Agitating – By vibration – Of platform or mixing chamber supported by vibrator
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-21
2003-06-17
Soohoo, Tony G. (Department: 1723)
Agitating
By vibration
Of platform or mixing chamber supported by vibrator
C366S208000, C366S212000, C366S218000, C366S240000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06579002
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally concerns shakers, and laboratory shakers.
The present invention particularly concerns a laboratory shaker that is high performance in each of (i) shaking rate, (ii) shaking amplitude, (iii) load capacity, (iv) versatility in the amount, weight, numbers and sizes of containers and samples that are shaken, (v) overall compactness, (vi) durability, (vii) quietness and lack of vibration in operation, and (vii) programmability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
2.1 General Description of the State of the Laboratory Shaker Art
The cost of laboratory space, and efficiencies of human access and use, dictate that laboratory equipments, including shakers, should be compact and powerful, with a large load capacity, wherever and whenever possible. Moreover, shakers, in particular (along with stirrers, which have an overlapping function and purpose), may be called upon to handle a broad range of analysis protocols, and of biological samples. For example, as well as performing common shaking at, most typically, several tens of hundreds of cycles per minute, new and increasingly popular laboratory protocols call for biological materials to be mixed with ceramic beads and then shaken, preferably at many thousands of oscillations per minute, until cellular and sub-cellular structures are completely obliterated, loosing the biological constituent components, including genetic components, of the materials into a sort of biological broth, or stew.
Present-day (circa 2000) laboratory shakers that are capable of shaking samples, such as biological samples, at high, multi-thousand cycle per minute (cpm) rates typically have low load capacities, on the order of less than one ounce (1 oz.) Conversely, those shakers that have broad and ample load ranges (1-8 oz.) are often capable of performing shaking at but low speeds, a only some few tens or hundreds of cycles per minute (cpm). There is, however, no systemic difference in the amount of material to be shaken between the high-speed and low-speed shaking protocols: it is quite common to wish to shake many ounces at high speed.
The reason that present laboratory shakers are limited in shaking at high speeds such loads as are common is not the required energy for shaking. Many shakers have large fractional horsepower motors that should be able to develop the forces to shake and propel samples weighing several ounces at high oscillatory speeds. However, the bearings of most motors will not directly withstand the inertial forces of shaking, which requires mechanical isolation of the shaking motion from the motor drive. This mechanical isolation, and the shaking itself, produces prodigious vibration and noise. Unless the shakers are strongly anchored to extremely large and massive structures, most preferably to the steel frames of steel-frame buildings, they tend to produce abominable noise and vibration. If and when the shakers are “tuned” for reduction of certain harmonics then they tend to have a limited operational ranges in both (i) permissible load, and (ii) shaking speed, and become all but unusable outside these ranges. And, when the shakers are anchored firmly to earth then huge forces are applied to the bearings of the shaker, making that the shaker must itself be massive to withstand the forces that it produces.
Accordingly, it would be useful if some approach existed to “finesse” the operational and structural problems of the traditional laboratory shaker, and if it were somehow to be possible build a compact and economical broad-range high-performance shaker in which the considerable forces of shaking did not translate into large mass for the shaker, vibration and noise.
In another area, the slower-paced era wherein laboratory samples that required shaking could be manually transferred into containers, mostly glassware and most commonly test tubes, that could be physically accommodated by the shaker is now past. Most modern shakers make some effort to accommodate such a range of sample containers as the manufacture of the shaker envisions will be in use by purchasers of the shaker. However, no manufacturer, or purchaser, can foresee every eventuality, and the sample containers that are, or become, required by certain laboratory equipments may turn out to be unsuitable for use with the shakers of the same laboratory, or of other laboratories. It would thus be useful if some sort of shaking system could be derived where the mechanized operation of the shaker was to some degree separated from the packaging of the samples shaken, perhaps by providing some sort of jig by which various sample packages, and new-type sample packages not even in existence when the shaker was built, could be conveniently adopted to the shaker.
Of course, a jig presents its own problems. Its mass must be added to that of the samples, and sample containers, as the load experienced by the shaker. Accordingly, the jig should be lightweight. However, if must also be strong to withstand the inertial forces of shaking. It would be useful if the manner of attachment of the jig to the shaker could somehow support of such a “strong but light” jig construction.
A great proliferation of different jigs also presents its own cost, management and usage problems. When every different sample container requires its own special jig then the procurement cost, and cost of use, of (i) adapting the sample containers to the shaker through one or more jigs may rival the cost of (ii) directly adapting the sample containers to the shaker by transferring samples in incompatible containers into compatible containers. Accordingly, it would be useful if some limited number of jigs, or types of jigs, as are envisioned for use with a standard shaker could show both (i) widespread compatibility with existing laboratory sample containers and (ii) good potential for successful adaption to types of sample containers that may not even yet exist.
Finally, the shaker is currently one of the “dumbest” instruments in the laboratory. It is untenable that a human must set and re-set multiple speed and duration parameters for common shaking tasks that are regularly repetitively performed. The task is time-consuming and onerous, especially when a shaking protocol is bifurcated, with, most typically, so many minutes at one speed and then so many minutes at another speed, making that a human must stand by the shaker. If a human is charged to often set and re-set parameters then errors may occur. It would be useful if the shaker could be programmed but once for certain standard shaking protocols in use in the laboratory, and could thereafter re-create these protocols at the “touch of a button”.
2.2 Specific Previous Laboratory Shakers and Specimen Holders of Relevance to the Present Invention
A laboratory shaker of traditional form for use in general laboratory testing and analysis is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,928 to Kelly, et. al. for a LABORATORY SHAKER APPARATUS. The apparatus comprises a base that is reciprocally movable relative to a sub-base. A frame is mounted to the base and includes spaced apart vertical supports with a horizontal support assembly rotatably mounted therebetween. A number of test vessels are mounted to the horizontal support assembly and can be rotated with the horizontal support assembly 180° relative to the base. The vessels may be subjected to simultaneous shaking for identical periods of time. The horizontal frame assembly to which the vessels are mounted can be inverted between adjacent periods of shaking to permit selected refilling of the vessels, escape of gases therefrom and drainage of material from the vessels.
Another shaker of this form—this time with a more complex motion—is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,843 to Berglund, et. al. for an AGITATOR.
Finally, the present invention will be seen to perform shaking on test tubes that are held in racks. A test tube rack holder for supporting a test tube rack on a rotary shaker is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,381 to Gold for a TEST TUBE RACK HOLDER.
A par
Bartick Bryan A.
Bartick Don A.
Fuess & Davidenas
Qbiogene, Inc.
Soohoo Tony G.
LandOfFree
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