BALL AND SOCKET CLOSURE

Abstract: A closure (100) for sealing the open end of body fluid collection, transport or storage containers or tubes (20). The closure (100) includes a ball (70) and socket (50) arrangement, wherein the ball (70) rotates within the socket (50) to align a passageway (73) through the ball (70) within the opening in the tube (20). To close the closure, a tab or protrusion (71) extending from the ball (70) is pushed to rotate the ball and orient the passageway (73) perpendicular to the opening of the tube. When the closure is in the closed position, the ball (70) and socket (50) form a liquid tight seal to prevent liquid in the tube (20) from leaking out of the tube, evaporating or being contaminated.

Description: BALLAND SOCKET CLOSURE Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a closure for body fluid collection, transport or storage containers and, more particularly, relates to a ball and socket closure to be used to resealably close a container being used in a laboratory or other clinical environment Summary of the Invention In one aspect of the present invention, a closure for a container is provided comprising a ball and a socket. The closure may be used to resealably close a container containing specimens. Such containers are used in a laboratory or other clinical environment. In one aspect, the ball and socket is snap-fitted into a tube. In another aspect of the invention, the ball has a tab extending therefrom that is pushed by a user approximately 90 degrees to rotate the ball within the socket to a position wherein a passageway through the ball aligns with the opening of the tube and provides access through the closure to the inside of the tube. When the tab is pushed 90 degrees in the opposite direction the ball rotates to close the passageway and seal the open end of the tube for storage to avoid evaporation and for possible access or retest at a later date In another aspect of the invention, a method of collecting specimens is provided using the ball and socket closure of the present invention Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a ball and socket closure according to the present invention assembled with a tube, with the closure in a closed position, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the ball and socket closure and tube assembly shown in Fig. 1, with the closure in an open position. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the ball and socket closure and tube assembly shown in Fig. 1 along line 3-3; Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the ball and socket closure and tube assembly shown in Fig. 2 along line 4-4; Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the ball and socket closure and tube assembly shown in Fig. 3 along line 5-5, Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the ball and socket closure shown in Fig. 5; Detailed Description Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a closure 100 according to the present invention assembled with a tube 20, with closure 100 in a closed position Tube 20 includes an open top end 21 and an open bottom end 22 Closure 100 is inserted and snap-fit into open top end 21 of tube 20 and is made of two parts: a ball 70 and a socket 50 Ball 70 includes a passageway 73 extending therethrough that can be aligned with open top end 21 to provide access to tube 20 or can be moved out of alignment, i.e., by 90 degrees, to prevent access to and seal open top end 21. A tab 71 extends from ball 70 and is used to rotate ball 70 within socket 50 between a first closed position and a second open position When tab 71 is in the position shown in Fig. 1, ball 70 is in the first closed position wherein passageway 73 is not aligned with open top end 21 and thereby closing closure 100 However, when tab 71 is in the position shown in Fig. 2, passageway 73 is aligned with open top end 21 and closure 100 is open Of course, use of tab 71, in the present embodiment, is merely exemplary since a protrusion or other type of extension from ball 70 could be used to rotate ball 70 As can be seen from the disclosure, the open position of closure 100 is also unique since it and no other currently available closure allows access to the liquid or specimen within a tube without having to remove a cap or stopper or penetrate a septum, rubber topper or membrane. Fig 3 is a cross-sectional view of closure 100 and tube 20, shown in Fig 1 , along line 3-3 and Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of closure 100 and tube 20, shown in Fig 2, along line 4-4. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, ball 70 includes a pair of annular flat surfaces 72 that together with a pair of corresponding annular flat surfaces within socket 50 provides an axis about which ball 70 rotates within socket 50. Socket 50 also includes an annular plug portion 51 extending from a lower end of socket 50 that is received in open top end 21 of tube 20. Plug portion 51 also includes an annular groove 52 on its outer surface that forms a snap-fit with an annular protrusion 25 located on an inside wall 24 of tube 20 just within open top end 21. The ball and socket closure 100 is snap fit into the open top end 21 of tube 20 when annular plug portion 51 is inserted into open top end 21 and annular protrusion 25 is received within annular groove 52 Figs. 5 and 6 are cross-sectional views of closure 100 and tube 20, shown in Fig 3, along line 5-5, and more clearly show the detail of the snap-fit arrangement between annular protrusion 25 on tube 20 and annular groove 52 on annual plug portion 5 1 In addition, Fig. 6 shows how outer surface 74 of ball 70 is dimensioned to fit within and interact with inner surface 54 of socket 50 to develop a liquid tight seal at location 75 The liquid tight seal at location 75 thereby prevents any liquid within tube 20 from leaking out of tube 20 through or past ball 70 and socket 50 when closure 100 is in the closed position shown in Figs. 1, 3, 5 and 6. In addition, when closure 100 is in the closed position, passageway 73 is perpendicular to passageway 53 and open top end 21 which also prevents access to the inside of tube 20. Alternatively when closure 100 is in the open position shown in Figs 2 and 4, passageway 73 is aligned with passageway 53 and open top end 21 thereby providing access to the inside of tube 20 and releasing the liquid tight seal at location 75 Closure 100 is easily moved from the closed position shown in Fig. 1 to the open position in Fig. 2 by pushing tab 71 to rotate ball 70 by 90 degrees and thereby align passageway 73 with passageway 53 and open top end 21 Likewise, when tab 71 is pushed in the opposite direction by 90 degrees ball 70 is rotated to move passageway 73 perpendicular to passageway 53 and close closure 100 The above-described closure can be manufactured using many methods, but the best method is by separately molding the ball and socket and then assembling the ball into the socket. The socket is made from an elastomeric like material to allow the large diameter ball to be forced past the socket opening. The material used to make the socket can be polyethylene or TPE, and the ball can be made of a harder material like styrene or polypropylene. It is also possible to use a "two-shot molding" approach that allows the ball to be molded first and then automatically mold another material over the ball to form the socket. The "two-shot molding" approach has the advantage of saving an assembly step. In the foregoing discussion, it is to be understood that the above-described embodiments of the present invention are simply illustrative of various features of closures for a body fluid collection, transport or storage containers Other suitable variations, modifications and combinations of these features could be made to or used in these embodiments and still remain within the scope of the present invention

Claims: What is claimed is: 1. A closure for sealing an open end of a container comprising a socket; and a ball rotatably mounted within said socket for movement between an open position and a closed position. 2. A closure according to claim 1, wherein said ball further includes a passageway extending therethrough that is aligned with the open end of the container when said ball is in the open position and is not aligned with the open end of the container when said ball is in the closed position. 3. A closure according to claim 1, wherein said ball further includes a pair of flat surfaces on its outside surface and said socket includes a pair of flat surfaces on its inside surface that together form an axis of rotation about which said ball rotates within said socket. 4. A closure according to claim 1, further comprising means for rotating said ball between the open position and the closed position 5. A closure according to claim 4, wherein said means for rotating said ball includes a tab extending from said ball for rotatably moving said ball between the open position and the closed position. 6. A closure according to claim 5, wherein said tab rotates approximately 90 degrees to rotatably move said ball between the open position and the closed position 7. A closure according to claim 1, further comprising means for snap-fitting said closure on the open end of the container comprising an annular plug portion extending from a lower end of said socket to be received in the open end of the container 8. A closure according to claim 7, wherein said annular plug portion includes an annular groove on its outer surface that forms a snap-fit with an annular protrusion located on an inside wall of the container just within the open end 9 A closure according to claim 1 , wherein the outside surface of said ball and the inside surface of said socket form a liquid tight seal when said ball is in the closed position to prevent liquid within the container from leaking out of the container through or past said ball and said socket 10. A method of collecting a specimen comprising obtaining the specimen from a subject, inserting the specimen into a container wherein the container comprises an open end, a socket and a ball closure rotatably mounted within said socket for movement between an open position and a closed position 11 The method of claim 10 wherein the ball further comprises a passageway extending therethrough that is aligned with the open end of the container when the ball is in the open position and is not aligned with the open end of the container when the ball is in the closed position. 12 The method of claim 10 wherein the ball further comprises a pair of flat surfaces on its outside surface and the socket includes a pair of flat surfaces on its inside surface that together form an axis of rotation about which the ball rotates within the socket 13. The method of claim 1 wherein the closure further comprises a tab extending from the ball for rotably moving the ball between the open position and the closed position. 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the tab rotates approximately 90 degrees to rotatably move the ball between the open position and the closed position. 15. The method of claim 10 wherein the closure is snap-fitted on the open end of the container. 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the closure is snap-fitted by an annular plug portion extending from the socket and received in the open end of the container 17. The method of claim 16 wherein the annular plug comprises an annular groove on its outer surface that forms a snap-fit with an annular protrusion located on an inside wall of the container just within the open end. 18. The method of claim 10 wherein the outer surface of the ball and the inside surface of the socket form a liquid tight seal when the ball is in the closed position

Inventors: GRANT GARY S, GRANT, GARY, S.
Applicants: IRONWOOD IND INC, IRONWOOD INDUSTRIES, INC.
Application year: 1997
Main classification: B65D51
IPC codes: A61B5, B01L3, B65D47, B65D51, G01N33