Package making – Depositing articles and arranging material in preformed... – Successive deposits of articles
Patent
1987-11-30
1991-01-08
Spruill, Robert L.
Package making
Depositing articles and arranging material in preformed...
Successive deposits of articles
53251, 53381A, 53534, 29235, 29252, 1983462, 198433, 1984651, 414222, 414411, 414416, B65B 3536, B65B 4340
Patent
active
049825534
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically extracting plugs from test tubes containing test fluid such as sampled blood
BACKGROUND ART
In order to analyze a fluid, such as blood, filled in a plugged test tube, thereby to determine the presence or absence of bacilli in the fluid, or to identify the bacilli, if any in the fluid, it is necessary to extract the plug, such as a rubber plug, from test tube, and then to divide the fluid into several portions, and finally to supply these portions to various devices for analyzing different test items. As for such analysis devices, research has been made. Analysis devices using high technology have been developed and put to a practical use. However, so-called "pre-processes," such as extraction of plugs, depend exclusively on handwork as is seen in big hospitals. A person takes plugged test tubes containing samples of blood, one by one, and then pulls the plugs thereform. No apparatuses which can automatically extract plugs from test tubes have been provided.
The plug-extracting process, performed by handwork, is accompanied by the possibility that the fluid is split from the tube by mistake when the plug is pulled from the tube, thus wetting the person's hands, dripping onto the floor. The process is also accompanied by the possibility that the test tube is dropped onto the floor and is broken. If these undesirable events happen, the sanitary condition of the room, where this process is carried out, will be impaired. Further, the plug extraction by hand is not efficient. When a great number of test tubes must be opened within a limited time, many persons must work on this process. If sufficient labor force is not acquired, much time is required to complete the plug-extracting process.
It is accordingly the object of the present invention to provide an automatic test tube plug extraction apparatus which can readily extract plugs from test tubes without spilling the fluid from the tubes, wetting a person's hands with the fluid, dripping the fluid onto the floor, or dropping the test tubes onto the floor, thereby preserving the sanitary condition of the room where the plug-extracting process is performed, and which can extract plugs from a great number of test tubes within a short time.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the object described above, the following measures are taken in the present invention. A rack having holes, with plugged test tubes inserted in the holes and arranged in m columns and n rows, is moved by a rack-transporting mechanism toward a main housing. While the rack is being moved toward the main housing, a tube-extracting mechanism extracts the plugged tubes, row by row, from the rack. The test tubes, thus removed from the rack, are transported one after another in a prescribed order by a tube-conveying mechanism provided in the main housing. A plug-extracting mechanism, which is also provided in the housing, pulls each tube and the plug away from each other, thereby extracting the plug from the tube. The open tubes are further transported by the tube-conveying mechanism. A desired number of columns of open tubes are transferred to a vacant rack moved by the rack-transporting mechanism to the tube-conveying mechanism. After all these open tubes have been inserted in the holes of the rack, this rack is moved away from the main housing by the rack-transporting mechanism.
The automatic plug extraction apparatus described above can automatically reliably extract plugs from test tubes, without spilling the fluid from the tubes, wetting a person's hands with the fluid, dripping the fluid onto the floor, or dropping the test tubes onto the floor, thereby preserving the sanitary condition of the room where the plug-extracting process is performed. In addition, the apparatus can extract plugs from a great number of test tubes within a short time. In other words, the present invention can provide an automatic test tube plug extraction apparatus which has advantages and which has not been known hithe
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patent: 4687093 (1987-08-01), Marshall et al.
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Johnson Linda B.
Spruill Robert L.
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