Patent ID: 8052403

Claim:
A peristaltic pump apparatus comprising: a support section; a rotor mounted for rotation on said support section; a pair of spaced apart cam elements attached to and extending from said rotor; a drive mechanism for rotatably operating said rotor such that said cam elements are turned together with said rotor; first and second mounting sheaves immovably fastened to said support section, each mounting sheave including a hub and a peripheral groove that surrounds said hub; an elongate, resilient tube for conducting liquid therethrough, said tube including leading and trailing tube segments and an intermediate tube segment formed longitudinally therebetween, said leading segment being retainably inserted in said groove and wrapped about said hub of said first sheave and said trailing segment being retainably inserted in said groove and wrapped about said hub of said second sheave to hold said intermediate segment of said tube for being operatively engaged by said cam elements as said rotor is operated; and a pair of retainer elements, each said retainer element attached to said support section adjacent to a respective sheave and spaced apart from a peripheral edge of said respective sheave by a distance less than the normal diameter of said tube for holding said leading and trailing segments of said tube in respective said grooves of said sheaves, said intermediate segment of said tube having an exterior surface that is engaged exclusively by said cam elements during operation of said rotor, whereby liquid is pumped peristaltically through said intermediate segment of said tube from said trailing segment to said leading segment.