Importance

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Abstract

A single-use puncture device having an escapement assembly, a cylindrical sidewall and a helical spring encircling a lance. The escapement assembly includes cantilevered catch members which abut a stop turn of the helical spring to hold the helical spring in a stressed condition. Pressure at the front end of the puncture device causes a deformation of a thin diaphragm which supports the cantilevered catch members at ends opposite the abutment to the stop turn. The deformation is a flexing which moves the catch members radially outwardly to release the stop turn. The spring thrusts the lance forwardly from an armed position to a propelled position in which the puncture point of the lance extends from the front end of the device. The helical spring thereafter recoils to locate the lance in a neutral position encased within a housing. Rearmament of the device is thereby prevented. The front end of the puncture device includes the central access aperture, a skin-engagement region outward of the access aperture, a raised annulus which defines the skin-engagement region, and the thin flexible diaphragm.

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First Claim