Patent ID: 8863802

Claim:
An apparatus for automatically marking laboratory test tubes during the drawing stage of biological material to be analyzed, comprising: a plurality of vertical disposed distributors containing different types of test tubes, each distributor selecting and feeding the test tubes to a positioning device for positioning the test tubes relative to a computerized labelling machine comprised in said apparatus and containing a bar code printed on labels, each distributor comprising an automatic device for drawing and discharging a single test tube at a time from a container of test tubes of a selected distributor to said positioning device; wherein said container has two pivotally mounted doors disposed at the base of the container, as a lower opening, said test tubes being in substantial disorder inside the container, said automatic device comprising a wedge provided with an oblique surface which performs a vertical movement from bottom to top and vice versa between said two pivotally mounted doors disposed at the base of the container, said wedge entering into the container from the bottom through the lower opening of the container, said wedge remixing the test tubes, said wedge unjamming one of said test tubes, said wedge receiving said one test tube, said one test tube falling from said lower opening into a single housing of a rotor, said rotor being selectively movable according to the vertical position of the wedge, by a vertical rack, integral with the wedge and driving the rotor through a gear between a drawing position of the test tube, in which the wedge is in an upward position, and a discharging position of the test tube, in the positioning device, when the wedge is in a downward position, said oblique surface of the wedge being oblique with respect to the direction of said vertical movement, such that the top end of the wedge can be inserted between two test tubes into the container when the wedge is in the upward position, and said positioning device comprising conveyor belts straightening and moving a plurality of test tubes in the vertical position with a cap facing upwards directly fed by said distributors to said conveyor belts, to a stroke-stop point for managing the fall of test tubes one by one to a slide through which the test tube reaches a housing in the labelling machine in a correct position.