Patent attributes
A safety hypodermic needle and a method of using the same are disclosed. The safety needle comprises a hypodermic needle and a protective sheath molded of a flexible polymeric material. The protective sheath comprises a needle sleeve with an open central passage which houses the sharp needle point. The needle sleeve is supported on a plurality of inwardly bowed ribs in an unflexed “at rest” condition in which the needle point is retained inside the needle sleeve to prevent inadvertent needle sticks. Levers attached to the ribs are used to move the ribs from their inwardly bowed unflexed “at rest” condition to an outwardly bowed flexed condition to permit the needle to pass through the open central passage of the needle sleeve and into a patient's body. After the needle is removed from the patient's body, the ribs automatically return to the unflexed “at rest” condition without the assistance of any additional biasing or restoring means.
