is open at one end for inspection of a said container or cartridge of fluid medicament into the applicator.

4. An applicator as olaimsd in either one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the means ia a side wall of the body Of the applicator oospriaes a window in the side wall through whJLoh by a users finger or thuab the side of a said container or cartridge 1 neerted ia the hollow interior of the applicator may be depressed to express a drop or droplets of fluid from the delivery end of the conduit. - 11 3. Aa applicator aa claimed ia claim 4, wherein a reailiaotly flexible member extend* across tbe window ia the ide wall of the applicator, dsprsssable by a users said finger or thumb against the side ui a said container or cartridge in the applicator to express a drop or droplets of fluid fra· the applicator.

5. 6. An applicator aa claimed in any one of claine 2 to 5, wherein the other end of said condnit extends into the :· hollow interior of the body of the applicator, to puncture yand enter through the wall·' o£ « eaid container or cartridge to c cm nJ. cate with the fluid wed1rseent therein on insertion into the interior of the applicator.

6. 7. An applicator ae claimed in any one of the preceding claim·, formed by injection moulding from a plastics naterial.

7. 8. An applicator ae claimed in any one of claim· 2 to 7, together with a said container or cartridge for fluid medicament of a size for insertion Into the hollow interior of the applicator.

8.

9. An applicator for ‘ a fluid medicament substantially ae illustrated in Pigs 1 to 8, or ee illustrated in Fig. 7, of the accompanying drawings and described with ref arenas thereto.