Assembly of needle catheter protector

Claim 1

An assembly of a needle and protector therefor, comprising: a. an elongate housing providing sidewalls, and detent means defined thereon, the housing providing a rearwardly closed end and an open end; b. a needle mounted inside the housing and attached at one end to the closed end of the housing, and projecting through the open end of the housing; c. a needle guard slidably mounted within the housing, the needle guard having a pull tab at its forward end, and outwardly biased ears in contact with the sidewalls of the housing, the needle guard providing at its forward end a hub support defining a bore therein; d. a luer-type locking hub and catheter mounted on the hub support, the needle being aligned within the hub support, hub and catheter, and projecting through the catheter to expose a tip thereof; e. whereby, i. following insertion of the needle and catheter into a patient, the housing and attached needle are adapted to be retracted from the patient and the needle is adapted to be retracted into the needle guard thereby enabling the walls of the housing to slide relative the biased ears of the needle guard, the ears outwardly project into the detent means of the housing and permanently lock therewith, the needle guard being sized to completely enclose the needle upon locking with the housing; ii. the hub and catheter remain with the patient; and iii. the housing and enclosed needle are separated from the hub, catheter and patient.