Pipetter device

Abstract: A pipetter for picking up, holding and then ejecting a pipet tube (13), without touching the pipet tube with the hands, includes a housing (43), a collet (25) which comprises fingers (33) mounted at the forward end of the housing, and an outer or holding sleeve (71) which closes the fingers (33) which the outer sleeve is positioned forwardly on the housing by a spring (77) and which allows the fingers to open when the outer sleeve (71) is retracted on the housing. An ejector sleeve (37) which has a spring (39) that pushes is against the fingers to open them and eject the tube. When the operator wishes to eject the tube from the pipetter after collecting and discharging its blood sample, he retracts the outer sleeve (71) against the force of the spring (77), and the ejector spring (39) moves the ejector sleeve forwardly to spread the fingers (33) and eject the tube (13).

Description: This invention relates to a pipetter, and more specifically concerns a pipet tube holder for picking up a pipet tube preferably having a flared end, holding it firmly, drawing a specimen of a fluid into the tube, discharging the specimen of liquid from the tube, and ejecting the tube from the device, without having to touch the tube with the hands. There are a number of problems with conventional pipetters which hold a tube by squeezing O-rings onto the tube by turning down a threaded collet cap. The pipet tube and the collet cap must be manipulated with the fingers, especially when ejecting a used tube from the pipetter. More problems arise if the used tube has been broken. The blood being tested today may contain an infectious disease, such as AIDS. If a pipetter user breaks the tube as by tapping it or pushing it too hard, the user may cut himself with the broken end of the glass tube and may become infected with AIDS. Even worse, to reuse a pipetter which is holding a broken tube, the user has to remove the broken piece of tube which is buried deep inside the pipetter, making retrieval difficult, and the user may cut himself while trying to retrieve the broken piece of tube to remove it from the pipetter. US-A-5,104,625 discloses a pipetter with a tube holder for holding a pipet tube while in use and for ejecting the tube when desired, without having to touch the tube with the hands comprising a handle, holding means for releasably holding a pipet tube by one end in the handle and ejection means in the handle for ejecting the tube after use. It is an object of this invention to provide a pipetter that can pick up, hold, and eject a tube without the user having to touch the tube with the hands. A pipetter according to the invention is defined in claim 1. To pick up a pipet tube, the user positions the pipetter above a number of spaced-apart vertically positioned tubes in a rack, and selects a tube to be picked up by the collet. The user pushes the tube holder housing downwardly onto the selected tube so the pipet tube pushes the ejector sleeve rearwardly into retracted position away from the collet. When the ejector sleeve passes far enough into the housing that it is no longer positioned in the collet, it no longer holds the collet open, and the holding sleeve spring pushes the holding sleeve forwardly and closes the collet to grasp the pipet tube and hold the ejector sleeve in retracted position. Of course, the user may pick up a tube and insert it into the device by hand, if he wishes. To eject the pipet tube from the device, the outer or holding sleeve is pulled back, which releases the collet and allows it to open, and the ejector sleeve springs forwardly into the collet to eject the tube. Figure 1 is a view in vertical section of the pipetter of this invention in a closed position; Figure 2 is a view in vertical section taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 2-2 which appear in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a view in vertical section taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 3-3 which appear in Figure 1; Fig. 4 is a view in vertical section taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 4-4 which appear in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a view in vertical section showing the collet portion of the invention in more detail in a closed position holding a pipet tube; and Fig. 6 is a view in vertical section of a pipet tube which may be used with the invention. Turning now to the drawings, there is shown in Figs. 1-5, a pipetter 11 for picking up and holding a capillary tube 13, and drawing a specimen of blood or other fluid into chamber 15 of tube 13 by capillary action while venting air from tube 13. The specimen of blood is discharged from tube 13 and then the tube 13 is ejected from the pipetter 11 without having to touch tube 13 with the hands. Pipetter 11 (Fig. 1) includes a handle 17 having a threaded front end portion or boss 19 and a rear end portion 21 shaped like a handle. The front end portion 19 of handle 17 is screwed into collet means 23 (Fig. 5) which is provided for picking up and holding the rear end portion of pipet tube 13, and the collet means 23 includes a collet assembly 25 having a housing 27 which is screwed onto the threaded boss 19 of handle 17. Holding means 29 are provided in collet assembly 25 for grasping and holding tube 13, and the holding means 29 includes a collet 31 having fingers 33, four fingers being shown, which grasp and hold the tube. Ejection means 35 are provided in the housing 27 for ejecting the tube 13 from the pipetter 11 without touching the tube 13 with the hands, and the ejection means 35 includes an inner or ejector sleeve 37 and an ejector spring 39 which urges sleeve 37 to a forward position. Collet assembly 25 (Fig. 5) includes the housing 27 and a collet 31 which comprises fingers 33 for accepting and holding tube 13. Housing 27 is cylindrical and its front portion includes a cylindrical head 41 of smaller outside diameter than the outside diameter of main portion 43 to which it is connected by an annular groove or neck 45. The rear portion 49 of bore 47 of housing main portion 43 is threadedly connected to the externally threaded boss on front end portion 19 of handle 17. Ejector spring 39 is seated in the rear portion 49 of bore 47, and ejector sleeve 37 is provided with an enlarged head 51 that is adapted to slide back and forth in bore 47. The inside wall 53 of fingers 33 has an inwardly protruding flange 57 formed at its rear portion which is seated in neck 45 of housing 27. A stop shoulder 59 is formed in the rear of fingers 33 and is adapted to stop forward movement of ejector sleeve 37 when the fingers 33 are closed. Shoulders 59 abut against the forward end 61 of ejector sleeve 37 and prevent sleeve 37 from moving forwardly. The forward portion 63 of fingers 33, when closed, have about the same inside diameter as the outer diameter of the tube 13 so as to grasp the tube 13 firmly. The tubes 13 are provided with an outward flare 65 and the shoulders 59 of fingers 33 are provided with a matching bevel 67 to securely hold tube 13 in position and to hold ejector sleeve 37 in retracted position. The outer surface 69 of fingers 33 tapers outwardly and is wedged inwardly by outer or holding sleeve 71 when the fingers 33 are closed around a tube 13. Outer sleeve 71 has a bore 73 adapted to slide back and forth on the outer surface of main portion 43 of housing 27. A larger bore 75 of outer sleeve 71 is adapted to house holding spring 77, and a still larger bore 79 of outer sleeve 71 is adapted to slide back and forth on the outside surface of handle 17. Ejector sleeve 37 is provided with an enlarged head 51, and shoulder 83 of housing 27 acts as a stop for head 51 to limit the forward movement of ejector sleeve 37 and hold it in the collet assembly 25. Referring now to Fig. 1, a wire plunger 85 is mounted in bore 87 of handle 17 and includes a handle 89 at the rear end and a tip 91 at the forward end that may extend into the bore of tube 13. A spring 93 in bore 87 presses against enlarged portion 95 of plunger 85 and urges plunger 85 rearwardly. Pipetter 11 is especially constructed for use with capillary tubes that draw liquid into the tube by capillary action. Accordingly, the elements of the pipetter vent air from the top of the tube when it is being filled with liquid by capillary action. Wire plunger 85 and its tip 91 are thin enough that air flows around them through pipetter 11 so as to vent the air from the tube and not interfere with the capillary action. A preferred capillary tube 13 (Fig. 6) which may be used with pipetter 11 is made of glass and has an admitting-discharge end 97 for admitting a liquid and discharging it, and a vent end 99 for passing air from tube 13 as liquid is being drawn into tube 13 by capillary action. The details of tube 13 are disclosed in EP-B-0209705 A barrier plug 101 is provided for passing air through tube 13 but not liquid, and is positioned in tube 13 at a preselected distance from the admitting-emitting end 97 to define a liquid chamber 15 of preselected volume. Admitting-emitting end 97 is flared upwardly to provide a stop shoulder 103 that stops the barrier plug 101 from being discharged from tube 13 with the blood sample. Barrier plug 101 is made of a hydrophobic material that passes air freely to vent it from tube 13 so as not to impede or slow down the capillary action of drawing the liquid into the tube. Barrier plug 101 also stops the passage of air and liquid upon being contacted by the liquid after the chamber 15 has been filled with a preselected volume of liquid. In operation, when it is desired to pick-up a pipet tube, a number of tubes 13 are stacked in a holder in vertical upright position and spaced apart enough so that the pipetter 11 may pick up a single tube 13. The fingers 33 are open, ejector sleeve 37 is in forward position pushing fingers 33 open, and holder sleeve 71 is retracted to permit fingers 33 to open. The front of pipetter 11 is pressed down onto the top of a selected tube 13, and flare 65 of the tube pushes ejector sleeve 37 into its retracted position. Spring 77 pushes outer sleeve 71 forwardly to close fingers 33 around tube 13 and hold the tube 13 in the pipetter. Tube flare 65 is hold in position between bevel 67 of stop shoulder 59 and the forward end of ejector sleeve 37. After the blood sample has been taken and discharged from tube 13, it is desired to eject the used tube 13 from the pipetter 11 without having to touch it. This is accomplished by pulling back the holding sleeve 71 against the force of its spring 77, which releases fingers 33 and ejector spring 39 pushes ejector sleeve 37 forwardly into the central space between the fingers 33 to push them open. The ejector sleeve also pushes against flare 65 of tube 13 to eject tube 13 forcibly from the pipetter 11 into a trash can.

Claims: A pipet tube holder (11) holding a pipet tube (13) while in use and for ejecting the tube when desired, without having to touch the tube with the hands, comprising a handle (17,43), holding means (23) for releasably holding a pipet tube (13) by one end in the handle and ejection means (39,51) in the handle for ejecting the tube after use, in which the holding means (23) comprises an expansible collet (23) mounted on the front end portion (41) of the handle (17,43), a holding sleeve (71) on the handle and a spring (77) for biassing the holding sleeve (71) forwardly with respect to the handle, and in which the ejection means includes an ejector sleeve (37) and a spring (39) for biassing the ejector sleeve (37) forwardly into the collet (23) to open the collet and eject the pipet tube (13). A pipet tube holder according to Claim 1, wherein the collet (23) comprises a set of collet fingers (33) which are capable of being spread apart by the ejector sleeve (37) but capable of being contracted towards each other by the holding sleeve (71) under the action of the holding sleeve biassing spring (77). A pipet tube holder according to Claims 1 or 2, wherein the holding sleeve (71) is mounted for movement on the handle (17) and the spring (77) for biassing the holding sleeve (71) urges the holding sleeve (71) forwards to close the collet (25) after a pipet tube (13) has pushed the ejector sleeve (37) rearwardly out of the collet. A pipet tube holder according to any of the preceding claims, and further comprising a plunger (85) mounted in the handle (17) and extending through the rear end portion of the handle and constructed so as to be extendible into a pipet tube (13) held in the pipetter and spring means (93) in the handle for urging the plunger (85) rearwardly. A pipet tube holder according to any of the preceding claims and including vent means in the handle (17,43) for venting air from a pipet tube (13) held in the handle, to enable liquid to flow into the tube by capillary action.

Inventors: KENNEY JAMES W, KENNEY, JAMES W.
Applicants: DRUMMOND SCIENT CO, DRUMMOND SCIENTIFIC COMPANY
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B01L3
IPC codes: B01L3