Retractable finger lancet

Claim 1

A single-use, discardable lancet assembly including a lancet having a skin-puncturing probe and a housing in which said lancet is mounted and confined, said housing having front and rear walls and side walls connected thereto and extending therebetween, said housing being formed with a through aperture in an end thereof for movement of a probe therethrough for piercing the skin, said skin-producing probe of said lancet being mounted within and reciprocably movable in said housing, said probe having a sharpened point for puncturing the skin upon being forcibly urged thereagainst, a releasably-restrained, pretensioned torsion spring means integral with said probe and operable upon release of restraint for driving said sharpened point of said probe through a travel sequence initiated from a stand-by, retracted, restrained, and inoperative position of said probe and continuing through a functional disposition of said probe in which said point of said probe forcibly pulses downwardly to project through said aperture and outwardly of said housing and then immediately returns to a final, retracted and sequestered state in which said point resides irretrievably interiorly of said housing, spring securement means in said housing for restrictingly securing, confining, and restraining said spring means in a tensioned, biased configuration and for establishing said retracted, stand-by position of said reciprocably movable probe of said lancet in said housing, and spring guide means in said housing for delineating a path of movement of said spring means upon release thereof, non-resettably trigger means for releasing said spring from said spring securement means for initiating said spring means travel sequence, and means securing said trigger means to said housing for access exteriorly thereof and wherein said spring means comprises an elongated wire disposed to extend longitudinally in said housing, said wire having opposed upwardly and downwardly directed lineal end portions joined to an integrally formed intermediately-positioned looped section, said sharpened point being formed on an end of said downwardly directed end portion, wherein movement of said spring means within said housing and transition of said spring means between initial and final states is effective temporarily to vary an overall operational length dimension of said spring and reciprocally to extend and to retract relative to said housing end aperture, said downwardly directed end portion of said spring means including said sharpened point of said probe.