Automatic test tube plug extraction apparatus
US4982553A · kind A · utility
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 30, 1987 |
| Grant date | Jan 8, 1991 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 30, 2007 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T29/5383
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A rack, with a plurality of test tubes arranged on it, in m columns and n rows, is transported into a main housing by a rack-inlet mechanism. In the main housing, tube-extracting mechanism extracts the tubes from rack, row by row, while the rack is being transported by a rack-transporting mechanism. The tubes are then conveyed, one by one, by a tube-conveying mechanism. A plug-extracting mechanism pulls each test tube conveyed by the mechanism and the plug closing this tube, away from each other, while holding the tube and the plug, thereby extracting the plug from the test tube. The test tubes are further conveyed by the tube-conveying mechanism after the plugs have been extracted from them. The tubes are then inserted by a tube-inserting mechanism row by row, into a vacant rack transported by the rack-transporting mechanism. After a predetermined number of rows of test tubes have been inserted into this rack, a rack-outlet mechanism transports the rack from said main housing.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.