Patent Number: 050846256
Section: description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the sample transporting apparatus 10 of the invention includes a bottom base portion 12, a middle storage chamber element 14, an intermediate element 16, a rotatable door 18, and a top element 20. The rotatable door 18 has a flange 19 the engages a complementary flange 21 in the top element 20. The interengaging flanges 19 and 21 facilitate rotation of the door 18 and maintain proper alignment of the door 18. Screws 22 are provided for fastening elements 12, 14, 16, and 20 together. Door 18 is freely rotatable when the apparatus 10 is fully assembled as shown in FIG. 1. Three bottom doors 24 are present in base portion 12. The bottom doors 24 are arrayed circumferentially around vertical axis 26. Registerable sample channels are present in most of the elements composing the transporter 10 of the invention. More specifically, base portion 12 has three sample channels 28 placed directly below the respective bottom doors 24. Middle storage chamber element 14 has three sample channels 30. Intermediate element 16 has three sample channels 32. The rotatable door 18 has one sample channel 33. Each bottom door 24 includes a spring 34 for biasing the door in the closed position. Each bottom door 24 also includes a stop member 36 for exerting a compressive force against one end of the spring 34 when the bottom door 24 is opened. The other end of the spring 34 is in contact with an inner wall 25 of the base portion 12. When the stop member 36 contacts the inner wall 25, the stop member 36 prevents the door 24 from moving more than a predetermined distance when closing. Both the stop member 36 and the spring 34 are located in a groove 27 located in the base portion 12. When the bottom door 24 is fully closed, the stop member 36 comes into contact with an inner wall of the groove 27. When the bottom door 24 is opened, the stop member 36 moves toward an outer wall of the groove 27 as the stop member 36 compresses the spring 34. Coaxial with the vertical axis 26, respective sparge tube channels are present in most of the elements of the transporter 10. More specifically, a sparge tube channel 38 (see cross-section in FIG. 5) is present in base portion, 12. A sparge tube channel 40 is present in middle storage chamber element 14. A sparge tube channel 42 is present in intermediate element 16. And a sparge tube channel 46 is present in top door 18. In FIG. 3, a DTA apparatus includes a base 50, a furnace tube nut assembly 52, a thermocouple support 54, a thermocouple position point 56, crucible holders 58 and 59, a sparge tube 60, and a furnace tube 61. As part of the invention, a support assembly 62 is shown for supporting the sample transporter 10 shown in FIG. 10. The support assembly 62 includes support members 64 which may be walls, struts, legs, or the like. Means (not shown) are provided for joining the support members 64 together to form a stable support assembly 62. A set screw 66 is located in one of the support members 64. By turning the set screw 66, the set screw 66 contacts the furnace tube nut assembly 52 such that the support assembly 62 is stabilized with respect to the DTA apparatus. A lock assembly 68 is located near the top of one of the support members 64. The lock assembly 68 includes a thumb screw 70 and a locking bar 72. When the transporting apparatus 10 of the invention is placed on the support assembly 62, the lock assembly 68 is used to fix the transporting apparatus 10 and the support assembly 62 together. The lock assembly 68 is unlocked to remove the transporting apparatus 10 away from the support assembly 62. The operation of the invention is described with reference to FIGS. 4-10. For radioactive samples located in a containment the transporting apparatus 10 are shown in FIGS. 4-9. The step of unloading the transporting apparatus 10 is shown in FIG. 10. In FIG. 4, a tip 74 of a hand-held scribe 76 is placed in the sample channel 33 of the top door 18. The door 18 is rotated clockwise as shown by arrow 78 until the sample channel 33 is in registration with other sample channels 28, 30, 32 as shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, the transporting apparatus 10 has been placed adjacent to a tray 75 holding a plurality of sample containers 77 which are DTA apparatus crucibles. The channel 28a of the base portion 12 is in registration with crucible 77a in the tray 75. The tip 74 of the scribe 76 is placed in an opening 78 in bottom door 24a. By pushing the scribe 76 in the direction of arrow 80, the bottom door 24a is moved against spring 34a so that there is an open passage between channel 28a and channel 30a. Therefore, with the door 24a open, there is a continuous passageway from the top of the transporting apparatus 10 to the crucible 77a. As shown in FIG. 6, as the bottom door 24a is kept open by the scribe 76, a reverse action tweezers 82 is used to retrieve the crucible 77a into the transporting apparatus 10. The crucible 77a is pulled up in the direction of arrow 84 into storage chamber 86 in the middle storage chamber element 14. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the tip 74 of the scribe 76 is removed from the opening 78, and the bottom door 24a closes by force of compressed spring 34a. With the bottom door 24a closed, the crucible 77a is retained in the storage chamber 86. As shown in FIG. 8, the scribe 76 is used to rotate the top door 18 in the direction of the arrow 88 so that the sample channel 33 of the top door 18 is no longer in registration with the sample channel 32 of the intermediate element 16. In this way, the crucible 77a is contained in the transporting apparatus 10 and is isolated from the environment surrounding the apparatus 10. As shown in FIG. 9, the transporting apparatus 10 containing the environmentally-isolated crucible 77a is lifted away from the tray 75. Then the transporting apparatus 10 is transported out of the radioactive or hazardous materials containment areas and brought to the DTA apparatus shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 10, the transporting apparatus 10 has been placed on support members 64 of the support assembly 62 (see FIG. 3 for more details). The locking bar 72 is in locking engagement with the transporting apparatus 10, and sparge tube 60 is projecting up through the passageway formed by the sparge tube channels in the transporting apparatus 10. In FIG. 10, the tip 74 of the scribe 76 has been placed in opening 78 of the bottom door 24a and has been pushed in the direction shown by arrow 90. In this way, door 24a is opened, and crucible 77a drops under the influence of gravity out of the transporting apparatus 10 into crucible holder 59. After the crucible 77a drops out of the transporting apparatus 10, the scribe 76 is removed from the apparatus 10, the bottom door 24a shuts as a result of spring bias force, the locking bar 72 is disengaged from the apparatus 10, and the apparatus 10 is lifted vertically along the sparge tube 60 until the apparatus 10 clears the sparge tube 60. After the analysis is completed, the crucible 77a is removed from DTA apparatus and loaded into the transporting apparatus 10 with tweezers 82 in a manner similar to the manner of loading the apparatus 10 in the glovebox as shown in FIGS. 4-8 discussed hereinabove. Then additional crucibles contained in the transporting apparatus 10 can be analyzed successively. After all the analyses are completed, the apparatus 10 is then transported back to the glovebox for removal of the used crucible 77a and other crucibles and possible replacement with fresh samples. The materials of which the transporting apparatus 10 is composed may be any material capable of withstanding temperatures that may be present at the sample receiving areas of the analytical apparatus. The apparatus 10 can be lead-lined to prevent radiation from escaping from the apparatus 10 into the environment. In summary, numerous benefits have been described which result from employing the principles of the invention. With the invention a transporting apparatus is provided for a radioactive sample (or sample of other hazardous material) whereby the sample remains untouched after the sample is taken and loaded into the sample transporter in a glovebox, as the sample is transported to an analytical apparatus, as the sample is analyzed, and as the analyzed sample is removed from the analytical apparatus and returned to the glovebox. By employing the invention, an apparatus is provided that effectively contains radioactive or other hazardous samples that are accidentally dropped when being transported from a glovebox to a measuring or testing apparatus. The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. For example, the sample channels can be of different sizes to accommodate different size sample crucibles or other sample containers. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best illustrate the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto.