Precisely guided lancet
View Patent ↗A lancet having one or more portions of the shank of the lancet blade exposed for direct engagement with cooperating portion(s) of the lancet carrier of a lancing device. This direct engagement of the lancet blade with the lancet carrier provides more precise positional control of the location of the lancing site by eliminating the effect that any variation in the position of the lancet blade within the lancet body would otherwise have on the positioning of the lancet tip. Tolerance stack-up is thereby reduced and accuracy is improved, reducing the necessary sample size and minimizing pain resulting from the lancing operation.
1. A lancing device comprising:
a lancet carrier comprising a carriage having a resilient arm mounted thereto, a free end of the resilient arm being flexible away from the carriage, and having first and second projections extending from the resilient arm; and
a lancet for engagement within the lancet carrier, said lancet comprising a lancet blade mounted to a lancet body, the lancet blade comprising a sharp tip and a shank, the lancet body being generally U-shaped with an end panel having two elongated legs extending therefrom in a first direction and the sharp tip of the lancet blade extending therefrom in a second direction generally opposite the first direction, with substantially the entire shank being exposed between the two elongated legs, and wherein the shank comprises a pair of holes through the shank, said holes being spaced a distance from one another and lying along a lengthwise axis of the shank;
wherein the resilient arm flexes away from the carriage to receive and engage the exposed shank of the lancet blade between the two elongated legs of the lancet body, and position the first and second projections of the resilient arm into direct engagement with the pair of holes through the shank.
2. A lancing device for pricking a bodily surface, the lancing device comprising:
a carriage having a resilient arm mounted thereto with a free end of the resilient arm being flexible away from the carriage and having at least one positioning member projecting therefrom;
a lancet for releasable engagement with the carriage, said lancet comprising:
a generally U-shaped body portion having an end panel with two elongated legs extending therefrom in a first direction, and defining an open channel between said two elongated legs for receiving the resilient arm of the lancing device therein; and
a lancet blade having an exposed shank extending between the two elongated legs of the body portion, the lancet blade further comprising a sharp tip extending outwardly from the end panel of the body portion in a second direction opposite the first direction, wherein the exposed shank comprises at least one positioning recess for direct engagement with the at least one positioning member of the resilient arm when the lancet is loaded into the lancing device.