Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – With means to move supply means and/or receiver to – from or... – Both supply means and receiver support having movement
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-19
2001-10-30
Douglas, Steven O. (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
With means to move supply means and/or receiver to, from or...
Both supply means and receiver support having movement
C141S130000, C422S091000, C422S105000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06308751
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to liquid dispensing apparatus and is particularly concerned with apparatus for dispensing liquids in an assay device processing instrument.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
There is a continuing need to automate assay device processing and various instruments have been devised for dealing with this. We describe an example of such an instrument in our co-pending European Patent Application No. 98307706.6. Typically, such an instrument comprises a number of modules for carrying out certain dedicated tasks and a well containing a material to be assayed is transported to each module in turn. We have found that there is a need to increase the speed of operation of liquid dispensing modules and, in particular, a signal reagent dispenser. By speeding up operation of such a dispenser, more time is permitted for other dispensers such as a main reagent dispenser to operate.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, liquid dispensing apparatus comprises a support member which supports a movably mounted dispensing member, the support member being movable between a first position and at least one second position; and a single drive system for causing the dispensing member to move relative to the support member to a number of dispense positions while the support member is in its first position and for causing the support member to move to the or each second position.
We have devised a new type of apparatus which can automatically cause a dispensing member such as a dispensing tube or probe to pass each of a number of dispense positions and, typically thereafter, to cause the support member to move to one (or in some embodiments more) second positions which could be a wash station, a further dispense position, or a sample pick-up position, for example for diluent or a buffer.
In a preferred example, the drive system causes the dispensing member sequentially to move relative to the support member to the number of dispense positions while the support member is in its first position and thereafter causes the support member to move to the or each second position. However, the reverse operation could also occur with the support member initially in the or one of its second positions and then being driven by the drive system to the first position and thereafter the dispensing member being caused to move relative to the support member to the dispense positions.
The apparatus has a particularly simple form with a minimum of components and in particular a single drive system so that a single operation of the drive system causes the full sequential movement to occur. It is then only necessary to time the delivery of a liquid to coincide with the position of the dispensing member at each dispense position. This leads to a very rapid operation and a simple instrument which reduces the risk of breakdown.
The support member could move in a linear fashion between the first and second positions, for example by being slidably mounted to a base. Preferably, however, the support member is pivoted to a base for rotational movement between the first and second positions. This leads to a very simple mechanical arrangement in which the drive system may include a rotationally mounted drive member which rotates upon actuation of the drive system from first to second positions, during which the dispensing member moves to each of the dispense positions, and thereafter to one or more third positions while engaging the support member so as to rotate the support member to corresponding second positions.
Conveniently, the drive member is a pin supported on a rotatably mounted drive pinion. Other arrangements are also possible such as a clutch which is engaged when the drive member reaches a predetermined position.
Preferably, the support member is urged towards its first position, for example by a spring, although in other examples, the support member could be driven back to its first position upon reverse operation of the drive system.
Typically, the drive system includes a drive belt linking a drive motor of the drive system and the dispensing member. However, a drive gear arrangement could be used instead.
Preferably, the dispensing member is rotatably mounted to the support member although it could be slidably mounted in some cases. In the case of a rotatable mounting, the dispensing member preferably includes a carrier rotatably mounted to the support member, and a dispensing tube mounted to the carrier. The location of the dispensing tube on the carrier will depend upon the path which the tube must follow in order to reach the dispense positions and it is envisaged that a number of dispensing tube locations could be provided on the carrier so as to accommodate a variety of dispense position configurations.
As explained above, the apparatus has particular application to the dispensing of signal reagents in an automatic assay processing instrument. However, the apparatus could be used in other applications for dispensing other liquids.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4325909 (1982-04-01), Coulter et al.
patent: 4447395 (1984-05-01), Englar et al.
patent: 4774055 (1988-09-01), Wakatake et al.
patent: 5645800 (1997-07-01), Masterson et al.
patent: 0 692 717 A2 (1996-01-01), None
patent: WO 93/21534 A1 (1993-10-01), None
Fitzgerald Stephen Peter
Lamont John Victor
McConnell Robert Ivan
Meyer James Rudolf
Douglas Steven O.
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Randox Laboratories LTD
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