Coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus for electrophoresis

A coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus for electrophoresis comprising a coloring-decoloring container having an opening used for insertion of the carrier and pouring coloring and decoloring liquid agents, rollers arranged in the vicinity of the opening of said coloring-decoloring container, and an inverted U-shaped drain pipe having one port located inside said container and in the vicinity of the bottom thereof and the other port located outside said container at a height lower than the bottom of said container, and adapted in such a manner that a carrier having been subjected to electrophoresis in an electrophoretic apparatus is fed into said coloring-decoloring container by operating said rollers, the tailing end of the carrier is held between said rollers, a coloring liquid agent is poured into said container through said opening for coloring said carrier while it is held in the condition described above, said coloring liquid agent is discharged through said drain pipe after said carrier has been colored, a decoloring liquid agent is poured for decoloring said carrier, said decoloring liquid agent is discharged after said carrier has been decolored, and then the carrier is dried by blowing hot air blast. Said coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus for electrophoresis is so designed as to be capable of performing coloring, decoloring and drying of a carrier without injuring or tearing the carrier and eliminate the necessity to arrange a valve for discharging the liquid agents.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
(a) Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an apparatus for coloring, decoloring and 
drying sample carriers in electrophorestic systems. 
(b) Description of the Prior Art 
The electrophoresis is utilized for measuring proteins contained in blood 
serum in clinical inspection laboratories, etc. of hospitals and medical 
institutes. For the electrophoresis, blood serum to be analyzed is applied 
onto a carrier which is made of cellurose acetate or the similar material 
and then the carrier is electrically energized for developing fractionated 
patterns of the blood serum. The carrier is colored with a coloring liquid 
agent and, after the area other than the blood serum is decolored, the 
sample is subjected to colorimetry for quantitative determination. 
Conventionally, various processes of the electrophoresis were manually 
carried out with low efficiency. Further, analysis by the electrophoresis 
required highly delicate skill and the conventional electrophoretic system 
had a defect that it offered analytical results which are different 
depending on individual analysts' measuring skills. 
In view of such circumstances, there have hitherto been developed automatic 
electrophoretic systems which can automatically carry out the processes of 
the electrophoresis for the purpose of enhancing measuring efficiency and 
eliminating analytical variations due to difference in measuring skills 
depending on indivisual analysts. As an apparatus for carrying out the 
coloring, decoloring and drying processes out of the various steps 
performed by the automatic electrophoretic systems, there has known an 
apparatus disclosed by Japanese published unexamined patent application 
No. 158694/54 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,843). This coloring-decoloring-drying 
apparatus is designed in such a manner that a carrier is bonded onto 
circumference of a drum, rotated therewith so as to pass through a liquid 
trough filled with a coloring liquid agent for coloring said carrier and 
then through a trough filled with a decoloring liquid agent for decoloring 
said carrier, and then is dried by exposing it to hot air blast or the 
similar means. An outline of this coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus 
will be described with reference to FIG. 1. A carrier 1 on which 
fractionated patterns of a sample have been developed in an 
electrophoretic apparatus (not shown) is fed between a roller 2 and a drum 
3 by an adequate means. The carrier is soaked with a buffer solution and 
is therefore bonded onto the drum 3 consecutively from the leading end of 
said carrier. When the leading end of the carrier has passed just beyond 
another roller 4, rotation of the drum is stopped so that the carrier 1 is 
kept in the condition where it is bonded onto the outer circumference of 
the drum 3 while being held with both the rollers 2 and 4. With the 
carrier 1 kept in this condition, the drum 3 is rotated together with the 
rollers 2 and 4 so as to rotate the carrier 1 while it is bonded onto the 
drum 3 and held with the rollers 2 and 4. A liquid trough 5 is filled with 
a coloring liquid agent, and therefore the carrier is colored since it 
passes through the liquid agent repeatedly during its rotation. The 
carrier is decolored in the similar way when the trough is filled with a 
decoloring liquid agent in place of the coloring liquid agent. After the 
carrier has been colored and decolored as described above, it is dried 
with hot air blast supplied from a blower port (now shown), and then the 
drum 3 only is rotated to feed the carrier 1 to the next process. 
The coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus described above has a surface 3a 
having a curvature lower than the imaginary circular circumference of the 
drum 3 and serving to prevent the carrier 1 from being torn due to 
contraction at the drying process. Since degree of the contraction is 
different depending on material of the carrier, curvature of the surface 
3a should ideally be varied depending on contraction degree of the 
carrier. Further, when the carrier has a short length, it is required to 
use a drum having a small diameter. In such a case, the carrier bonded 
onto the drum is held in a strongly curved condition and such a curved 
form remains at the subsequent processes, thereby causing inconvenience at 
the processes after the coloring and decoloring. Moreover, the drum type 
of apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has a drawback that it has a very complicated 
mechanism and requires a large number of component parts. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A general object of the present invention is to provide a 
coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus for electrophoresis comprising a 
coloring-decoloring container having an opening for inserting and sending 
out the carrier, rollers arranged in the vicinity of the opening of said 
coloring-decoloring container and an inverted U-shaped drain tube having 
one port located in the vicinity of the bottom of said coloring-decoloring 
container and the other port located outside said container at a height 
lower than the bottom thereof, said apparatus being adapted in such manner 
that the carrier is fed by said rollers into said coloring-decoloring 
container, then suspended in said container in a condition where the 
tailing end of the carrier is held between said rollers, colored and 
decolored by pouring coloring and decoloring liquid agents into said 
container and then dried by blowing hot air blast into said container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Now, the present invention will be described more detailedly with reference 
to the preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
In FIG. 2, the reference numeral 10 represents a main casing of the 
coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus according to the present invention, 
and the reference numeral 11 designates a coloring-decoloring container 
which is rotatably arranged around an axis 11a in the main casing 10 and 
has such a construction as shown on larger scales in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. 
The reference numeral 12 denotes rollers which are arranged in the 
vicinity of opening 11a of the coloring-decoloring container 11 and one of 
which is rotated with rotation of a shaft 12a for feeding the carrier 1 
into the container 11, both the rollers serving thereafter for holding the 
carrier 1 as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. The reference numeral 13 
represents a drain pipe which is arranged in the vicinity of one end of 
the container 11 and has an inverted U-shape having a portion located 
inside the coloring-decoloring container 11 and the other portion located 
outside said container. One port of this drain pipe 13 (at the end 
arranged inside the container 11) is located near the bottom of the 
container 11 and the other port (at the end arranged outside the container 
11) is located lower than the bottom of the container 11. The reference 
numeral 14 designates a drain tube connected to one end of the drain pipe 
13. The reference numeral 15 denotes a coloring liquid agent nozzle, the 
reference numeral 16 represents a decoloring liquid agent nozzle, the 
reference numeral 17 designates a drying air pipe, the reference numerals 
18 and 19 denote guides and the reference numeral 20 represents a carrier 
detector such as a photo sensor. 
Now, operations of the coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus having the 
above-described construction will be described. In the first place, the 
coloring-decoloring container 11 is turned counterclockwise around the 
axis 11a from the position shown in the solid lines (indicated by the 
reference symbol A) to the position indicated by the reference symbol B. 
In this condition, the carrier 1 which has been subjected to 
electrophoresis in an electrophoretic apparatus 40 is sent out of the 
electrophoretic apparatus 40 and fed into the main casing 10. The carrier 
is directed by the guide 18 toward the coloring-decoloring container kept 
at the position B. Upon detection of feeding of the carrier 1 with a 
carrier detector 20, the roller 12 starts rotating for sending the carrier 
1 deep into the container 11. When the rear end of the carrier 1 reaches 
the vicinity of the rollers 12, these rollers are stopped so that the 
carrier is kept in suspended condition in the coloring-decoloring 
container 11 with one end of said carrier held between both the rollers. 
At this stage, a coloring liquid agent is poured through the coloring 
liquid agent nozzle 15 into the container 11 until the liquid level 
reaches a little lower than the top end, i.e., bending 13a of the drain 
pipe arranged inside the container 11. Therefore, the carrier is kept in 
the container 11 while being dipped in the coloring liquid agent. These 
operations may be performed in the reverse sequence. That is to say, the 
carrier 1 may be sent into the container 11 after it is filled with the 
coloring liquid agent. The carrier 1 is kept in the container 11 for a 
definite time as it is depped in the coloring liquid agent. After the 
carrier 1 has been colored sufficiently, the coloring liquid agent is 
poured again through the coloring liquid agent nozzle 15 until the liquid 
level becomes higher than the bending 13a of the drain pipe 13. In this 
condition, the coloring liquid agent is drained under the siphon effect 
through the drain pipe 13 and drain tube 14. 
In the next place, the coloring-decoloring container 11 is returned to the 
position A and a decoloring liquid agent is poured into the container 11 
until the liquid level reaches a little lower than the bending 13a of the 
drain pipe 13 in the container 11 for decoloring the carrier 1. After a 
definite time elapsed, the decoloring liquid agent is added, whereby the 
decoloring liquid agent is drained from the container 11 under the siphon 
effect through the drain pipe 13 and tube 14. This decoloring process is 
repeated until the carrier 1 is decolored completely. 
After completion of the decoloring process, the coloring-decoloring 
container 11 is turned clockwise and stopped at the drying position 
(indicated by the reference symbol C) at which the upper opening 11a 
thereof is located under the drying air pipe 17. With the 
coloring-decoloring container 11 kept in this position, hot air blast is 
supplied from the drying air pipe 17 for drying the carrier 1. After the 
carrier has been dried completely, the coloring-decoloring container 11 is 
turned further clockwise until it reaches the carrier sending out position 
(indicated by the reference symbol D). With the container 11 kept in this 
position, rollers 12 are rotated to send out the carrier 1 through guide 
19 and sending out port 10b to the next process. 
Now, the mechanism for turning the coloring-decoloring container and 
rotating the rollers of the coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus will be 
described. FIG. 6 shows a side view illustrating construction of the 
mechanism for driving the rollers 12 arranged in the coloring-decoloring 
container 11. The reference numeral 21 represents a pulley fixed to the 
shaft 12a of one of the rollers 12, the reference numeral 22 designates a 
second pulley attached to the turning shaft 11a of the coloring-decoloring 
container 11, the reference numeral 23 denotes a third pulley attached to 
a rotating shaft 24a of a motor 24 for driving the rollers, and the 
reference numerals 25 and 26 represent belts which are passed around a 
pair of pulleys 21 and 22 and another pair of pulleys 22 and 23 
respectively. When the motor 24 is rotated in either direction in this 
mechanism, the carrier 1 is fed or sent into or out of the container 11 by 
operating the pulleys 22, 23, etc. as well as the belts 25 and 26. FIG. 7 
shows a side view illustrating construction of the mechanism for turning 
the coloring-decoloring container 11. In FIG. 7, the reference numeral 31 
represents a gear fixed to the turning shaft 11a (on the surface located 
on the opposite side of the pulley 22 shown in FIG. 6) of the 
coloring-decoloring container 11, the reference numeral 32 designates 
another gear which is in mech with the gear 31, and the reference numeral 
33 denotes a motor for turning the coloring-decoloring container. When the 
motor is rotated in either direction in this mechanism, the 
coloring-decoloring container 11 is turned clockwise or counterclockwise. 
Though the mechanism for rotating the rollers and the mechanism for 
turning the coloring-decoloring container are illustrated separately in 
FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 respectively, these mechanisms are actually arranged on 
both the right and left sides of the coloring-decoloring container as 
shown in FIG. 8. In addition, the member represented by the reference 
numeral 34 in FIG. 2, FIG. 5, etc, is fins which serve for preventing the 
carrier 1 from adhering to the inside wall of the container 11. In 
addition, the reference numeral 35 used in FIG. 3 through FIG. 5 
designates a partition plate which separates the in flow side from out 
flow side of hot air blast for drying the carrier 1. In other words, the 
hot air blast supplied from drying air pipe 17 into the 
coloring-decoloring container 11 flows downward along the carrier 1, 
passes through the opening 35a formed in the lower end of the partition 
plate 35, circulates to the left side in FIG. 3 and then flows out upward. 
FIG. 9 shows a variant example of the coloring-decoloring container 11 
having a slanted bottom surface and comprising the port 13b of the drain 
pipe 13 located on the lower side. This type of the coloring-decoloring 
container makes it possible to reduce quantity of liquid agent remaining 
after draining. 
As is understood from the foregoing descriptions, the 
coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus according to the present invention 
permits coloring and decoloring the carrier while keeping it in suspended 
condition with one end thereof held between the rollers, and is free from 
the defect of forming curved shape of the carrier, or injuring or tearing 
the carrier due to contraction in the drying process. Since said 
coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus utilizes the siphon effect, it 
eliminates the necessity to arrange a valve in the liquid draining path. 
Further, the coloring-decoloring-drying apparatus according to the present 
invention has a simple construction consisting only of the 
coloring-decoloring container, the rollers arranged therein and so on. 
Moreover, drying effect can be enhanced by arranging a partition plate 
inside the coloring-decoloring container.