US3518990A - Gun type inoculator - Google Patents

Description

July 7, 1970 o. H. BANKER 3,518,990

GUN TYPE INOCULATOR Filed May 2 1968 :1 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oscar H. Banker July 7, 1970 o. H. BANKER GUN TYPE INOCULATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 2 1968 nited States Patent Office 3,518,990 Patented July 7 1'970 3,518,990 GUN TYPE IN OCULATOR Oscar H. Banker, Bay Products Development Co., P.0. Box 9732, Bay Village, Ohio 44140 Filed May 2, 1968, Ser. No. 726,083 Int. Cl. A61m 11/00 US. Cl. 128-173 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In a gun type inoculator for giving mass injections wherein a removable inoculant pump is provided which is permanently connected to a source of inoculant, means are provided for quickly releasing the pump and its connected source of inoculant from the gun to remove it for quickly changing from one drug to another and includes a remotely controlled ball-type coupling between the piston rod of the pump and the piston rod of the gun. Shim means is provided for simply and accurately regulating the stroke of the pump piston end therefor the dose injected by each operation of the inoculator.

This invention relates to lgun type inoculators for giving mass inoculations.

In my prior Pat. No. 3,292,622, granted Dec. 20, 1966, for Power Operated IInoculator, there is disclosed an inoculator gun having a fluid-operated piston which is connected to the rod of a smaller piston forming part of an inoculant pump. The latter has a small orifice through which the inoculant is ejected, and has further a suction chamber connected to a vial of the inoculant secured to the pump. The pump and its attached vial are removable as a unit, so that the physician or nurse can change inoculants. Of necessity, for preventing exposure of the interior of the pump to atmosphere, the piston of the inoculant pump and its rod must remain with the pump and hence, when the pump is removed, the rod must be disconnected from the fluid-operated piston :by which it is operated.

In my said prior patent, the rod is disclosed as being connected to the fluid-operated piston by being threaded into an extension of the said piston. To remove the inoculant pump or head as it is sometimes called, the rod must be unscrewed from the fluid-operated piston, which is a somewhat awkward operation in view of the (unsymmetrical) shapes of both the head and gun, and besides, the unscrewing operation is slower than desired.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a quick-disconnect coupling between the rod of the inoculant pump piston and the fluid-operated piston of an inoculator by which the pump and its piston can be quickly disconnected from the gun for removal therefrom.

In my aforesaid patent there is also disclosed a dosagegauging device which is movable with the fluid-operated piston and the coupling device for the pump piston. Said dosage-gauging device is in the form of cylindrical spacers which encircle a portion of the coupling device so that when it is desired to change the dosage, it is necessary partially to disassemble the pump, remove the gauging" device, replace it with the desired one and then reassemble the pump.

A further object of this invention is the provision of an improved dosage-gauging device for the foregoing inoculator which remains with the inoculator gun, but is nevertheless quickly adjustable to vary the dosage produced by the pump.

These and other objects and features of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention when taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. l is a fragmentary side elevational view partly in section of the invention as applied to an inoculator gun;

FIG. 2 is a section through a portion of the coupling device taken along line 2 2 of FIG. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows at the ends of said line;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged elevation in section of the coupling means for the pump in its normal operating condition;

FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 showing the coupling in its disengaged condition;

FIG. 5 is an exploded View of the gun of FIG. 1 showing the pump and its piston. rod disconnected from the gun itself;

FIG. 6 is a section taken through the pump of FIG. 5 along line 6-6 thereof and looking toward the left in that figure;

'FIG. 7 is an end elevational view of the gun of FIG. 5 from the position of line 7-7 thereof and looking in the direction of the arrows at the end of said line;

FIG. 8 is an end elevational view in section of the gun of FIG. 5 taken along line 8-8 and looking in the direction of the arrows at the end thereof; and

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the gauge portion of the gun of FIG. 5 taken from the position of line 9-9 in FIG. 5.

The coupling and gauging means of this invention may be applied to various forms of inoculators and the one hereinafter to be described therefore is to be taken merely as illustrative of the manner in which the invention may be used. Thus the inoculator selected to illustrate this invention is comprised of a main hollow body 10 in the form of a horizontal cylinder from which depends a iiange 11 into which is threaded a handle 12. Within handle 12 may be disposed a source of gas under pressure in the form of a small bottle 13 connected by a tube 14 to a control valve 15 from which the compressed gas is conducted through a passage 16 to the interior 17 of the main body 10. An appropriate trigger mechanism 18 is used to operate the control valve 15.

The interior 17 of body 10 constitutes a cylinder the front end of which is closed by a sleeve 19 into which projects the inoculant pump 20. A bayonet type joint 21 serves to removably lock the pump 20` in sleeve 19 (FIG. 2).

Pump 20 has a nozzle 22 at one end thereof through the orifice 23 of which inoculant is ejected from the interior 24 of the pump. The inoculant is introduced into pump 20 from an inverted vial 25 appropriately clamped to a hollow boss 26 on pump 20 by a U-shaped strap 27 (shown turned from its normal position in FIG. 1). Hollow boss 26 communicates with pumpinterior 24 through a passage 28 connecting the two. Ejection of inoculant is effected by the reciprocation of a pump piston 29 in the interior 24 of the pump past the passage 28, the reciprocation producing a suction stroke during which the inoculant is transferred from the vial to the interior of the pump and a pressure stroke` during which the inoculant is ejected through orifice 23. It may be apparent that the length of the stroke of piston 29 determines the volume of inoculant ejected. As shown in detail in my aforesaid patent, piston 29 has a valve which cooperates with pist0n rod 30 to allow the inoculant to flow between the piston 29 and piston rod 30 during the suction stroke of the rod and to prevent such passage of inoculant during the pressure stroke thereof. Thus piston 29 is actually a form of sleeve which is spaced fromv rod 30 and is appropriately sealed -With respect thereto during the pressure stroke, but is separated therefrom by the suction stroke.

The piston rod 30 is connected to a larger piston 31 which ymay be called the operating piston and which reciprocates in the cylinder 32 formed in the interior of main body 10. Said operating piston 31 is in turn secured to a hollow rod 33 which extends outwardly from body to the right, as viewed in FIG. l, through an opening therein in which is a seal ring 58, and has secured to the free end thereof a sleeve 34 on which is a radially extending flange 35. The novel dosage gauging device 36 of this invention, to be hereinafter described in detail, is retained between flange 35 and body 10.

It may be observed from the description thus far given that to maintain the interior of the inoculant pump in a sterile condition at all times, it is necessary that piston 29 and rod 30 be retained with the pump whenever the pump and its vial are removed from the gun body 10. Such removal may be necessitated, for example, when the inoculant is to be changed to a different kind, in which event it is simpler to remove the pump 20 and its vial 25 and replace the pump and vial with a second pump in which a vial containing the desired inoculant is already clamped. It is desirable to have a quick-release connection between the piston rod 30 and the operating piston 31.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, the operating piston 31, the piston rod 30, and the connection therebetween, are shown on an enlarged scale and in section. In these gures hollow rod 33 is shown to have an enlarged end 37 against which operating piston 31 abuts, said enlarged end 37 having a counterbore 38 in which is received the reduced end 39 of piston rod 30. The end 40 of hollow rod 33 abuts upon the shoulder 41 formed by the reduced end 39 of piston rod 30.

The coupling between piston rod 30 and hollow rod 33 s comprised of one or more balls 42 which are received in round openings 43 disposed near the left hand end as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the hollow rod 33. The radial thickness of said end region is less than the diameter of the balls 42, but said balls are adapted to be received in a peripheral groove 44 in the reduced end 39 of rod 30, so that when the balls are retracted radially inwardly into groove 44 the outside surfaces of said balls do not extend beyond the outer surface 45 of the hollow rod 33.

The possible positions of ball 42 are determined by a control sleeve 46 which surrounds the enlarged end 37 of rod 33, as well as the portion thereof in which the balls are disposed. Said control sleeve 46 is made to embrace and bear axially against the ends of a radially disposed pin 47 which passes through axially oriented slots 48 in enlarged end 37 and through the counterbore 38. The means by which control sleeve 46 is made to bear against the ends of pin 47 comprises a compression spring 49 which abuts upon sleeve 46 and upon a washer 50 held against axial movement to the left as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4 by a snap ring 51.

Outer surface 45 of enlarged end 37 represents a reduced diameter portion of the hollow rod 33 with reference to the diameter of the portion 37. Since counterbore i 38 is of constant diameter and extends into the portion 37, the latter has a greater radial dimension than the portion in which the balls are retained. The radial dimension of this enlarged portion is made slightly larger than the diameter of the balls 42. The interior of sleeve 46 is stepped so that when said control sleeve 46 is moved to the left, as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4, to bring the portion of said sleeve of greater internal diameter in alignment with balls 42, the latter may be moved radially outwardly so as not to extend into counterbore 38. Thus it is apparent that by changing the axial position of control sleeve 46, the balls 42 may be moved radially into groove 44 to lock piston rod 30 to the hollow rod 33 as shown in FIG. 3, or released to allow the balls to move radially outwardly to free the piston rod 30, as shown in FIG. 4, and to allow said rod to be slid axially out of the counterbore 38.

The position of control sleeve 46 is determined by a push rod 52 which passes through a portion of hollow rod 33 and into the counterbore 38 in proximity to pin 47.

Push rod 52 also extends outwardly to the right, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, out of hollow rod 33 where its free end 53 is capped by a button 54. Push rod 52, is retained in the hollow rod 33 by a shoulder 55 formed in push rod 52 and adapted to abut upon a shoulder 56 formed in hollow rod 33. Other forms of stop for push rod 52 may suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Thus sleeve 46 may be moved to the left, as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4, by pushing button 54 and its associated push rod 52 in the same direction relative to hollow rod 33 whereby the end of push rod 52 contacts pin 47 and moves said pin in its slots 48 toward the left in said FIGS. 3 and 4. The ends of pin 47 are received in a counterbore 57 in the control sleeve so that said sleeve is constrained to move with the pin against the action of compression spring 49. The counterbore 57 also serves to retain pin 47 in control sleeve 46 in appropriately centered relation in the slots 48. To move sleeve 46 to the right, as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4, button 54 is released and spring 49 then is free to move the sleeve as well as the pin 47 and push rod 52 to the right, as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4, to the position shown in FIG. 3. In the latter position, the balls 42 are retained in the peripheral groove 44 in piston rod 30 and serve to lock the latter to hollow rod 33. When the balls 42 are moved outwardly, as in FIG. 4, pump 20 may be removed from body 10 by rotating the pump until the bayonet joint 21 is free, whereupon the pump and its piston rod 30 may be drawn axially out of body 10. The withdrawn pump 20, its vial 25 and piston rod 30, are shown in FIG. 5.

The dosage gauge 36 is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 5, 8 and 9. It is comprised of a pin 59 which is secured to a plate 60' fastened Iby screws 61 or the like to the end 62 of body 10. Pin 59 extends axially from plate 60- and is radially oifset from hollow rod 33. A plurality of hookshaped shims 63 are threaded over pin 59 and are adapted to be clamped against plate 60 by a thumb nut 64. The shims 63, when loose, may be swung from a position wherein they are hooked over the hollow rod 33, as shown in FIG. 8, to a position shown in dotted outline in that figure in which they are free of said rod. In both positions they abut against a second pin 65 which acts as a stop pin and prevents the shims from striking and marring rod 33.

The thickness of each shim 63 and the number of shims may be so selected as to divide the Stroke of the pump piston 29 into metric units of volume. Thus each shim 63 may represent a volume of one-tenth of a cubic centimeter, so that if the desired injection is one cubic centimeter, ten shims will be swung away from hollow rod 33 to the position shown in dotted outline in FIG. 8. The counting of the shims begins from the flange 35 and the shims not rotated to the dotted position shown in FIG. 8 constitute abutments in the path of movement of flange 35 which arrest the movement of the flange and its associated rod 33. This, in turn, arrests the movement of the pump piston rod 30 and the pump piston 29 at a position to displace the desired amount of inoculant from the pump 20. To simplify counting the shims, every shim representing a unit dosage may be provided with a tab 68.

To compensate for production errors, sleeve 34 is adjustably mounted on rod 33, preferably by threads 67, so that its distance of flange 35 relative to the shims 63- may be accurately determined. After it is accurately located on rod 33, sleeve 34 may be xed to the rod by any wellknown means.

Any selected dosage is xed by turning thumb nut 64 to clamp the shims 63 against plate 60. If another gradation of shims is desired, plate A60 is removed by loosening screw 61 and with it are removed shims `63 on their pin 59 and the stop pin 65. Another plate 60 with its selected shims 63 is then fastened to body 10` by the screw 61. This replacement of one dosage gauging device with another can be accomplished without disassembling any other part of the gun, inasmuch as plate 60` has an opening 66 therein which is large enough to allow the plate to pass over flange 35. Should the gun be operated inadvertently while a gauging device is removed, flange 35 will strike the body of the gun and prevent damage to the pump 20.

It is understood that shims 63 may be removed completely from pin 59 and replaced with other shims, instead of removing and replacing an entire gauging unit including plate `60. Removing and replacing only the shims may result in inadvertently mixing shims of dilferent sizes which in turn may result in giving incorrect doses of the inoculant, and hence replacing the entire dosage gauging device is preferred.

The quick release coupling of this invention, with its push rod 52 passing through the hollow rod 33, and the quickly adjustable dosage gauge cooperating with the exterior of rod 33 make for a compact, simple and readily usable inoculator gun.

I claim:

1. An inoculator gun having a hollow body, an inoculant pump extending from one end of the hollow body, a reciprocable piston in said pump, a rod extending from the pump piston into the hollow body, said rod being secured to said piston, an operating piston in the hollow body disposed substantially concentrically with respect to the pump piston, a rod on the operating piston extending through the hollow body and outwardly from the opposite end of the hollow body, and disconnectable means for securing the inoculant pump to the hollow body characterized by quick-disconnect coupling means establishing a connection between the pump rod and the operating piston, a control element for the quick-disconnect means, and means extending from the said control element to the exterior of the operating piston rod for operating the said control element.

2. An inoculator gun as described in claim 1, characterized further in that said rod on the operating piston is hollow, and said means extending from said control element to the exterior of the operating piston rod passes through said hollow operating piston rod.

3. An inoculator gun as described in claim 1, characterized further in that said quick-disconnect coupling comprises an end of the pump piston rod telescoped into the operating piston rod, radially movable means interlocking the pump piston rod and the operating piston rod, and said control element comprising an axially slidable sleeve on the operating piston rod and movable from` a position in which said radially movable means is held in position to interlock the pump piston rod and the operating piston rod to a position in which said radially movable means is released to move radially out of interlocking position with respect to the pump piston rod.

4. An inoculator gun as described in claim 1, characterized further in that a dosage-gauging device is provided on the hollow body, said dosage-gauging device comprising a pin on the body, a radially outwardly extending abutment on the said operating piston rod on the operating piston disposed outside of the body, and pivoted shims on the pin adapted to be selectively interposed between the abutment on the said operating piston rod and the body to arrest the movement of said operating piston rod into the body.

5. An inoculator gun as described in claim 4, characterized further in that means are provided for removably securing said pin to the body and said pin securing means has an opening therein through which the abutment is adapted to pass, such that said dosage device may be removed from the gun while the said abutment is mounted on the operating piston rod.

6. An inoculator gun as described inl claim 4, characterized further in that releasable means are provided on the pin for clamping the shims to the pin.

7. An inoculator gun as described in claim 4, said shims being hook-shaped and adapted to hook around said rod on the operating piston into the path of movement of said abutment.

8. An inoculator as described in claim 4, and a stop pin for the shims supported on the body to limit rotation of said pivoted shims in one direction.

9. An inoculator gun as described in claim 4, and a stop pin located in the path of rotation of said pivoted shims in both directions of rotation thereof, said stop pin being supported on said body.

10. An inoculator gun as described in claim 4, said abutment comprising a sleeve, and means for adjusting the axial position of said sleeve on said operating piston rod.

11. An inoculator gun as described in claim 4, said abutment comprising a sleeve, cooperating threads on the sleeve and operating piston rod tor adjusting the axial position of said sleeve on said operating piston rod, and means for fixing the sleeve in an adjusted position on said operating piston rod.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,816,543 12/1957 Venditty et al. 128--173 FOREIGN PATENTS 964,585 7/ 1964 Great Britain.

WARNER H. CAMP, Primary Examiner

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