Abstract:
A shipping container/rack for shipping and holding of specimen or culture tubes is claimed. The invention consists of a hollow housing with a plurality of wells for holding tubes upright during processing of their contents, and separate brackets for securing the tubes during shipment. The housings are joinable front-to-back for creating larger tube storage rack, and housings are also stackable one atop another. The housing provides a secure, shock-proof shipping container during shipping of filled specimen tubes and a convenient tube rack for multiple tubes during insertion, extraction, and processing of tube contents.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to a specimen or culture tube holder. More particularly, the invention relates to a shipping container for transporting specimens/cultures that alternatively serves as a tray for holding specimen tubes upright.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Specimen tubes must be held upright during insertion/extraction of or processing of their contents. Additionally, the tubes need to be aligned uniformly if they are to be used with automatic analytical equipment. Many different types of tube holders/racks exist to accomplish the task of holding multiple tubes in the proper position. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,818 discloses and claims a specimen tube rack for securely holding multiple tubes upright.  
         [0003]     When specimens in their tubes are to be shipped over distances, the tubes must be positively retained in a secure and shock-proof shipping container. There are different ways to package specimen or culture tubes containing specimens for shipment, in specially-designed cardboard containers with dividers for individual tubes, for example.  
         [0004]     It would be desirable to have a shipping container that would securely retain and hold filled tubes during shipment, that would also, upon reaching its destination, serve as a tube rack for vertical processing of tube contents.  
         [0005]     It would also be desirable to have a set of racks arranged in modular fashion so that a plurality of racks so arranged can be handled as a single rack.  
         [0006]     It would also be desirable for the shipping containers to be stackable during shipment and/or storage.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a specimen tube holder which can perform both the functions of (1) holding multiple tubes upright and (2) provide shock-proof constraint for tubes during shipping.  
         [0008]     It is another object of the present invention to provide a specimen tube holder adapted to join with other tube holders to create a larger tube rack.  
         [0009]     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide for stacking of the tube holders during shipment or when empty.  
         [0010]     The present invention achieves these objectives by providing a housing with a plurality of wells for receiving and retaining tubes in spaced apart vertical orientation, which housing also provides separate brackets for securely holding tubes during shipment. Multiple housings are joinable front to back and are stackable one atop another.  
         [0011]     For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.  
         [0012]     These and other embodiments of the present invention will also become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the embodiments having reference to the attached figures, the invention not being limited to any particular embodiment(s) disclosed. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a top perspective view of one embodiment of an empty tube holder.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a top perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention, filled with vertical tubes.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a bottom perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a top perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention, filled with horizontal tubes in shipping configuration.  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a top elevational view of one embodiment of the invention.  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a top view of multiple tube holders joined together front-to-back.  
         [0019]      FIG. 7  is a side view of two tube holders stacked one on top of the other, with portions removed for the purposes of clarity.  
         [0020]      FIG. 8  is a bottom elevational view of one embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
       [0021]     Repeat use of reference characters throughout the present specification and appended drawings is intended to represent the same or analogous features or elements of the invention.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0022]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the specimen tube rack/shipping container of the present invention is designated generally at  1  and includes a housing  2  for supporting a plurality of specimen tubes. Housing  2  is generally hollow and includes forward and rearward walls  3  and  4 , respectively, side walls  5  and  6 , and top and bottom edges  9  and  10 , respectively. A recessed horizontal shelf  7  is situated between the top and bottom of the housing. A plurality of wells  8  are formed into the shelf  7 , spaced apart, the wells extending downwardly into the housing  2 , each well  8  adapted to receive a tube  20  and hold the tube in an upright, vertical position, as is shown in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0023]     A bottom perspective view of one embodiment of the invention showing the undersides of the wells  8  is provided in  FIG. 3 . In this embodiment, the bottom portion  16  of each well  8  has a through hole  15  that allows for easier insertion and removal of the tubes.  
         [0024]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the wells  8  in the illustrated embodiment are arranged in uniform rows and columns parallel to the front and sides of the housing  2 . In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 1 , there are four (4) rows of wells, labeled  11 - 14 , respectively, from front to back. The illustrated embodiment provides eight (8) columns of wells, for a total of twenty-four (24) wells. Other numbers and configurations of columns and rows of wells are also possible within the scope of the present invention.  
         [0025]     Shelf  7  also contains a plurality of brackets  30  formed on its top side in such a manner as to retain multiple tubes horizontally, spanning columns of wells  8  as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . The brackets hold the tubes firmly and securely so that the housing  2  can be used as a shipping container for filled specimens. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , the brackets  30  are arranged in two parallel rows  31  and  32  positioned between the well rows  11  and  12  and between well rows  13  and  14 , respectively. In this embodiment, each bracket row consists of a thin wall with semi-circular openings sized slightly larger than the external dimensions of the tubes  20 , so that the tubes will “snap fit” into the bracket openings and be retained by the brackets. The two rows of brackets are spaced sufficiently apart that the brackets contact the tubes  20  near their top and bottom ends to firmly hold the tubes in place. In the illustrated embodiment, the maximum number of tubes that can be accommodated by the brackets for horizontal shipment is equal to the number of columns of wells, for example, eight (8) in the illustrated embodiment, although other embodiments may have different arrangements and may accommodate different numbers of tubes.  
         [0026]     As is illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the depth of the shelf  7  is sufficient so that the tubes  20  do not protrude beyond the top edge of the housing  2 .  
         [0027]     Multiple specimen tube holders can be joined front to back to (1) minimize the footprint of the holders during shipping and/or (2) provide a larger tube holder for use with vertical tubes. To enable joining of the housings  2  together, the forward wall  3  has vertically-oriented female slots  35  and the rear wall  4  has vertically-oriented male protrusions  36 , as illustrated in the top view of  FIG. 5 . The male protrusions  36  slidably mate into the female slots  35  to join housings  2  together, front to back.  FIG. 6  illustrates four (4) housings  2  joined together in this manner.  
         [0028]     In addition, the tube holders are stackable, so that multiple tube holders can be shipped or stored with an efficient use of space. The tube holders may be stacked either when they are empty or when they are loaded with horizontally-retained tubes. As can be seen in FIGS.  3  and  7 , the bottom inside surface  33  of the housing  2  has a “stepped” lip  34  that is thinner than the housing wall. Further, the bottom edge  10  of the housing is slightly larger than the top edge  9 , i.e., the walls of the housing are somewhat flared, allowing the bottom edge  10  of housing  2  to fit over and slidably mate with the top edge  9  of another tube holder, as illustrated in  FIG. 7 , a partial side view of two stacked tube holders. In operation, when one tube holder is stacked on top of another, the lip  34  of the top housing is fitted over the top edge  9  of the bottom housing and pushed down until the horizontal step  38  of lip  34  rests against the top edge  9  of the bottom housing. As can be seen in  FIG. 7 , the bottom portion  16  of the wells does not extend beneath the horizontal step  38 , which configuration was designed to prevent the bottom portion of the wells in one stacked tube holder from interfering with any horizontally-retained tubes that may be in the tube holder beneath it. In other words, when multiple tube holders are stacked, the bottom portions  16  of the wells do not extend beneath the top edge  9  of the underlying tube holder.  
         [0029]     Although the back walls  39  of the female slots  35  extend into the interior of the housing  2 , as illustrated in  FIGS. 8 and 3 , they do not interfere with the stacking of the housings, because the back walls  39  of the slots do not extend beneath the horizontal step  38  (i.e., into the lip area).  
         [0030]     For shipment of specimen tubes, multiple tubes  20  are snapped into place in the brackets  30 . The top edge  9  of the housing may be covered with foil or some other material, though no covering is required. Multiple housings may be stacked on top of one another  
         [0031]     In one embodiment, the tube holder is designed to hold 1.5 mL specimen tubes, though other sizes of tube holders can be fabricated to accommodate different sizes of tubes without departing from the scope of the present invention. The housing  2  may be fabricated from any number of moldable materials, including resins such as polyethylene or various plastic materials.  
         [0032]     As described above and shown in the associated drawings, the present invention comprises a specimen/sample tube shipping container that alternatively can be used as a vertical tube holder. While particular embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be understood, however, that the invention is not limited thereto, since modifications may be made by those skilled in the art, particularly in light of the foregoing teachings. It is, therefore, contemplated by the appended claims to cover any such modifications that incorporate those features or those improvements that embody the spirit and scope of the present invention.