A SYRINGE WITH BREAKABLE PLUNGER

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND PRIORITY

The present application claims priority from Indian Patent Application No. 202221047021 filed on. 18 ^th August 2022, incorporated herein by a reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for injecting drugs into or remove blood from blood vessels of a human body. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a single use syringe.

BACKGROUND

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to implementations of the claimed technology.

In the medical industry, syringes are generally used for intravenous and intramuscular injection of drugs. Syringes have a barrel with a nozzle at one end of the barrel. An injection needle is attached to the nozzle to either inject drugs or remove body fluids. Use of Syringe is widespread in the medical industry, and because there are so many potential medical risks, it is not recommended to reuse needles or plastic syringes. Despite the risks, syringes are reused due to cost-cutting tactics, lack of awareness on the part of the staff and patients.

The reuse of needles or syringes and the improper handling of pharmaceutical bottles pose a very serious hazard to patients' health. Once used, a syringe and needle must be destroyed. Reusing the syringe while changing the needle is unsafe since it increases the risk of disease transmission. Patients run the risk of developing Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, STD, and perhaps HIV if needle or syringe is reused. After the syringe is used, the needle is exposed, and medical staff and waste disposal personnel are prone to accidentally stab the human body with the needle when handling the used syringe, which brings great potential safety hazards. Various attempts have been made to establish a safe mechanism for disposing of used needles and reduce the frequency of such i incidents, however these earlier proposals had flaws, which the present subject matter shall try to overcome.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure overcomes one or more shortcomings of the prior art and provides additional advantages discussed throughout the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed disclosure. The present disclosure has been made in order to solve the above problems, and it is the object of the present disclosure to provide a syringe.

In one non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, a syringe has been disclosed. The syringe comprises a barrel, a plunger and a spacer. An inner surface of the barrel is enabled with one or more tear-off notches. The plunger (102) having a plunger base, a plunger head and a frangible area enabled between the plunger base and plunger head. The spacer is configured for preventing the plunger from fully depressing into the barrel. The spacer may be removed after onloading the syringe with the drug for injection. Furthermore, an outer surface of the plunger is enabled with one or more locking grooves. The locking grooves on the plunger outer surface are configured to engage with the tear-off notch on the barrel when the plunger is fully depressed/ inserted inside the barrel. The plunger is further configured to break from the frangible area after fixing of locking grooves of the plunger with the tear-off notch of the barrel. Further, thickness of the plunger below the frangible area is greater than the thickness of the plunger above the frangible area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying Figures. In the Figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the Figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer like features and components.

Figure 1 A-1B illustrates a syringe (100), in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 2A illustrates a front view of a plunger (102) of the syringe (100), in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. Figure 2B illustrates a cross-sectional side view of the plunger (102) of the syringe (100), in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 2C illustrates an isometric view of the plunger (102) of the syringe (100), in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 2D illustrates a top view of the plunger (102) of the syringe (100), in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 2E illustrates a bottom view of the plunger (102) of the syringe (100), in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 3A illustrates a front view of a barrel (101) of the syringe (100), in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 3B illustrates a side view of the barrel (101) of the syringe (100), in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 3C illustrates an isometric view of the barrel (101) of the syringe (100), in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 3D illustrates a cross-sectional view of the barrel (101) of the syringe (100), in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 3E illustrates a top view of the barrel (101) of the syringe (100), in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 4 A illustrates a top view of the spacer (103) of the syringe (100), in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 4B illustrates a side view of the spacer (103) of the syringe (100), in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference throughout the specification to “various embodiments,” “some embodiments,” “one embodiment,” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” “in one embodiment,” or “in an embodiment” in places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

Referring to Figure 1A, a syringe (100) is illustrated. The syringe (100) comprises of a barrel (101) which is configured to house a plunger (102). The barrel (101) is further enabled with a nozzle (105).

Further, the syringe (100) is enabled with a spacer (103) that prevents the plunger (102) from accidentally depressing into the barrel (101) prior to loading the barrel (101) with fluid. In order to use the syringe (100), an operator may first mount a needle onto the nozzle (105), insert the needle (not shown in figure) into a blood vessel or vaccine bottle, and pull the plunger (102) out of the barrel (101) to load the barrel with fluid. Now referring to Figure IB, once the fluid is loaded into the barrel (101), the operator may remove the spacer (103) and press the plunger (102) into the barrel (101) to unload the fluid into the blood vessel or a test tube. Since the spacer (103) is removed while offloading, the plunger (102) is configured to reach the bottom of the barrel (101). At this point, the plunger (102) is locked into the barrel (101) with the help of one or more locking grooves enabled on an outer side of the plunger (102) and the tear-off notch enabled on an inner inside of the barrel (101). The one or more locking grooves and the tear-off notch are further elaborated with reference to figure 2, 3, and 4 as below.

Now referring to Figure 2A, a front view of the plunger (102) of the syringe (100) is illustrated in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. The plunger (102) may comprise a plunger base (204), a plunger head (205) and a frangible area enabled between the plunger base (204) and plunger head (205). The outer surface of the plunger (102) is enabled with one or more locking grooves (203). The one or more locking grooves (203) are configured to engage with the tear-off notch (not shown) located on the inner surface of the barrel (101) to prevent backward motion of the plunger (102) once the plunger (102) is completely inserted in the barrel (101).

Now referring to Figure 2B a cross-sectional side view of the plunger (102) is illustrated in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter. The plunger (102) is enabled with a circumferential area. The circumferential area may be enabled with the locking grooves (203) and a seal (201). Further, the plunger (102) is enabled with a hollow cavity (202). The hollow cavity (202) and the seal (201) combined together form a frangible area at the lower portion of the plunger (102).

Now referring to Figure 2C, an isometric view of the plunger (102) is illustrated in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter. The plunger head (205) is configured to provide fastener for rubber/polymer stopper (106). The rubber/polymer stopper (106) rested on the plunger head (205) may be configured to move smoothly in the barrel (101) while preventing any leakage or possible contamination.

Now referring to Figure 2D and 2E, a top and a bottom view of the plunger (102) is illustrated in accordance with the embodiment of the present subject matter. The plunger base (204) is having oblong shape. The plunger base (204) may act as lever to break the plunger (102) into two pieces after offloading. For this purpose, instead of having a round base, the plunger base (204) comprises an oblong portion with a flange extension extending away from the central axis. The flange extension exaggerates a unidirectional liver action thereby breaking the plunger (102) into two pieces.

Now referring to figure 3A, 3B and 3C a front view, cross-sectional side view and an isometric view of the barrel (101) of the syringe (100), is illustrated in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

Further referring to figure 3D and 3E, a top view and a bottom view of the barrel (101), is illustrated in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. The inner surface of the barrel (101) is enabled with the one or more tear-off notch (301). The tear-off notch (301) is configured to engage with the locking grooves (203) located on the outer surface of the plunger 102 (as shown in fig.2a) to prevent backward motion of the plunger 102 once the plunger 102 is completely inserted into the barrel 101. The tear-off notch (301) may be in the form of a circular ribs protruding out of the inner surface of the barrel (101). The tear-off notch (301) is configured to engage with the locking grooves (203) to prevent backward motion of the plunger (102) once the plunger (102) is completely inserted into the barrel (101). If additional pulling force is applied on the plunger base (204), the plunger 102 is configured to break at the seal (201), thereby making the syringe (100) unusable.

Referring to figure 4A-4B, a top view and a side view of the spacer (103) of the syringe (100), is illustrated in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure. The spacer (103) prevents the plunger (102) from accidentally engaging with the barrel 101.

Although the implementations for the syringe have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be understood that the appended claims are not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as examples of implementations for the syringe.