Medicament injection device

Claim 2

Apparatus for providing jet injection of medicament for use in combination with medicament stored in containers comprising, in combination: an injector body; an injector nozzle on one end of the injector body; a medicament chamber within the injector body; first means for selectively changing the volume of the medicament chamber to cause suction of medicament therein and expulsion of medicament therefrom; second means for receiving medicament from a medicament container; a medicament passageway for providing medicament communication between the second means and the injector body; a valve member located within the injector body having a first position for directing medicament from the medicament passageway to the medicament chamber and having second position for directing medicament from the medicament chamber to the injector nozzle; a container holder apparatus including: a retainer member having flexible fingers formed in a closed curve thereon and directed away from the injector body to define a chamber for receiving a portion of the medicament container, third means for mounting the retainer member to the injector body, and fourth means for flexing the fingers inwardly to securely grasp a portion of the medicament container placed within the chamber defined by the flexible fingers of the retainer member; and fifth means for providing air communication from the atmosphere to any medicament container within the container holder apparatus.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the means for flexing the fingers is a retainer ring in the form of a cap-like member including a top portion, side walls, and an aperture defined by radially outwardly inclined side walls projecting downwardly from the top portion toward the injector body from the aperture such that the aperture side walls ride on the outer surface of the fingers of the retainer member to cause the fingers to flex and grip a portion of the medicament container when the retainer ring is moved towards the injector body to thereby securely mount the container to the injector body.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the thickness of the flexible fingers increases as the distance from the fingers to the injector body decreases to form an outwardly inclined outer surface on the fingers such that the inclined side walls of the aperture of the retainer ring ride on the outwardly inclined surface of the fingers.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the retainer ring is threadably connected to the injector body to thereby allow positioning of the retainer ring with respect to the flexible fingers.

Claim 6

Apparatus for providing jet injection of medicament for use in combination with medicament stored in medicament containers comprising, in combination: an injector body; an injector nozzle on one end of the injector body; a medicament chamber located within the injector body for receiving appropriate dosages of medicament; first means for selectively changing the volume of the medicament chamber to cause suction of medicament therein and expulsion of medicament therefrom; medicament container holder apparatus, Including: a retainer member having flexible fingers formed in a closed curve thereon and directed away from the injector body to define a chamber arranged to receive a portion of the medicament container, second means for mounting the retainer member to the injector body, and third means for flexing the fingers inwardly to securely grasp a portion of the medicament container placed within the chamber defined by the flexible fingers of the retainer member; fourth means for receiving medicament from any medicament container within the medicament container holder apparatus; fifth means for providing air communication to any medicament container within the medicament container holder apparatus; a medicament passageway for providing medicament communication between the fourth means and the interior of the injector body; an air passageway, at least partially located within the injector body and having an outlet formed in the injector body, for providing air communication between the fifth means and the atmosphere; valve member located within the injector body having a first position for directing medicament from the medicament passageway to the medicament chamber and having a second position for directing medicament from the medicament chamber to the injector nozzle; and safety member having a first position for interfering with the valve member for preventing movement of the valve member from the second position of the valve member and for simultaneously blocking the outlet of the air passageway and having a second position for allowing movement of the valve member from the second position of the valve member to the first position of the valve member and for allowing air communication from the atmosphere into the air passageway.

Claim 7

Apparatus for providing jet injection of medicament for use in combination with medicament stored in medicament containers comprising, in combination: an injector body; an injector nozzle on one end of the injector body; a medicament chamber located within the injector body for receiving appropriate dosages of medicament; first means for selectively changing the volume of the medicament chamber to cause suction of medicament therein and expulsion of medicament therefrom; medicament container holder apparatus, Including: a retainer member having flexible fingers formed in a closed curve thereon and directed away from the injector body to define a chamber arranged to receive a portion of the medicament container, second means for mounting the retainer member to the injector body, and third means for flexing the fingers inwardly to securely grasp a portion of the medicament container placed within the chamber defined by the flexible fingers of the retainer member; fourth means for receiving medicament from any medicament container within the medicament container holder apparatus; fifth means for providing air communication to any medicament container within the medicament container holder apparatus; a medicament passageway for providing medicament communication between the fourth means and the interior of the injector body; an air passageway, at least partially located within the injector body and having an outlet formed in the injector body, for providing air communication between the fifth means and the atmosphere; valve member located within the injector body having a first position for directing medicament from the medicament passageway to the medicament chamber and having a second position for directing medicament from the medicament chamber to the injector nozzle; and safety member having a first position for interfering with the valve member for preventing movement of the valve member from the second position of the valve member and for simultaneously blocking the outlet of the air passageway and having a second position for allowing movement of the valve member from the second position of the valve member to the first position of the valve member and for allowing air communication from the atmosphere into the air passageway.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the means for flexing the fingers is a retainer ring in the form of a cap-like member including a top portion, side walls, and an aperture defined by radially outwardly inclined side walls projecting downwardly from the top portion toward the injector body from the aperture such that the aperture side walls ride on the outer surface of the fingers of the retainer member to cause the fingers to flex and grip a portion of the medicament container when the retainer ring is moved towards the injector body to thereby securely mount the container to the injector body.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the valve member is a slide shuttle valve including two passageways, one of the passageways being substantially straight for directing medicament from the medicament chamber to the injector nozzle and the second of the passageways being laterally spaced from the first and having a general shape of the letter ''''L'''' for directing medicament from the medicament passageway to the medicament chamber.

Claim 10

Apparatus for use in providing jet injection of medicament for use in combination with medicament stored in containers comprising, in combination: an injector body; an injector nozzle on one end of the injector body; a medicament chamber within the injector body for receiving appropriate doses of medicament; first means for selectively changing the volume of the medicament chamber to cause suction of medicament therein and expulsion of medicament therefrom; second means for receiving medicament from a medicament container; third means for providing air communication to the medicament container; a medicament passageway for providing medicament communication between the second means and the interior of the injector body; an air passageway, at least partially located within the injector body and having an outlet formed in the injector body, for providing air communication between the third means and the atmosphere; valve member located within the injector body having a first position for directing medicament from the medicament passageway to the medicament chamber and having a second position for directing medicament from the medicament chamber to the injector nozzle; and safety member having a first position for interfering with the valve member for preventing movement of the valve member from the second position of the valve member and for simultaneously blocking the outlet of the air passageway to the third means and having a second position for allowing movement of the valve member from the second position of the valve member to the first position of the valve member and for allowing air flow into the air passageway from the atmosphere to the third means.

Claim 11

Apparatus for use in providing jet injection of medicament for use in combination with medicament stored in containers comprising, in combination: an injector body; an injector nozzle on one end of the injector body; a medicament chamber within the injector body for receiving appropriate doses of medicament; first means for selectively changing the volume of the medicament chamber to cause suction of medicament therein and expulsion of medicament therefrom; second means for receiving medicament from a medicament container; third means for providing air communication to the medicament container; a medicament passageway for providing medicament communication between the second means and the interior of the injector body; an air passageway, at least partially located within the injector body and having an outlet formed in the injector body, for providing air communication between the third means and the atmosphere; valve member located within the injector body having a first position for directing medicament from the medicament passageway to the medicament chamber and having a second position for directing medicament from the medicament chamber to the injector nozzle; and safety member having a first position for interfering with the valve member for preventing movement of the valve member from the second position of the valve member and for simultaneously blocking the outlet of the air passageway to the third means and having a second position for allowing movement of the valve member from the second position of the valve member to the first position of the valve member and for allowing air flow into the air passageway from the atmosphere to the third means.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the valve member is a slide shuttle valve including two passageways, one of the passageways being substantially straight for directing medicament from the medicament clamber to the injector nozzle and the second of the passageways being laterally spaced from the first and having a general shape of the letter L for directing medicament from the medicament passageway to the medicament chamber.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the safety includes a projection that can be positioned over the end of the slide shuttle valve such that the projection acts as abutment means for slide shuttle valve.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 9 wherein means for preventing rotation of the slide shuttle valve is provided including a slot formed in the shuttle valve and a pin secured in the injector body and extending into the slot formed on the shuttle valve.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the slide shuttle valve is selectively captured in the second position by the combination of the means for preventing rotation, including the pin and the slot, and the safety member.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the safety member includes, in combination: a detent member biased towards the injector body that can be selectively positioned within the outlet of the air passageway to thereby block the air communication to the means for providing air communication to any medicament container.

Claim 17

The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the means for receiving medicament from any medicament container and the means for providing air communication to any medicament container are needles.