Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
This invention relates to urological apparatus and more
specifically to urine meters with burettes and an attached drain-
age bag.
Urine meters in fluid communication with drainage bags
such as that shown in United S-tates Reissue Pa-ten-t 30,607 are
well known. Such meter bag combinations, however, require a sep-
arate par-t for connecting the bag to the urine Peter (see Fig. 2
of the 30,507 patent). In urine meters it is desirable to have
more accurate measurement of small volumes of urine. The 30,607
patent accomplishes this by having a series of urine meter sec-
tions, each of larger volume (and less accuracy) than -the preced-
ing section. It would be desirable to have a separate chamber
wholly contained inside the meter to measure these smaller vol-
umes, but such a separate chamber canno-t be formed using two vac-
uum-formed shells (vacuum-forming being an economical way to make
such parts) if one requires the liquid level -to remain the same
on both sides of the meter. If a third vacuum-formed part were
used to make the separate, smaller volume chamber, a second seal-
ing operation would be required.
The present invention provides a urine meter which canbe sealed to a drainage bag without the necessity of third part
between the meter and the bag; to provide a urine meter which
accurately measures small volumes; to provide a urine meter with
a separate chamber for measuring small volumes; and to provide
such a urine meter which is reliable and economical in manufac-
ture.
Briefly, the urine meter of the present invention in-
cludes a relatively rigid front panel forming the front of the
meter, a relatively rigid rear panel forming the back of the
meter, and a relatively flexible extruded tube extending along
the axis of the meter generally from the top to the bottom
thereof between the front and rear panels to form a burette. The
front and rear panels are secured together along their periph-
-- 1 --
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eries to form the body of the meter. The tube extends from thefront panel to the back panel through a substantial portion of
its length so that the panels support the flexible tube in place.
One of the panels has a passage formed therein at the bo-ttom of
the meter -to permit body fluids to pass around the -tube to equal-
ize the level of such fluids in the meter on each side of the
tube. Suitab]y the passage is formed in the rear panel. Desir-
ably the rear panel is generally planar and the passage formed in
the rear pane] extends out of the plane of the rear panel.
Preferably one of said panels includes a groove in which the tube
seats to prevent transverse movement of the tube. Suitably the
panel with the groove further includes a pair of ribs, one on
each side of the groove and parallel thereto, to further support
the tube. Preferably the groove and ribs are formed in the same
panel as the passage and terminate above said passage.
ln a second aspect of the invention, the meter includes
a relatively rigid front panel forming the front of the meter, a
rela-tively rigid rear panel forming the back of the meter, and a
relatively flexible tube extending generally along the axis of
the meter from the top to the bottom thereof between the front
and rear panels to form a bure-tte. The front and rear panels are
secured together along their peripheries to form the meter. And
one of the panels has a groove in which the tube seats to prevent
transverse movement of the tube. Suitably the panel with the
groove further includes a pair of ribs, one on each side of the
groove and parallel thereto, to further support the tube.
Desirably the groove and ribs are formed in the rear panel, and
the front panel is comparatively flat.
In a third aspect of the invention there is provided a
urine meter for collecting and measuring urine comprising a rela-
tively rigid front panel forming the front of the meter, a rela-
tively rigid rear panel forming the back of -the meter, the front
and rear panels being secured together along their peripheries to
form a meter chamber, and a tube having an upper end and a lower
3~
end extending substantially vertically and generally from the top
to the bottom thereof and between and closely adjacent the front
and rear panels to form a buret-te substantially dividing the me-
ter chamber into laterally spaced chamber portions, means includ-
ing a drain tube for introducing urine into the burette, theburette having an outlet adjacent the upper end thereof so that
urine is flowable from the burette to said chamher portions, the
lower end of said burette being fixedly connected -to the meter at
the bottom thereof, one of said panels having a transverse pas-
sage formed therein at the bottom of the meter chamber extendinggenerally laterally between said chamber portions connecting said
chamber portions together in fluid communication to permi-t urine
to pass laterally by the burette between said chamber portions to
equalize the level of urine in said chamber portions during use
of the meter.
The present invention will be further illustrated by
way of the accompanying drawings in which:-
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a urine meter and
drainage bag combination of this invention;
Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a spacer which is
preferably disposed in the combination of Fig. l;
Fig. 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken
along lines 3-3 of Fig. l;
Fig. 4 is a front elevation, on an enlarged scale and
with parts broken away, of the lower portion of the combination
of Fig. l;
Fig. 5 is a front elevation, on an enlarged scale and
with parts broken away, of the upper portion of the combination
of Fig. l;
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Fig. 6 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken
along lines 6-6 of Fig. 1 with the bottom portion broken away;
Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 but showing the
urine meter in its vertical position; and
Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along lines 8-8 of
Fig. 4.
.
Similar reference characters indicate similar parts
throughout the several vlews of the drawings.
Turning now to the drawings, there is shown in Fig. 1 a
flexible urinary drainage bag 11 in combination with a relatively
rigid urine metering collection chamber or urine meter 13. Bag
11 is suitably secured, by radio frequency sealing or the like,
to a drainage bag support 15 such as disclosed in applicant's
U.S. Patent No. ~,562,984 issued January 7, 1984.
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so that in use bag 11 may be sus-
pended vertically from a hospital bed or -the like (not shown) to collect body fluids,
e.g. urine, iron a patien-t. Specifically, body fluid such as urine flows through a
drain tube 17, which terminates at its distal end with an inclined cut, into a burette
19 disposed inside and constituting part of meter 13. Bag 11 also has a vent 21 of
conventional clesi~n secured by raclio îrequency sealing or -the lil<e in the front ti-ereof
to permit the expulsion of air from bag 11 as the bag is filled wi-th urine. At the
lower end of the bag 11 is a manually actuable valve 23 which when open provides a
path for urine to exit frorn the interior of bag 11. Meter 13 similarly has a manually
10 operable valve 25 at its lower end for the same purpose.
Buret$e 19 preferably is an extruded, relatively flexible tube of a plastic
such as polyvinyl chloride (PYC). By way of example, burette 19 can have an outside
diameter of about 0.75 inch (1.9 cm) and a wall of approximately 0.05 inch (1.5 mm).
The burette extends from the bottom of meter 13 to generally the top thereof (approx-
imately 6 inches (15.3 cm) for example) and is sealed at the bottom thereof to the
body of the meter and valve 25 so that urine entering the burette from drain tube 17
fills burette 19 from the bottom without leaking out. Burette 19 can thus be used in
conjunction with a set of gradations 27 printed or otherwise permanently affixed to
the transparent vinyl (PVC) front of meter 13 to provide accurate measurement of a
20 relatively small amount of urine, e.g. two to thirty ml. As urine fills the burette to
or approaching the uppermost of gradations 27, it spills out of an opening 28 in buret-
te 19 into the main bocly, labelled 29, of meter 13. Also printed or otherwise affixed
on the face of meter 13 is a second set of gradations 31 which permit the measure-
ment of somewhat larger amounts of urine, e.g. 35 to 200 ml, in the main body ofthe meter. As is best seen in FIG. 8, a passage 33 is provided in main body 29 behind
burette 19 to ensure that urine levels in tlle main body of the meter on both sides of
the burette are equal, so that the measurement given by gradations 31 is accurate.
For convenience, the front of bag 11 is also transparent or translucent, is
preferably calendared and has printed or otherwise affixed thereon a tllird set of
30 gradations 35, so that the amount of urine in the bag itself, as opposed to in the
meter, may be at least approximately measured in increments of, for example, from
approximately 100 ml to approximately 1~00 ml.
A spacer 37 (FIG. 2) of relatively rigid polyvinyl chloride material having a
thickness of approximately 0.01 inch (0.25 mm) is provided for inclusion inside bag 11.
At its top spacer 37 includes a tab 39 suitable for radio freguency sealing or the like
to the top of bag 11 to hold spacer 37 in place inside the bag. Along its left and right
peripheries, spacer 37 includes a pair of ribs 41, 43 which extend generally perpendic-
ularly approximately 0.5 inch (12.5 mm) out from the main body, labelled 45, of spacer
37. The size and shape of spacer 37 and the placement of ribs 41 and 43 is selected
so that the urine meter seats between ribs 41 and 43. Spacer 37 also includes a second
pair of ribs 47, 49 extending generally perpendicularly approximately 0.3 inch (8
mm) out frorn main body 45, ribs 47 and 49 being generally paralled to the longi-tudinal
axis of spacer 37. Ribs 47 and 49 are shorter in length than ribs 41 and 43 that is,
(they project out a shorter distance perpendicular to the main body of the spacer)
and, as best seen in FIG. 4, termina-te at their upper end in the vicinity of an inlet
port or opening 51 of bag 11.
The lower portion of bag 11, meter 13, burette 19 and spacer 37 are shown in
10 section in FIG. 3. Bag 11 is seen to have a relatively flexible, transparent front panel
53 of calendared vinyl (PVC) having a thickness of approximately 0.01 inch (0.25 mm)
suitably secured as by radio frequency sealing at its periphery to a relatively flexible,
opaque rear panel 5~ of vinyl PVC of approximately the same thickness, said rearpanel preferably being white to contrast with any urine in bag 11. spacer 37 is dis-
posed inside bag 11, i.e. between panels 53, 55 with ribs 41 and 43 being disposed
exteriorly of meter 13. Ribs 47 and 49, on the other hand, can come into contactwith the rear of meter 13 through front panel 53 of bag 11. Ribs 47 and 49 are not as
tall (do not extend out from the body of spacer 37 as far) as ribs 41 and 43, thereby
reducing the overall width of the bag and meter combination from wha-t it would be
20 if ribs 47 and 49 were as tall as ribs 41 and 43.
Meter 13 has a transparent, relatively rigid front panel 57 of vacuum formed
polyvinyl chloride and an opaque, perferably white, rigid rear panel 59, also of vacuum
formed polyvinyl chloride, which panels are suitably sealed together such as by radio
frequency sealing along their edges, each panel having a thickness of approximately
0.025 inch (0.6 mm). Rear panel 59 has formed therein a recess or groove 61 and a
pair of ribs 63, 65 to receive and support flexible burette tube 19 against transverse
movement. The ribs also strengthen the meter itself and maintain the circular cross-
section of the burette. Ribs 63 and 65 terminate short of the bottom of meter 13(see FIG. 4) and channel 33 is formed in rear panel 59 (see FIG. 8) to permit urine to
30 freely flow behind burette 19 to equalize the urine levels in each half of meter 13.
Referring back to FIG. 3, front panel 57 supports burette 19 as well by being infrictional contact therewith even though the front panel is not molded to receive
the burette.
The tops of meter 13 and burette 19 are shown in greater detail in FIG. 5.
Drain tube 17 is secured in the top of meter 13 in a clear plastic bushing 67 of PVC
whose inclined lower end terminates in burette 19 and which is itself secured by a
suitable adhesive or sealing process to the top of meter 13. Rigid panels 57 and 59
extend around bushing 67 and help hold it in place. The inclined distal end of bushing
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67 thus constitutes the inlet port of meter 13. Tube 17 extends generally from the
inlet port of rneter 13 upwardly a prede-termined distance to a section thereof labelled
69 which has a length much shorter than the predetermined distance. At section 69
the wall of tube 17 has been thinned to provide a predetermined point of weakness.
This thilliling, which is exaggerated in FIGS. 5-7, is accomplished without changing
the inner diamter of tube 17, which diameter remains substantiaily cons-tant through-
out its length by, for example, placing the distal portion of the tube over a mandrel
and rotating it about its longitudinal axis while sirnultaneously heating section 69
and stretclling -tlle tube. By way of example, the inner diameter of tube 17 through-
10 out its length is approximately 0.3 inch (8 mm) while the outer diameter can varyfrom 0.4 inch (1 cm) above and below section 69 to approximately 0.36 inch (9 mm)
at section 69. However, even this much thinning of the wall is not necessary. P-ll
that is required is that the wall be thinned enough at section 69 to make section 69
the weakest part of the tube 17 so that when bent, the tube will kink off at that
point.
The purpose of section 69 is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7. Rear panel 59 of
urine meter 13 has an ou-tlet port 71 molded therein with a lip 73 thereof which extends
into and is suitably secured to front panel 53 of bag 11. As urine fills meter 13 to the
bottom of outlet port 71, the urine spills over lip 73 through inlet port 51 of bag 11
20 into the bag. Many times, however, the meter is not allowed to become this full.
Father, periodically a nurse records the amount of urine in meter 13 and then rotates
meter 13 from its generally vertical portion of FIG. 6 around plane A (FIG. 5) to a
substantially horizontal position shown in FIG. 7 to dump the contents of the meter
into the bag. Section 69, being the point of weakness, thereupon Icinks off tube 17.
This action closes the lumen of tube 17 and ensures that the urine passes into bag 11
instead of traveling up tube 17.
When the urine is dumped into bag 11, spacer 39 and specifically ribs 41, 43,
47 and 49 hold walls 53 and 55 of the bag apart to promote rapid dumping of the
urine into the bag. The calendared texture of front panel 53 also promotes rapid30 dumping as it reduces the tending of the front and rear panels of the bag to stick
together.
