Patent ID: 7845149

Claim:
A capper/de-capper system comprising: a rack support for supporting a rack containing a plurality of capped tubes in a given position; a head unit supporting a two-dimensional array of capping/de-capping spindles, each including a clutch and a capping/de-capping spigot or socket, the spindles being aligned with the tube positions defined in the rack; a drive mechanism for moving the tubes and head unit relatively towards and away from one another in use, when a rack containing capped tubes is disposed in the rack support, to cause engagement and disengagement of the capping/de-capping spigots or sockets with and from the tube caps; and a spindle drive system for causing simultaneous rotation of the capping/de-capping spindles and rotation of the capping/de-capping spigots or sockets, said rotation of the capping/de-capping spigots or sockets after engagement of the capping/de-capping spigots or sockets with the caps, causing either attachment of the caps to the tubes when the spindles rotate in the one direction or detachment of the caps from the tubes when the spindles rotate in the other direction, wherein each capping/de-capping spindle includes a clutch arranged to slip in the one direction when a desired given torque is exceeded, said clutches being arranged to apply a higher torque when the spindles rotate in the other direction to de-cap the tubes than when rotating in the one direction to cap the tubes and tighten each cap to the desired given torque.