Patent Application
20140271361
The subject invention relates to blood and other fluid dispensers.
Various dispensers have been designed to transfer blood and other liquids from a stoppered test tube to a slide. Most dispensers have some kind of a base and a cannula extending outwardly therefrom. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,697,522 and 5,344,666, both incorporated herein by this reference, disclose bases with a plurality of stabilizing legs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,583, also incorporated herein by this reference, discloses a different design with a skirt about the cannula which is supported by a solid disk. See also the Helena Laboratory Corp's. “H-Pette” products.
The state of the art in blood analyzers includes a cartridge with a blood entry port. A dispenser is used to transfer one or two drops of blood from a stoppered test tube to the cartridge via the blood entry port thereof. The cartridge is loaded into a hand held blood analyzer. See, for example the Abbott “i-STAT” blood analyzer system and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,096,669; 7,419,821; 6,750,053; and 5,447,440 incorporated herein by this reference.
Conventional dispensers can be awkward to use with such systems. For example, the “C-pette” dispenser has a dispensing tip below a round disk with a flat bottom. When used in connection with the “i-STAT” cartridges, the dispensing tip doesn't go very far into the blood entry port of the cartridge and the round disk does not seat on the cartridge.
In examples of the invention, a dispenser is provided with a dispensing tip configured to be received well into the cartridge blood dispensing port and the dispenser has a base portion configured to seat on the cartridge top portion. In this way, when the test tube is pushed downward to transfer blood from the test tube to the cartridge via the dispenser, the dispenser is stable on the cartridge.
A blood testing system features a blood analyzer and a cartridge loadable into the blood analyzer. In one example, the cartridge includes a convex top portion with a blood entry port therein. A dispenser for transferring blood in a stoppered test tube to the cartridge is designed to include a contoured, stabilizing base configured to mate with the cartridge convex top portion. A hub is supported by the base and a cannula extends upward from the hub. A dispensing tip is in fluid communication with the cannula and depends downward from the hub to be inserted into the blood entry port of the cartridge when the dispenser base is mated with the cartridge convex top portion.
In some examples, the dispenser base includes spaced front and rear concave arch members connected by spaced, straight side rails. One or both spaced side rails may include an inward undercut feature. The base may further include one or more spokes interconnecting the base with the hub. In one version, a spoke extends inwardly from each rail to the hub.
The cannula may include a lower plastic portion and an upper metal portion fit into the lower plastic portion. Preferably, the dispensing tip is tapered and has an outer diameter proximate the hub slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the blood entry port. The dispenser base, hub, and dispensing tip are preferably made of plastic.
Also featured is a dispenser for transferring fluid in a stoppered test tube to a cartridge with a convex top portion including a fluid entry port therein. The dispenser comprises a contoured, stabilizing base configured to mate with the cartridge convex top portion, a hub supported by the base, a cannula extending upward from the hub, and a dispensing tip in fluid communication with the cannula depending downward from the hub and insertable into the fluid entry port of the cartridge when the dispenser base is mated with the cartridge convex top portion.
One dispenser is configured for transferring fluid in a stoppered test tube to a cartridge with a top portion including a blood entry port. The dispenser may include a base formed to seat on the cartridge top portion. A hub is supported by the base and a cannula extending upward from the hub. A dispensing tip is in fluid communication with the cannula and depends downward from the hub and is insertable into the fluid entry port of the cartridge when the dispenser base is seated on the cartridge top portion.
The subject invention, however, in other embodiments, need not achieve all these objectives and the claims hereof should not be limited to structures or methods capable of achieving these objectives.
Other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of a preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings, in which:
Aside from the preferred embodiment or embodiments disclosed below, this invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. Thus, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. If only one embodiment is described herein, the claims hereof are not to be limited to that embodiment. Moreover, the claims hereof are not to be read restrictively unless there is clear and convincing evidence manifesting a certain exclusion, restriction, or disclaimer.
In one example of the invention, dispenser 20
The dispenser is thus stable on the cartridge when used to transfer blood (or other fluid) from stoppered test tube T show in phantom in
In one design, the dispenser hub 26 is supported by spaced front 28a and rear 28b arch members interconnected by spaced side rails 24a and 24b which have straight lower edges. A spoke 30a, 30b extends inwardly from each rail 24a, 24b to hub 26 supporting it with respect to base 22. Cannula 32 extends upward from hub 26 and may include lower larger diameter plastic portion 34 and upper smaller diameter metal portion 34b fit into plastic portion 34a. Except for metal cannula portion 34b, all the other components of the dispenser are preferably molded out of medical grade plastic material. In
Thus, in
In contrast,
In the particular design of
These designs may vary in the overall structure and the base may vary as well to conform the base to particular feature(s) of a cartridge proximate the blood entry port thereof for other cartridge designs.
Thus, although specific features of the invention are shown in some drawings and not in others, this is for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the invention. The words “including”, “comprising”, “having”, and “with” as used herein are to be interpreted broadly and comprehensively and are not limited to any physical interconnection. Moreover, any embodiments disclosed in the subject application are not to be taken as the only possible embodiments.
In addition, any amendment presented during the prosecution of the patent application for this patent is not a disclaimer of any claim element presented in the application as filed: those skilled in the art cannot reasonably be expected to draft a claim that would literally encompass all possible equivalents, many equivalents will be unforeseeable at the time of the amendment and are beyond a fair interpretation of what is to be surrendered (if anything), the rationale underlying the amendment may bear no more than a tangential relation to many equivalents, and/or there are many other reasons the applicant can not be expected to describe certain insubstantial substitutes for any claim element amended.
Other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art and are within the following claims.
This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/385,680 filed Mar. 1, 2012 and claims the benefit of and priority thereto under 35 U.S.C. §§119, 120, 363, 365, and 37 C.F.R. §1.55 and §1.78 and which is incorporated herein by this reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13385680 | Mar 2012 | US |
| Child | 14288590 | US |
