Patent ID: 6883535

Claim:
A liquid handling apparatus, comprising: a compliant base having a tapered outer diameter suitable for mating with an inner diameter of a container opening so as to form a generally airtight seal therewith, said compliant base further including a pair of through-holes, wherein a first through-hole is itself tapered, with its larger inner diameter at a top of the compliant base, such that the taper facilitates a user's insertion of a length of fluid intake tubing having a first end inserted through the first through-holes in said compliant base, so as to form an air-tight connection at a lower end of the through-hole between the fluid intake tubing and the base; and a vacuum pump, said vacuum pump being releasably inserted into an upper end of a second one of said through-holes in an airtight manner, the pump being suitable for producing a negative pressure within the container the pump is operated by a user; wherein a second end of the fluid intake tubing is inserted into a liquid reservoir and where operation of the pump by the user creates a negative pressure sufficient to draw the liquid from a liquid reservoir into the container.