Patent ID: 7335335

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring blood platelet contractility, comprising: a spherical rigid chamber having an opening in its upper aspect; a smaller, spherical, flexible membrane chamber, coated on its outer surface with a suitable adhesive to prevent slippage of a clot forming on said surface, placed within, concentrically and isolated from the rigid chamber, creating a void space between walls of the rigid and flexible chambers and having an opening in its upper aspect smaller than and coaxial to the opening in the rigid chamber and a first, attached contiguous tubular passage leading out of the flexible chamber concentrically and axially through the opening in the rigid chamber, creating a void space that is isolated from the void space of the flexible inner chamber; a two-way valve attached to the distal end of the tubular passage; a second tubular passage connected to the valve at one end and in perpendicular axis to the first passage; and a pressure transducer connected to the other end of the second passage wherein any force exerted on the flexible membrane chamber to alter its diameter would be measured by the pressure transducer.