How are the syringe needles manufactured?

Question

plus What are the process steps and the kind of machines involved?

Answer 1

The key to syringe making is forming the hollow tube, or cannula. Processes to make small tubes and hollow needles are quite old, and almost always begin by forming a large tube. This large tube is formed by either rolling a sheet of metal into a tube and welding the seam, or by taking a solid billet of metal and boring a hole through the center while the metal is heated (creating "seamless tubing").

Check out these sites for more information:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msyringe.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypodermic_needle

Answer 2

I actually saw the whole process on TV the other night. The Discovery Channel has a show called "How It's Made". The half hour show shows how at least 3 different items are made, such as parking meters, flutes, cowboy boots. Hypodermic needles are on episode #12. The next times that episode 12 is on are 2/25 at 12:30pm, or 3/15 at 8am and 4pm, or 3/22 at 11am. These times are probably EST, but you can just go to discovery.com and find the show yourself. It's quite a process!

Answer 3

Steel needles do not expire. Correct, the rubber over time can deteriorate, especially exposed to light, UV light, etc. After sterilization, everything is sterile, in each package including the air in the package, and all the other packages around the syringes. Unless these are exposed to ambient air, there will be no microbes to grow and everything remains sterile. Once you open the package and expose to air, if the package seals are intact, it is still sterile. It is correct that some packaging may have leaked, but you still need to get the microbes in to contaminate them. Bottom line, they are still sterile, I would use them, I have used them with no sequelae. The expiration date applies to the material, i.e. rubber plunger or plastic degradation from UV light, etc.