Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SPECIFICATION
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
CONTAINER FOR LIQUID SPECIMEN
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a container for
liquid specimen having cap for holding blood, urine or
other sample used in the Eield of clinical examination
or the like.
As the container for liquid specimen, hitherto,
various containers having caps are known. For example,
the following are known.
(1) As disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Utility
Model Hei. 1-148859, by placing a rubber material in the
central part of a cap, it is designed to be applicable to
the automatic analyzer of both open system by opening the
cap, and closed system for aspirating the specimen by
piercing a fine tube (syringe needle) into the rubber
material with the cap closed.
(2) As disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Patent
Hei. 2-212768, an annular seal material is intervening
to fasten the cap to the tube body with screw.
(3) As disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Patent
~lei. 1-21g561, a protuberance ~projection) is provided in
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the lower surface of a plug body (cap), so that the specimen
may be easily applied on the glass plate. However, the
protuberance is provided in the center of the lower surface
of the cap.
Before presenting (supplying) the liquid specimen for
the analyzer, the specimen in the container must be stirred
uniformly. As the method of stirring, agitation by tumbling
(inverting) is general.
If, however, the specimen in the container is small
in quantity, the motion of the specimen in the container is
excessive, and the specimen (such as blood) may be damaged.
Eiesides if a small amount of specimen is contained in a
container oE large capacity, it is not easy to handle. To
avoid this, if a container of a small volume is used for a
small amount of specimen, the size of the container may
differ in each specimen, which is inconvenient for feeding
(supplying) automatically to the automatic analyzer. It
hence gives rise to necessity of a container for liquid
specimen small only in the internal volume, while the
external shape is same as an ordinary container for
liquid specimen.
The Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Hei~ 2-27565
discloses a constitution for accommodating a container of a
small volume in a form of test tube inside of a container
having a capacity of a large volume, when using a small
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volume of reagent, but it relates to a container for reagent
for handling different amounts of reagents on a same turn-
tablel and not to a container for liquid specimen.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INV~3NTION
It is hence a primary object oE the invention to
present an easy to-use container for liquid specimen
applicable to both open system and closed system, which can
be handled same as an ordinary container for liquid specimen
and does not damage the specimen if the quantity of liquid
specimen is small.
It is other object of the invention to present a
container for liquid specimen easy to prepare a smeared
specimen applying a specimen sparingly ~thinly) on a slide
glass or the like.
To achieve the above objects, the invention presents a
container for liquid specimen comprising a cap and a tubular
container main body opened and closed by the cap, wherein
the bottom of the container main body is formed about
the middle of a tubular body.
Preferably, a cover part for covering the upper end
portion of the container main body is provided on the outer
circumference of the cap,
an elastic soft member is held at an opening provided
in the middle of the upper surface of the cap so as to
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close the opening,
a male threaded part is formed on the outer circum-
ference of the upper end portion of the container main body,
and
a female threaded part to be engaged with the male
threaded part is disposed in the inner circumference of the
cover part of the cap.
Moreover, preferably, the tubular body of the container
main body is formed of transparent material such as glass
and plastics, and a light shielding part for detecting the
presence of the container for liquid specimen is disposed
in the lower part of the tubular body. The light shielding
part is not particular~y limited as far as capable oE
attenuating (decreasing) the quantity of light so as to
be optically detected the differnce between the presence
and absence of the container for liquid specimen of the
invention.
Still more, preferably, a specimen adhering (attaching)
part extending downward is disposed at a position deviated
to the end from the middle of the lower surface of the
elastic soft member.
The container for liquid specimen of the invention is
composed so as to be applicable to the closed system when
the cap is closed, and applicable to the open system when
the cap is opened. In other words, when applicable to the
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closed system, a fine tube for aspirating a specimen such
as syringe needle is pierced into the elastic soEt member,
and the specimen is aspirated. When applicable to the open
system, the cap is opened, and the specimen aspiration pipe
is inserted from the upper opening of the container main
body, and the specimen in the container is aspirated~
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the
state of removing the cap in an embodiment of a container
for liquid specimen of the invention.
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a container for liquid
specimen having a light shielding part disposed in the lower
part of a tubular body, wi-th the cap closed, in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a partially cut-away right side view of the
cap in Fig. 1.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF T~E PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawings, some of the preferred
embodiments of the invention are described in detail below.
The invention presents, as shown in Fig. 1, a container
for liquid specimen comprising a cap 10, and a tubular
container main body 12 opened and closed by the cap l0,
wherein
the bottom 14 of the container main body 12 is formed
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about the middle of a tubular body 16.
Preferably, a cover part 18 for covering the upper end
por-tion oE the container ~ain body 12 is provided on the
outer circumference of the cap 10,
an elastic soEt member 22 is held at an opening 20
provided in the middle of the upper surface of the cap 20
so as to close the opening 20,
a male threaded part 24 is formed on the outer
circumference of the upper end portion of the container
main body 12, and
a female threaded part 26 to be engaged ~ith the male
threaded part 24 is disposed in the inner circumference of
the cover part 18 of the cap 10.
Moreover, preferably, as shown in Fig. 2, the
tubular body 16 of the container main body 12 is formed
of transparent materi:al, and a light shielding part 28 for
detecting the presence of the container for liquid specimen
is disposed in the lower part of the tubular body 16. The
light shielding part 2~ is not particularly limited as far
as capable of attenuating (decreasing) the quantity of light
so as to be optically detected the difference between the
presence and absence of the container for liquid specimen
of the invention.
Still more, preferably, as shown in Fig. 1, a specimen
adhering (attaching) part 34 extending downward is disposed
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at a position deviated to the end from -the middle of the
lower surface of the elastic soEt member 22.
The containe~ for liquid specimen of the invention is
composed so as to be applicable to the closed syste~ when the
cap 10 is closed, and applicable to the open system when the
cap 10 is opened. In other words; when applicable to the
closed system, a fine tube for aspiratin~ a specimen such as
syringe needle is pierced into the elastic soft member 22,
and the specimen is aspirated. When applicable to the open
system, the cap 10 is opened, and the specimen aspiration
pipe is inserted from the upper opening of the container
main body 12, and the specimen is aspirated.
The container for liquid specimen of the invention has,
so to speak, a raised bottom, and the volume for accommodat-
ing the specimen is smaller than conventional container.
However, consecutively to the bottom 14 of the container
main body, the tubular body is left over unchanged, and
therefore the overall dimensions as the container for liquid
specimen are same as conventional container.
Moreover, by composing the tubular body 16 of transparent
material and disposing the light shielding part 28 in the
lower part of the tubular body 16, when detecting the
presence or absence of the container for liquid specimen
by presence or absence of transmission of the light as
disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Sho.
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63-141455, since the light is shielded and does not reach
up to the photo detector, the presence of the container
for liquid specimen is detected. Besides, the presence of
specimen in the container is also detectecl. Without the
light shielding part 28, however, the light passes thro~gh
the tubular body 16 and reaches the photo detector, and it
is judged that the container for liquid specimen is absent.
In the case of an ordinary (conventional) containex for
liquid specimen with bottom, since the light is refracted
by the curved portion of the container bottom, the light
does not reach up to the photo detector.
When the specimen adhering part 34 is disposed, the
specimen sticks (attaches) to the specimen adhering part 34.
Accordingly, by removing the cap 10 and causing the lower
end of the specimen adhering part 34 to contact with the
slide glass, the specimen may be depositsd. Hence, a
smeared specimen may be prepared. Since the specimen
adhering part 34 is not provided in the center of the cap,
when applicable to the closed system, it does not interEere
in the event of piercing the fine tube for aspirating the
specimen (in the case of prior art (3), since the pro-
tuberance (projection) is provided in the middle of the
lower surface of the plug ~cap) body, it interferes such
operation).
Fig. 1 is a side sectional view showing an embodiment
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of the container Eor liquid specimen of the invention. Fig.
2 is an overall perspective view of -the container for liquid
specimen with the cap closed.
The cap 10 is made of synthetic resin, and the elastic
soft member 22 is made of rubber. The container main body
12 lS made of transparent glass or transparent synthetic
resln.
The rubber material of the elastic soft member 22 (also
called rubber member 22) is fitted to the cap 10 in such a
manner as to hold the opening 20 provided in the center of
the cap from both sides with bumps (clipping pieces) 30, 32.
When the cap 10 is screwed into the container main body 10,
the bump 32 of the rubber member is intervening between the
cap 10 and the container main body 12, and the inside of the
container is kept airtight.
In the case of the closed system, the container for
liquid specimen kept airtight by the cap 10 is repeatedly
tumbled up and down to stir the content, and is finalIy held
with the cap 10 side down, and the fine tube for aspirating
the specimen in a form of a syringe needle is pierced into
the central part of the rubber member 22, so that the
specimen in the container is aspirated.
In the case of the open system, the cap 10 is manually
detached from the container main body 12, and the specimen
aspiration pipe is inserted from the upper opening, and the
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specimen is aspirated.
The rubber member 22 has a annular skirt 33 extending
downward so as to contact tightly with the upper inner wall
of the container main body 12 when the cap 10 is closed.
From the lower end of the skirt 33, the specimen adhering
part 34 for attaching a small amounk of specimen is
projected.
Fig. 3 is a partially cut-away right side view of the
cap in Fig. 1. In this embodiment, the lower end part 36
of the specimen adhering part 34 is slightly thick (broad).
This is intended to widen the surface area and increase the
specimen adhering amount. The area of the lower end part 36
may be properly determined.
Besides, as disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Patent
Hei. 1-219561, a groove for holding the specimen may be
provided at the lower end of the specimen adhering part 34.
When preparing a smeared specimen, holding the cap 10
by hand, it is turned and detached from the conkainer main
body 12, and the specimen adhered ko khe specimen adhering
part 34 is deposited on the slide glass plate. Because of
the cover part 18, the specimen will never attach to the
hand when opening the cap 10.
Meanwhile, since the specimen adhering part 34 is
deviated from the center of the cap 10 and is directly
drooping, it does not interfere when piercing the fine
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tube for aspiraitng the specimen in a form of a syringe
needle in the closed system.
Incidentally, as shown in Fig. 2, the light shielding
part 28 in the lower part of the tubular body 16 Ls disposed
around the tubular body. Symbols P, D are respectively a
light emitting device such as light emitt.ing diode, and
a photo detector such as photo transistor. The light
shielding part 28 is not particularly defined as far as
it is capable of attenuating (decreasing) the transmission
light of the wavelength in the detection region of light
emitting device P and photo detector D. Any material that
scatters light may be used. Practically, it may be made of
ground ~frosted) glass or may be colored ~for example, in
red).
The container for liquid specimen of the invention is
thus composed, and hence brings about the following effects.
(1) The container main body is in a tubular form, with
the bottom provided about the middle of the tubular body in
a, so to speak, raised bottom style, the volume of the
container is smaller than conventional container, and even
a small amount of specimen will not be damaged by stirring.
Besides, it is easier to use. What is more, since the outer
proEile o the container is same as conventional container,
there is no problem even if presenting (supplying) the
container to a sampler (a device for feeding a sample to
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the analyzer). In addition, it is applicable to both
closed system and open system.
(2) When ins-talling a light shielding part in the lower
part of the tubular body, it is judged that the specimen
is present in a sampler having a function for detcting the
presence or ahsence of container for liquid specimen, and
therefore it can be used same as an ordinary (conventional)
container for li~uid specimen, and it is very useful.
(3) Since the specimen adhering part for preparing a
smeared specimen is located off the center of the cap, the
~: specimen may be aspirated by piercing a fine tube without
any difficulty when applicable to the closed system.
Having described preferred embodiments of the
invention with reference to the accompanying drawings,
it is to be understood that the invention is not limited
to those precise embodiments, and that various changes
and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled
in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of
the invention as defined in the appended claims.
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