Bottles and jars – Closures – Barrier permeable to gas and impermeable to liquid
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-13
2001-02-27
Cronin, Stephen K. (Department: 3727)
Bottles and jars
Closures
Barrier permeable to gas and impermeable to liquid
C215S006000, C215S248000, C215S308000, C215S364000, C215SDIG003, C220S023800, C220S507000, C220S526000, C220S371000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06193088
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a closure for a vessel or well. More specifically, the present invention relates to a closure for allowing sterile gas exchange therethrough.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The use of closure devices for covering microbiological vessels, such as flasks, has been a widely accepted and longly used practice in microbiology. Closures are used in order to prevent the contamination of microorganisms being cultured or stored within the flasks by airborne contaminates or particulate matter. Additionally, these closures have been used to prevent the escape of microorganisms being cultured or stored in the flasks from being released from the flasks where they can become airborne and become contaminates themselves.
It is, generally, an absolute necessity that microorganisms or cultures must be grown under sterile conditions. Likewise, such sterile conditions must be kept in cell cultures and present day genetic manipulations of cells and cell fractions. Depending on the type of microorganism being cultured, either aerobic or anaerobic, closures have been designed to accommodate the specific growth requirements for each of these types of microorganisms. For example, aerobic microorganisms are only able to live in the presence of oxygen whereas anaerobic microorganisms are capable of growing, and in some circumstances are unable to grow, in the presence of oxygen. Therefore, for anaerobic organisms a closure may be required which is capable of maintaining sterile conditions within the interior of the flask or vessel by preventing the introduction of contaminating microorganisms while at the same time preventing the entrance of oxygen into the container or vessel. The same issues relate to such genetic manipulations as cloning and hybridization.
Another requirement for a microbiological vessel or flask closure, is that while maintaining the sterility of the microorganisms or cultures being grown therein, the closure should provide free access into the container or flask to facilitate the addition or removal of contents from the vessel or flask, such as sterile removal of microbiological culture from the vessel or flask.
Historically, cotton or gauze was formed into a plug and was inserted into the opening of a container or flask. These cotton or gauze plugs serve the general purpose of preventing contamination of the container or flask while simultaneously permitting the free exchange of oxygen with the atmosphere. This type of closure has many deficiencies such as it can be difficult to resterilize the plug for subsequent use and after repeated usage, this type of plug tends to readily decompose.
Another type of similar closure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,401 to De Long this closure is adapted to fit over the open end of a microorganism container. The closure further includes a disposable plug made from a porous material which is positioned within the closure. This device has the deficiency that it does not allow for a seal between the closure and the container or flask to be established.
Another more recent development in microbiological container or flask closures provides the advantage of a filtering device combined with a plug type closure. This closure is referred to as the Steri Plug (CTP Corp. Huntington, N.Y.). This device is constructed of multiple components including a stopper portion, a filter, and associated gaskets and retainers. Because of its complex design, this type of closure is expensive and cumbersome to use.
Additionally, a cap is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,073 to Fay et al. This cap has an outer collar and an inner collar and the top portion includes a permeable section. However, this device does not disclose the use of a permeable section made from filter media nor does it disclose the method for making a cap including a sealing portion and filter media in a single step.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a closure assembly for use with microbiological containers or flasks in which the closure assembly includes a filter membrane and a seal which allows for creating an air and fluid tight seal between the closure and the container or flask and in which the closure assembly can be produced in a one step process thereby eliminating the complexity and lowering the cost of assembly and manufacture and eliminating the deficiencies described above for prior art closure devices. It would also be advantageous to apply this technology to multiwell plates.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION AND ADVANTAGES
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a closure for sealing a microorganism container which includes a resilient seal for sealing the container, a passageway extending through the seal, and a filter media extending across the passageway integrally molded to the seal for allowing sterile gas exchange therethrough.
The present invention further provides a method of making a closure by molding a seal having a passageway extending therethrough while simultaneously sealing a peripheral edge of a filter media within the passageway.
The present invention also provides a multiwell plate assembly, which includes a tray including a plurality of wells therein and a closure for sealing at least some of the wells, the closure includes a resilient framework having a plurality of sealings interconnected by the framework for sealing engagement with at least some of the wells into which the sealings are disposed, at least one of the sealings includes a passageway extending therethrough and filter media extending across the passageway for allowing sterile exchange therethrough in and out of the well in which the sealings are disposed.
The present invention provides a closure for sealing a container which includes a resilient framework including a plurality of sealings interconnected by the framework with at least one of the sealings including a passageway extending therethrough and filter media extending across the passageway for allowing sterile exchange therethrough.
The present invention further provides a plurality of plugs, each of the plugs including an opening extending therethrough defining a central axis for each of the plugs and a resilient framework interconnecting each of the plugs.
The present invention also provides a closure member which includes a plurality of wells, each of the wells including an opening extending therethrough and a framework interconnecting the wells.
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Collins Ralph W.
Costello, Jr. John R.
Giacobbe Robert A.
Lipsky Jonathan N.
Vincent Monty E.
Cronin Stephen K.
Kohn & Associates
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