Claims
- 1. A pipette tip for use in a dispense head apparatus having a dispense block head, comprising an elongated upper tapered portion at one end and a lower tapered portion at the other end, said upper tapered portion and lower tapered portion being separated by a disk-shaped ring portion having lower and upper surfaces, said lower surface of said disk-shaped ring portion of said pipette tip adapted to have an upward axial force applied thereto whereby said pipette tip is axially loaded into said dispense block head.
- 2. The pipette tip of claim 1, further including means for stripping said pipette tip from said dispense block head by applying a downward axial force to said upper surface of said disk-shaped ring portion.
- 3. The dispense block head of claim 2 wherein an internal cylinder having an internal sealing surface contacts said upper tapered portion of said pipette tip to form a hermetic seal between said upper tapered portion and said internal sealing surface when said pipette tip is axially loaded into said dispense block head.
- 4. The pipette tip of claim 1 wherein said tip is molded of plastic material, said upper tapered portion of said pipette tip being axially forced into said internal cylinders causing the said upper tapered portion to be displaced in a manner to conform to the said internal sealing surface of said internal cylinders forming a hermetic seal.
- 5. Apparatus for sealing pipette tips to a plurality of internal cylinders formed in a dispense block head as part of a aspirating and dispensing apparatus comprising:
a pipette tip box carrier having a pipette tip box thereon with a plurality of said pipette tips arrayed therein; a movable pipette tip box tray carrier loading plate coupled to said pipette tip box tray carrier; and means to effect an upward movement of said movable pipette tip box tray carrier loading plate thereby pulling said pipette tip box carrier towards said dispense block head, said upward movement of said pipette tip box carrier applying an axial force to said pipette tips such that they are displaced into said internal cylinders in said dispense block head to form a hermetic seal between said pipette tips and said corresponding internal cylinders within said dispense block head.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein each of said pipette tips comprise an elongated upper tapered portion and a elongated lower tapered portion separated by a disk-shaped ring portion having upper and lower surfaces.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said pipette tip box carrier applies force to said lower surface of said disk-shaped ring portion whereby said upper elongated tapered portion is forced into the sealing array with said corresponding internal cylinders in said dispensing block head forming a hermetic seal.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the bottom surface of said movable pipette tip box tray carrier loading plate has an inclined surface pocket and a floating stripper plate in operative engagement with said movable pipette tip box tray carrier loading plate and is positioned to engage the upper surface of said disk-shaped ring portion.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the downward movement of said movable pipette tip box tray carrier loading plate causes said floating stripper plate to engage said inclined surface pocket on the said bottom surface of said movable pipette tip box tray carrier loading plate and to conform with the angle of said inclined surface pocket.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said floating stripper plate engages the said upper surface of each of said disk-shaped ring portions in accordance with the angle of the said inclined surface pocket whereby said pipette tips are removed from said dispense block head, serially, one row at a time.
- 11. The dispense block head of claim 3 wherein an array of said internal cylinders are formed therein and adapted to be hermetically sealed with a corresponding array of said pipette tips.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This is a continuation application of application Ser. No. 09/442,500, filed Nov. 18, 1999, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/056,880, filed Apr. 9, 1998.
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09442500 |
Nov 1999 |
US |
Child |
10027448 |
Dec 2001 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09056880 |
Apr 1998 |
US |
Child |
09442500 |
Nov 1999 |
US |