National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment 2004: Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation in South Africa

The disclosure is of a disposable hypodermic syringe and the method of its manufacture. The syringe comprises a barrel, a piston-plunger slidably mounted in the barrel, a handle and shank connected to the piston-plunger, a needle hub welded to and closing one end of the barrel and supporting a hypodermic needle, a shield for the needle and a cap which closes the other end of the barrel. A novel feature of the syringe of the invention is a weakened zone of the barrel in a line circumscribing the barrel at a point adjacent to the edge of the needle hub. An advantage of the syringe of the invention is its disposability after use. To dispose of the syringe, the operator first replaces the shield over the needle and hub. The hub with the enclosed needle may then be broken off along the weakened zone of the barrel by bending, so that the barrel is destroyed and the needle is enclosed within the shield and hub in such a manner that it may not be re-used or misused without considerable and extraordinary effort. The needle hub and barrel form a sealed annular chamber when assembled, which isolates the barrel-hub welding zone from the fluid path of the syringe. This chamber will trap any flash which may be generated by the welding process.