TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to a medical sharps bin and more particularly to a medical or dentistry clinical sharps disposal in a safe manner.

BACKGROUND ART

A sharps bin is a container that is specially designed for a safe disposal of sharps waste such as but not limited to hypodermic needles, intravenous catheters, wires, scalpel blades, suture needles, and glass. The conventional sharps bin is not safe or stable as the sharps bin is placed without mounting on a tabletop, floor, or bracket. Besides, the needle remover needs to disengage the needle with an upward movement forcefully to separate the needle from the syringe. Further, the sharps bin has no features to remove a scalpel blade whereby a separate device is required to remove the scalpel blade. The separate device for the scalpel blade removal comprises a complicated mechanism of lifting the end over the ledge and pulling out the handle to dislodge the blade.

There have been a number of solutions that provide a medical sharps bin with an enhanced safety feature and two of them are discussed below:

PI 20092522 disclosed a sharp bin to safely remove scalpel blades, medical needles, and dental needles. The scalpel blade will be removed safely using a scalpel blade dislodger, the medical needle using a medical needle dislodger, and the dental needle using a dental needle dislodger. The sharp bin also has an opening for other sharps and a base to enable the sharp bin to be mounted at a safe place. The scalpel blade dislodger comprising a pyramidal-shaped mounting with a projection, which enables it to dislodge the scalpel blade from its holder. The medical needle dislodger is comprising a wedge-shaped device, which separates the medical needle from the syringe. The dental needle dislodger comprising a trapezoid device that enables it to grip it to loosen and dislodge the dental needles. However, the prior art only provides a needle and scalpel dislodger which operates manually.

FR2773465A1 relates to a scalpel and needle apertures to detach scalpel blades from their handles and grip needle holders to remove them from syringes or catheters. The blade and needle removers consist of a container with an upper section that covers its open end and has an upper surface with apertures for scalpel blades, needles, and larger items of waste respectively. The blade aperture has a slot and an inner surface against which the side of the blade is pressed, while the needle aperture has a tapering curved slot along which the needle holder is moved until it is gripped. However, the prior art only provides a needle and scalpel dislodger which operates manually.

Accordingly, it can be seen in the prior arts that there is a need to have an improved sharps bin that facilitates the removal of sharps and provides stability to the bin. In addition, there exists a need to enhance the sharps bin to dispose medical needle and scalpel blade safely and user-friendly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

An objective of the present invention is to provide a safe medical sharps bin that improves the stability of the medical bin from falling off during the usage.

It is also an objective of this invention to provide a safe and user-friendly sharps bin for medical needle and scalpel blade disposal and removal. Accordingly, these objectives may be achieved by following the teachings of the present invention. The present invention relates to a medical sharps bin comprising a sharps inlet characterized by: a mechanical dislodger mounted below the sharps inlet, wherein the mechanical dislodger comprising a shaft with first end of shaft connected to a pivot and a second end of shaft extended from the sharps bin to allow a sliding action, wherein the mechanical dislodger further comprising a pair of at the shaft, aligned with the sharps inlet, whereby sliding the mechanical dislodger enables the pair of arms to engage a medical sharps at the sharps inlet and subsequently dislodge the medical sharps.

The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood from a careful reading of a detailed description provided herein below with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may have been referred by embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawing illustrates only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

These and other features, benefits, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following text figure, with like reference numbers referring to like structures across the views, wherein:

Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a mechanical dislodger in accordance to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a medical sharps bin in accordance to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating a top perspective view of the medical sharps bin of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating a needle remover mechanism in: (a) a pre-use position, and (b) an end-use position as the shaft slides from one direction in accordance to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating a scalpel blade remover mechanism in: (a) a pre-use position, (b) a breaking position, and (c) an end-use position as the shaft slides from one direction in accordance to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating a mounting component to mount the medical sharps bin onto a wall (a) a female connector before mounting position, and (b) a female connector receiving a male connector for mounting position in accordance to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating a mounting component to mount the medical sharps bin onto a floor: (a) a female connector before mounting position, and (b) a female connector receiving a male connector for mounting position in accordance to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating a mounting component to mount the medical sharps bin onto a railing in accordance to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

While the present invention is described herein by way of example using embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments of drawing or drawings described, and are not intended to represent the scale of the various components. Further, some components that may form a part of the invention may not be illustrated in certain figures, for ease of illustration, and such omissions do not limit the embodiments outlined in any way. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim. As used throughout this description, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e. meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense, (i.e. meaning must). Further, the words "a" or "an" mean "at least one” and the word “plurality” means “one or more” unless otherwise mentioned. Furthermore, the terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and should not be construed as limiting in scope. Language such as "including," "comprising," "having," "containing," or "involving," and variations thereof, is intended to be broad and encompass the subject matter listed thereafter, equivalents, and additional subject matter not recited, and is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps. Likewise, the term "comprising" is considered synonymous with the terms "including" or "containing" for applicable legal purposes. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles and the like is included in the specification solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not suggested or represented that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention.

In this disclosure, whenever a composition or an element or a group of elements is preceded with the transitional phrase “comprising”, it is understood that we also contemplate the same composition, element or group of elements with transitional phrases “consisting of”, “consisting”, “selected from the group of consisting of, “including”, or “is” preceding the recitation of the composition, element or group of elements and vice versa.

The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the like elements throughout the description. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the following detailed description, numeric values and ranges are provided for various aspects of the implementations described. These values and ranges are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, a number of materials are identified as suitable for various facets of the implementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Referring to Figure 1 , the present invention relates to a medical sharps bin (100) comprising a sharps inlet (120) characterized by: a mechanical dislodger (130) mounted below the sharps inlet (120), wherein the mechanical dislodger (130) comprising a shaft (150) with first end of shaft (160) connected to a pivot (170) and a second end of shaft (180) extended from the sharps bin to allow a sliding action, wherein the mechanical dislodger (130) further comprising a pair of arms (190) at the shaft (150), aligned with the sharps inlet (120), whereby sliding the mechanical dislodger (130) enables the pair of arms (190)to engage a medical sharps at the sharps inlet (120) and subsequently dislodge the medical sharps. As shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 are the exemplary medical sharps bin (100) which the medial sharps bin (100) of the present invention is integrated onto a conventional medical sharps bin in accordance to an embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a sharps aperture (110) with spoke members comprising an opening large enough for easy passage of sharps such as but not limited to hypodermic needles, intravenous catheters, wires, suture needles, and glass into the bin. The spoke members help to prevent spillage of content and waste removal from the bin.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the medical sharps comprising a syringe having a needle or scalpel having a blade.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, each of the first pair of arms (190a) is a wedge-shaped arm having a flat top with a tip end to engage and gradually separate the medical sharps as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the first pair of wedge-shaped arms (190a) is inserted between a syringe and a needle hub to separate the needle from the syringe by sliding the shaft (150) at the second end of shaft (180) as shown in Figure 4(a) and Figure 4(b). As the shaft (150) slides toward a horizontal direction, the pair of arms (190) moves along with the shaft (150) to engage with the syringe and needle hub. The wedge-shaped arms with increasing thickness allow a gradual separation of the needle from the syringe. Subsequently, the needle upon separation from the syringe will drop into the bin by gravity.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, each second pair of arms (190b) will engage and gradually bend the medical sharps until it breaks as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 5.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the second pair of arms push against the scalpel blade until it breaks by sliding the shaft (150) at the second end of shaft (180) as shown in Figure 5(a), Figure 5(b) and Figure 5(c). As the shaft (150) slides towards a horizontal direction, the second pair of arms (190b) moves along with the shaft (150) to push against the scalpel blade and gradually bending the blade until it breaks. Subsequently, the blade upon separation from the scalpel handle will drop into the bin by gravity.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the medical sharps bin (100) further comprising a mounting component to mount the medical sharps bin (100) onto a surface. As shown in Figure 6(a), Figure 6(b), Figure 7(a), Figure 7(b) and Figure 8 are the exemplary mounting component to mount the medical sharps bin (100) onto a surface in accordance to an embodiment of the present invention.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the mounting component comprising a female connector (210a) and ©r a male connector (210b) to mount on a wall, a floor or a railing. Subsequently, provides a strong fixture as well as easy mounting. Further, the mounting component is provided with a simple slide-in mechanism to increase the mounting strength.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the medical sharps bin (100) comprising a flip cover having a locking means (140) for closing the sharps inlet (120) and sharps aperture (110).

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the medical sharps bin (100) comprising a plurality of sharps inlets (120); and a mechanical dislodger (130) including a shaft (150) with first end of shaft (160) connected to a pivot (170) and a second end of shaft (180) extended from the sharps bin to allow a sliding action; wherein the mechanical dislodger (104) further comprising a plurality of arms at the shaft (150), aligned with the plurality of sharps inlets (120) for dislodging a plurality of medical sharps by sliding the shaft (150) at the second end of shaft (180).

Hereinafter, example of the present invention will be provided for more detailed explanation. The advantages of the present invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect from these examples. However, it is to be understood that the following examples are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

The exemplary implementation described above is illustrated with specific shapes, dimensions, and other characteristics, but the scope of the invention also includes various other shapes, dimensions, and characteristics. Also, the components as described above could be manufactured in various other ways and could include various other materials.

Various modifications to these embodiments are apparent to those skilled in the art from the description and the accompanying drawings. The principles associated with the various embodiments described herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the description is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown along with the accompanying drawings but is to be providing broadest scope of consistent with the principles and the novel and inventive features disclosed or suggested herein. Accordingly, the invention is anticipated to hold on to all other such alternatives, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the present invention and appended claim.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, also shown in the appended figures, it will be apparent for those skilled in the art that many variations and modifications can be done within the scope of the invention as described in the specification and defined in the following claims

Description of the reference numerals used in the accompanying drawings according to the present invention: