Sample container segment assembly

US5762878A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Abbott Laboratories · US

Inventors

• Frederick L. Clark · Plano, US
• Kendall B. Hendrick · Tucson, US
• Richard R. Martin · Tulsa, US
• Larry W. Moore · Plano, US
• William J. Raymoure · Antioch, US
• Paul R. Schrier · Carrollton, US
• Edna S. Walker · Chicago, US
• Donny R. Walker · Coppell, US
• Gary E. Winter · Bartlett, US
• Kevin M. Cloonan · Round Lake, US
• David Arthur Yost · Los Altos, US
• John M. Clemens · Carlsbad, US
• William J. Kanewske, III · Dallas, US
• Douglas D. McDowell · Wildwood, US
• Carl M. Oleksak · Fort Worth, US
• William D. Rumbaugh · Carrollton, US
• B. Jane Smith · Vernon Hills, US
• James A. Vaught · Euless, US
• Apparao Tayi · Grayslake, US
• Robert A. Wohlford · Irving, US
• James E. Mitchell · Lake Barrington, US
• Robert B. Hance · Evanston, US
• Peter A. Lagocki · Paddy Lane, US
• Richard A. Merriam · Dallas, US
• Charles D. Pennington · Lake Zurich, US
• Linda S. Schmidt · Mundelein, US
• Adrian M. Spronk · Lindenhurst, US
• Richard L. Vickstrom · Algonquin, US
• William E. Watkins, III · South 375th Place, US
• Gilbert Clift · Mesquite, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 9, 1996
• Grant date: Jun 9, 1998
• Expiry date: Sep 9, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T436/113332
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A sample container segment assembly for use in an automated, continuous, and random access analytical system is disclosed. The assembly includes a sample container which is received by a sample container segment, and the sample container segment is received on a carousel of the automated analytical instrument. The test sample container includes an upper skirt and a body having a reservoir for receipt of the test sample. The segment includes a base, a frame, and a handle. The frame has a shelf for which the upper skirt of the test sample container rests on, and has openings for receipt of the body of the sample container. The carousel has a carousel trough for receipt of the base of the sample container segment, and has a plurality of alignment pins disposed in the carousel trough. The base of the sample container segment has a circular slot and an elongated slot for receiving the alignment pins and positioning the sample container segment relative to the carousel. The sample container segment can include a liquid level sensing sleeve which is made of a conductive material and surrounds the reservoir of the test sample container inserted therein. Alternatively, the test sample conta…