US2695614A - Plural-compartment admixing vial - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 30, 1954 M. L. LOCKHART 2,695,614

PLURAL-COMPARTMENT ADMIXING VIALS Filed Dec. 10, 1952 I N V E N TO R I M25544; A Z. [am #4:;

WEMWM IMWi l ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 2,695,614 PLURAL-COMPARTMENT ADMIXING VIAL Marshall L. Lockhart, Rutherford, N. L, assignor to The Compule Corporation, Rutherford, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application December 10, 1952, Serial No. 325,169

1 Claim. (Cl. 128-272) The present invention relates to improvements in plural-compartment admixing vials of the type disclosed in my prior Patent No. 2,610,628 of September 16, 1952, and, more particularly, to the segregating seat and gate plug fitted thereinto intervening adjacent chambers.

A general object of the present invention is to provide such plural-compartment admixing vial structure which is of simple and inexpensive construction, economically producible on a mass production basis, and permits rapid loading with minimum care and s A more specific object of the present invention is to provide such vial structure wherein adjacent chambers are separated from each other by a constricted portion providing a seat in which an elongated segregating gate plug having flared ends may be seated by a loader with minimum tendency to move on through into a far chamher during loading operations, thereby substantially eliminating excessive costs of discards or salvage.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such vial structure in which such a flare-ended gate plug will be automatically self-centering in its seat.

A further object of the present invention is to provide structural embodiments of the invention which permit efficient use and operation thereof.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obviousand will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangements of parts, which will be exemplified in the con-- struction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the in-- vention will be indicated in the claim.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational View of an embodiment of' the vial structure of the present invention;

F Fig. 2 is an axial section of the structure shown in.

Fig. 3 is an axial section, with parts broken away, of the structure shown in Fig. 2, indicating in full lines: the possible position of the gate plug when a loader' pushes it too far as it is inserted in its seat, and illustrating in dot-dash lines automatic self-centering movement of said gate plug hack to its proper position;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevational view, with parts: broken away and in section, of the gate plug shown in. Figs. 1 to 3 incl;

Fig. 5 is an end elevational view of the gate plug shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is an axial section similar to Fig. 2 but with. the closing piston plug shown in side elevation rather than section, and illustrating a modified form of the: seat into which the gate plug is seated; and

Fig. 8 is an axial section similar to Fig. 7 illustrating: firing operation of the loaded vial of Fig. 7.

Prior to the present invention, many plural-compa rt-- ment admixing vials of the type illustrated in my prlor' Patent No. 2,610,628 have been employed to advantage, but certain embodiments thereof have presented. loading problems where unskilled loaders are employed. If the gate plug is made of rather slippery material, such as elastic rubber composition having a high s1l1- cone content, or is too readily slidable as a result of.

2,695,614 Patented Nov. 30, 1954 wetting of surfaces of the plug or its seat, loaders at times. may, should they fail to use due care, push the gate plug on through the seat into the far chamber after the latter had been loaded with material. As a result, manufacturing and loading costs may be unduly increased since in such event such partially loaded vials either will be discarded or require expensive salvage operations entailing removal of the material loaded into the far chambers and/or the gate plugs which had been accidentally pushed through their seats. Further such salvage operations endanger required or desired sterile conditions and may tend to contaminate the loaded materials. These and other problems attendant upon the use of such prior structures are easily and economically eliminated by the present invention.

Referring to the drawing, in which like numerals identify similar parts throughout, it will be seen that one embodiment of the present invention may comprise an elongated vial or substantially tubular bottle 10 constricted between its ends 11 and 12, preferably in the vicinity of its mid-section 13, to provide a circular internal seat 14. In the embodiments shown in Figs. 1 to 3 incl. and Figs. 7 and 8, such a vial has its bottom end 11 closed oil by an integral transverse wall 15 which forms with the constricted mid-section 13 a far chamber 16 into which any suitable materials, such as soluble solids 17, are loaded. The other end 12 of vial 10 preferably is provided with an elongated, substantially cylindrical neck 18 which defines with the constricted mid-section 13 a second storage chamber "ice 19 in which a body 20 of liquid vehicle may be stored.

The outer end of the neck 18 preferably is closed off by a piston plug 21, and inward sliding motion thereof may}; be limited by a constriction 22 at the base of the nec In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 incL, the seat 14 is of substantial length and may be inwardly crowned, as shown. The diameter of seat 14 at its mid-portion and the diameters of its outer ends are substantially less than the diameters of the solids chain ber 16 and the liquid chamber 20, as shown. Thus the surface of the seat 14 is hyperbolically shaped.

As is best seen in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, gate plug 23 is an elongated body of an elastic material having a substantially cylindrical mid-section 24 of a diameter intermediate the diameter of the mid-portion of seat 14 and the diameters of the chambers 16 and 19. It may be formed or molded from any suitable elastic material, such as a rubber composition which may have a relatively high silicone content. Thus the surface of the gate plug 23 may be quite slippery. Opposite ends 25, 25 of the elongated gate plug 23 are enlarged and flared laterally, as shown. Accordingly, when gate plug 23 is suitably centered in seat 14 its flared ends 25, 25 are disposed on opposite sides of the mid-portion of the seat in the vicinity of the flared ends of the latter where the seat surfaces are sloped outwardly to mergence obliquely with the inside walls of the chambers 16 and 19. In fact, elastic gate plug 23 is confined under compression in the hyperbolically shaped .seat 14 and will be shaped by the confinement substantially complementary thereto. 7

As illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8, the internal elongated seat provided by the waist constriction 13 may be substantially flat and cylindrical as shown at 114 with the surfaces of the ends thereof sloped outwardly to mergence obliquely with the internal walls of chambers 16 and 19. In such an embodiment the flared ends 25, 25 of the gate plug 23 will be positioned beyond the ends of the substantially cylindrical section of the seat 114 so as to be fitted to the outwardly sloped merging surfaces, as 18 best seen in Fig. 7.

Automatic self-centering action of gate plug 23 in embodiments of the types illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 incl. and 7 and 8, will be understood in connection with a recital of typical loading operations.

A loader may load an embodiment of the vial illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 incl. by placing a quantity of soluble solids 17 or a medicament in pill form, such as a penicillin tablet, in the lower chamber 16. The loader then pushes gate plug 23 through neck 18 into chamber 19, manipulates it to be substantially axially aligned with the seat 14, and forces it into the seat 14 in the direction of the arrow 26 shown in Fig. 3. In so doing, the loader may tend to push gate plug 23 beyond a truly centered position relative to its seat 14. If the gate plug is substantially cylindrical and has slippery surfaces it may then tend to move farther forward and drop into the far chamber 16 from the excessively advanced full line position illustrated in Fig. 3. However, gate plug 23 of the structure of the present invention avoids that tendency since when it ,is in the full line position, shown in Fig. 3, its flared trailing end is compressed more than its midsection. The resulting confined expansive force causes the gate plug 23 to creep backward in the direction of the dot-dash arrow 27 to the dot-dash position 28, illustrated in Fig. 3, where the internal expansive forces in 'both flared ends 25., 25 are substantially balanced. As a result, the "gate plug 23 is automatically self-centered.

Similar automatic self-centering action of the gate plug 2-3 is attained in embodiments of the type illustrated in Figs. '7 and 8. If the gate plug 23 is carelessly pushed to an excessively advanced position, illustrated in dot-dash lines at 29 "in Fig. '7 and the thrust forces are removed from the gate plug, .it will creep back to the full line position shown therein for similar reasons.

In operation of the illustrated embodiments of the loaded vials of the present invention, a user may fire the device by applying thrust to the piston plug 21 in the direction of .the arrow 30, shown in Fig. '8. As a result, the capacity of the liquid chamber 19 is reduced and hydraulic pressure is applied to gate plug '23. Such hydraulic pressure is sufficient 'tounseat or push the gate plug 23 forward out of its seat into the far chamber '16 provided the liquid chamber 19 is at least almost wholly filled with liquid. This unseating action of the gate plug 23 is illustrated in Fig. *8 and permits the body .20 of liquid to spill down into the solids Chamber 16 so that the latter may be dissolved in the liquid vehicle with solution being facilitated by longitudinal shaking of the device. Thereafter, the admixture or solution, .if in tended for subcutaneous or injective administration, may be removed from the device after it has been fired by piercing the piston plug 21 with a suction cannula or hollow hypodermic needle.

It is to be understood .that the mid-portion 24 of ,the gate plug '23 maybe of any desired length and lthus it may be short enough to give to the gate ,plug a substantially hyperbolic shape in side .elevation. The provision of the flared ends thereof, in combination with the ,cooperative features of the seats of the embodiments of the device illustrated in the drawing, vare ofchief importance with respect to the automatic-self-centering actionof the gate plug.

It is important to prevent in such devices creepage of appreciable amounts of moisture from the liquid chamber to theso'lids chamber. 'Hygroscopic medicinal solids may be destructively afifectedjin storage of such devices by the amount of moisture which maycreep past the gate plugs. .In devices of this type where contact between the gate plugs and their seats are in .very narrow zones or is of a line contact :nature microscopic fissures which are 1nherently presentin the surfaces ofmoldedand/orblown glass and similar materials permit such .creepage past elastic plug surfaces during an initial storage per od. Eventually the compressed elastic plug materlalis set .111120 these fissures to attain a secure seal butby the time that develops the extent of moisture transfer may be such as to make the medicament unsuitable for use. The long surface contact between the flare-ended gate plug and its seat, whether of the crown type illustrated in Fig. 3, or of the flat type illustrated in Fig. 7, efliciently prevents such moisture transfer, particularly during the initial portion of the storage period when the damage usually develops.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made inthe above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without department from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claim is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A vial for storage of a liquid vehicle and soluble solid material segregated in separate chambers having a gated and constricted intercommunicating passage to permit admixture comprising, in combination; an elongated, substantially tubular body constricted between its ends to provide a circular internal seat of certain length and with its ends of certain diameter and its mid-portion of a diameter substantially less than the diameters of said body on either side thereof to define at opposite ends of said vial a liquid chamber and a second solids chamber; means closing off both ends of said tubular body with such means at the liquid chamber end of said vial being a piston plug slidable forward in said liquid chamber to create gate plug-displacing hydraulic pressure; and an elongated, slidable, automatically self-centering gate plug of rubber-like. elastic material having a mid-section of a diameter intermediate the diameter of said seat midportion, and the diameters of said chambers slidably fitted in said seat in compressed condition temporarily isolating said chambers from each other with said liquid chamber at least almost wholly filled with liquid, said gate plug being appreciably longer than said seat and initially having in relaxed condition prior to positioning into said seat both of its. ends enlarged and, flared laterally to be of limitedly greater diameters than the diameters of the ends of said seat, the enlarged flared ends being auto matically slidable to positions beyond the ends of said seat when one of said flared ends is slid through the midportion of said seat whereby said plug automatically is self-centering and centered in said seat mid-portion, the enlarged flared end of said gate plug on. the liquid chamber side being so limitedly larger than said seat and sutficiently contractible as to permit ready hydraulic forcing thereof through said seat.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 821,579 Austen May 22, 1,906,

2,372,352 Barr Mar. 27, 1945' 2,549,417 Brown Apr. 17, 195.1

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