BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art rack for specimen sample containers;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a specimen sample rack according to the present invention;
FIGS. 3-11 are views of components of the FIG. 2 rack, wherein:
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the base portion of the rack,
FIG. 4 is a front face view of the base portion of FIG. 3,
FIG. 5 is an end view of the base portion of FIG. 3, the end being the left end of the FIG. 4 view,
FIG. 6 is a top view of the base portion of FIG. 3,
FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the base portion of FIG. 3,
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the base portion taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 6,
FIG. 9 is an enlarged detailed view of the right end of FIG. 6,
FIG. 10 is an enlarged detailed view of the bottom of FIG. 5,
FIG. 11 is an enlarged detailed view of the right end of FIG. 7 of the base portion;
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the specimen sample rack as may be used with containers and pipettes; and
FIG. 13 is a simplified cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 8, illustrating the rack with the cover member with a tube being moved into the rack shown in phantom.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIGS. 2-12 illustrate a specimen sample rack 100 in accordance with the present invention.
Specifically, the rack includes a frame 102 having a longitudinally extending bottom base member 104 which has a row of spaced open top recesses 106 adapted to receive capped containers or tubes 110 (see FIG. 12). Vertical supports 114 at the ends of the row of recesses 106 fix a top or cover member 120 above the base member 104. Intermediate supports 118 are also provided to ensure that the cover member is maintained in its supported position substantially parallel to the base member 104. It should be appreciated that the cover member 120 may be permanently fixed to the supports 114, 118 if desired, as normal operation as described below will not require removal of the cover.
The cover member 120 has openings 124 therethrough smaller than the capped tubes 110 so that the capped tubes 110 cannot fit through the openings 124.
A wall 130 is along one longitudinal side between the base member 104 and the cover member 120. The other longitudinal side between the base member 104 and the cover member 120 is open.
Support fingers 134 extend horizontally from the wall 130 toward the open longitudinal side and are vertically aligned between the recesses 106. As a result, as shown in FIG. 12 and as further described below, capped tubes 110 may be secured in a generally vertical direction in a vertical plane extending longitudinally in the direction of the base member 104.
Openings 136 are provided in the side wall 130 aligned with each of the base member recesses 106. These openings 136 allow for optical scanners to readily detect, from behind the wall 130, whether or not a tube 110 is present in each of the various tube positions defined by the recesses 106. The open side of the frame 102 also permits easy access for optical reading of labels on any tubes 110 which may extend along the tube 110 more than the height of the openings 136.
In addition, slots may be provided in the wall 130 (one such slot 138 is shown in phantom in FIG. 6 associated with three base member recesses 106). Such slots 138 provide access to the tubes 110 to enable the tube tops to be pushed to facilitate tipping the tubes 110 out away from the wall 130 for removal.
The base member 104 also includes a suitable structure allowing the rack 100 to be readily mounted on a deck of a testing device or machine. Specifically, as illustrated particularly in FIGS. 7, 10 and 11, a dovetailed groove 140 extends along the bottom of the base member 104 and is adapted to receive a similar dovetailed projection from the device deck. Further, the groove 140 at the forward end (the right end in FIGS. 2-4) of the rack 100 is flared outwardly (see FIG. 11) to facilitate mounting by sliding the rack 100 longitudinally onto projections on the deck. The cover member 120 includes a handle 144 which extends beyond the vertical support 114 at the rear of the rack 100. A user can assemble capped tubes 110 in the rack 100 on a benchtop and then, grasping the handle 144, carry the rack to the device and slide the rack 100 longitudinally onto the deck, with the flared forward end of the groove 140 facilitating such mounting by helping to guide the projections into the groove 140 as the rack 100 is slid over them. Of course, it should be appreciated that the deck projections could be a plurality of longitudinally aligned and spaced dovetail projections, or could consist of a single longitudinally aligned dovetailed rail. Moreover, still other types of connection between the rack and the deck could be used while advantageously using other aspects of the invention.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the base member 104 and cover member 120 are vertically spaced a distance sufficient to permit tipped capped tubes (see tube 110a in FIG. 12) to be moved into the frame 102 with the tipped tubes then dropped into the recesses 106 and tipped back to an upright vertical position. For example, the cover member 120 may be spaced above the base member 104 by a distance X, with the recesses 106 sized to receive a tube 110 moved therein at an angle θ from vertical, where the capped tubes 110 have a height no greater than about X when tilted at an angle θ from vertical.
Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 13, it should be appreciated that a tube 110 which is too tall to fit into the rack would hit the cover member 120 when it has its lower end aligned with a base member recess 106 when it is at an angle θ from vertical. That angle θ can be characterized as the minimum tilt angle, in that it is the smallest angle which a tube of maximum acceptable height may be tipped during moving into the rack 100 before the uppermost corner 146 (see FIG. 13) of the tipped tube 110 will move under the cover member 120 (or the upper end of a tube which is too tall would hit the cover member 120). The maximum tube height when tilted the angle θ is thus the height from the bottom-most part 148 of the tube 110 to the uppermost corner 146, which includes a small amount allowing for any curvature of the bottom of the tube 110 which may begin to extend slightly into the base member recess 106 even when axially misaligned from the recess 106 by the angle θ as illustrated in FIG. 13. The maximum tube height is thus X, or more precisely “about X” which includes the small allowance for curvature of the tube bottom 148 as mentioned above.
In addition to the spacing between the base member 104 and cover member 120 relative to the capped tube 110 height, the recesses 106 may be shaped so that in addition to tipping the tubes 110 upright, the bottoms of the tubes 110 may be able to move down into the recesses 106 as the tubes 110 are tipped upright and before the tops of the tubes 110 would interfere with the cover member 120. In that case, the capped tubes 110 might have a height even slightly greater than X when tilted at an angle θ from vertical.
Moreover, the recesses 106 may have a shape and depth sufficient to support a capped tube therein in an upright vertical position.
As a result of this configuration, the tubes 110 may be readily moved into the rack 100 notwithstanding the presence of the cover member 120 while such assembly occurs. Thus, the tubes 110 may all be assembled in the rack 100 without requiring that a user spend time removing and replacing such a cover, all while permitting operation whereby pipettes 150 (see FIG. 12) may be moved into the capped tubes 110 by piercing their caps with the cover member 120 still preventing the tubes 110 from being inadvertently pulled up out of the rack 110 should the pipette 150 stick in the pierced tube cap (see tube 110b in FIG. 12). Moreover, such operation is accomplished by use of one or more racks 100 which may be readily accessed in order to, for example, optically scan for the presence of tubes 110.
Still other aspects, objects, and advantages of the present invention can be obtained from a study of the specification, the drawings, and the appended claims. It should be understood, however, that the present invention could be used in alternate forms where less than all of the objects and advantages of the present invention and preferred embodiment as described above would be obtained.
Patent Application
20080075634
