Patent ID: 7824921
Filing Date: 2010-11-02
Classification: B01L,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of processing a urine sample deposited by a person at a specimen collecting location and to be analyzed at a laboratory location, comprising the steps of: providing to the person a container having a container top and a removable cap on said top, said cap having a septum of elastomeric material initially unbroken, said septum having a generally depressed dished portion including an area of minimum thickness, said depressed portion increasing in thickness radially from a minimum thickness to a much thicker elastomeric material encompassing said area of minimum thickness, said depressed portion and said area of minimum thickness being shaped and configured to elastically distend to pass a pipette having a relatively blunt pipette tip with a tip width greater than said minimum thickness of said septum and also greater than a tear in said area of minimum thickness required for passage of said pipette tip through said septum and to be self-reclosing by returning opposite edges of said tear to a substantially contiguous closed condition after withdrawal of said pipette from said septum; removing the cap from the container top and having the person deposit a urine specimen in the container at the specimen collecting location and then replacing the cap to make a liquid tight seal with said container top; conveying said container with said urine specimen to the laboratory location; pressing a tip of said pipette against the septum with sufficient force to puncture through said septum and into the container with said tip; drawing a sample of the urine specimen into the pipette; and withdrawing said pipette tip to allow said septum to reseal itself; whereby the urine specimen is sampled for analysis without reopening the container cap following said replacing of the cap at the specimen collection site.