Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080286157 | LOCKING PIPETTE TIP AND MOUNTING SHAFT - In one aspect, the invention relates to a pipette tip mounting shaft configuration and a disposable pipette tip having a matching configuration. The mounting shaft includes a locking section located above a lower sealing section. The locking section has outwardly extending locking lobes located above a stop member and a lower sealing section located below the stop member. In certain embodiments, the diameter of the mounting shaft below the stop member is reduced in order to lessen insertion and ejection forces, which is particularly helpful for hand-held multi-channel pipettors. In these embodiments, the lower sealing section contains either a frustoconical sealing section, or an annular groove and a sealing ring, such as a flouroelastomeric O-ring seal. When the mounting shaft is fully inserted into the collar of the mating disposable pipette tip, the tip locks onto the mounting shaft. The bore of the pipette tip includes a circumferential shelf or shoulder separating its upper collar from the tip sealing area which is located below the circumferential shelf. The tip collar preferably includes a locking ring located at or near the upper opening for the mounting shaft. The dimensions of the collar, and in particular the distance between its circumferential shelf and the locking ring, are selected to match the dimensions of the mounting shaft between the stop member and the upper end of the locking lobes, thus locking the pipette tip in a secure, reliable position and orientation while using ergonomic insertion and ejection forces. The locking lobes preferably include a ramp portion that gently flexes and distorts the pipette tip collar out of round as the mounting shaft is inserted in the pipette tip, rather than stretching the tip collar. The circumferential shelf on the pipette tip between the tip collar and the barrel isolates the sealing area at the upper end of the barrel from distortion, thus facilitating reliable sealing engagement between the lower sealing section of the mounting shaft and the sealing ring in the upper end of the barrel of the pipette tip. | 11-20-2008 |
20090071266 | ELECTRONIC PIPETTOR ASSEMBLY - A hand-held electronic pipettor is designed particularly to be programmed and operated with one hand for the convenience of the user. It uses a capacitance touchpad control for programming, and a separate run button for the operating mode. Internal components are located so that the center of gravity of the pipettor is located within the palm of the user. Flash memory stores an empirically derived table that correlates aspiration volume to motor steps and a separate empirically derived table the correlates dispensing volumes to motor steps. | 03-19-2009 |
20090071267 | PIPETTE TIP EJECTION MECHANISM - An ejection mechanism for a hand-held pipettor provides for varying degrees of mechanical advantage along the stroke of the ejector button. The ejection mechanism can be used for either hand-held single channel pipettors or hand-held multi-channel pipettors having manually actuated ejection mechanisms. | 03-19-2009 |
20090117009 | MULTI-CHANNEL ELECTRONIC PIPETTOR - A multi-channel electronic pipettor has a removable lower multi-channel assembly to facilitate autoclaving. The pipettor includes a position holding mechanism which allows adjustment of the angular position of the lower multi-channel assembly with respect to the handle assembly. The lower multi-channel assembly includes a cylinder block including a plurality of aspiration cylinders along with a plurality of pistons, a series of pipette tip mounting shafts and a manifold to communicate between the aspiration cylinders and the air passageways in the pipette tip mounting shafts, among other components. The volume of the air passageways in the manifold is balanced among channels to improve tip-to-tip pipetting accuracy. In addition, the lower multi-channel assembly includes an internal frame to which the other components, such as a cylinder block, are attached either directly or indirectly. | 05-07-2009 |
20090196797 | Electronic Pipettor With Improved Accuracy - A hand-held electronic pipettor is designed particularly to be programmed and operated with one hand for the convenience of the user. It uses a capacitance touchpad control for programming, and a separate run button for the operating mode. Internal components are located so that the center of gravity of the pipettor is located within the palm of the user. Flash memory stores an empirically derived table that correlates aspiration volume to motor steps and a separate empirically derived table the correlates dispensing volumes to motor steps. | 08-06-2009 |
20090274587 | MULTI-CHANNEL PIPETTOR WITH REPOSITIONABLE TIPS - A hand-held, multi-channel pipettor has an electronically controlled motor to reposition pipette tips for different center to center spacing. Each repositionable tip fitting assembly has a cam following pin that is driven by cam tracks in a motor driven roller drum. Stationary ports for the multiple aspiration cylinders are strategically placed to simplify management of flexible tubes leading to the repositionable pipette tip fitting assemblies. The pipettor has a user interface that can be operated conveniently by one hand to reposition pipette tips. It has a pipette tip ejection mechanism with a sinusoidal stripper bar. | 11-05-2009 |
20100034706 | Disposable Pipette Tip - In one aspect, the invention relates to a pipette tip mounting shaft configuration and a disposable pipette tip having a matching configuration. The mounting shaft includes a locking section located above a lower sealing section. The locking section has outwardly extending locking lobes located above a stop member and a lower sealing section located below the stop member. In certain embodiments, the diameter of the mounting shaft below the stop member is reduced in order to lessen insertion and ejection forces, which is particularly helpful for hand-held multi-channel pipettors. In these embodiments, the lower sealing section contains either a frustoconical sealing section, or an annular groove and a sealing ring, such as a flouroelastomeric O-ring seal. When the mounting shaft is fully inserted into the collar of the mating disposable pipette tip, the tip locks onto the mounting shaft. The bore of the pipette tip includes a circumferential shelf or shoulder separating its upper collar from the tip sealing area which is located below the circumferential shelf. The tip collar preferably includes a locking ring located at or near the upper opening for the mounting shaft. The dimensions of the collar, and in particular the distance between its circumferential shelf and the locking ring, are selected to match the dimensions of the mounting shaft between the stop member and the upper end of the locking lobes, thus locking the pipette tip in a secure, reliable position and orientation while using ergonomic insertion and ejection forces. The locking lobes preferably include a ramp portion that gently flexes and distorts the pipette tip collar out of round as the mounting shaft is inserted in the pipette tip, rather than stretching the tip collar. The circumferential shelf on the pipette tip between the tip collar and the barrel isolates the sealing area at the upper end of the barrel from distortion, thus facilitating reliable sealing engagement between the lower sealing section of the mounting shaft and the sealing ring in the upper end of the barrel of the pipette tip. | 02-11-2010 |
20110076205 | Pipette Tip Mounting Shaft - A pipette tip mounting shaft includes outwardly circumferentially extending locking lobes over which the pipette tip collar is mounted. The locking lobes preferably include an inclining ramp portion that gently flexes and distorts the pipette tip collar out-of-round as the mounting shaft is inserted into the pipette tip, rather than the stretching tip collar. Each locking lobe also includes a declining ramp portion which extends upward along the mounting shaft. The peak of the lobes is preferably curved. When the pipette tip is fully mounted on the mounting shaft, a locking ring on the inside surface of the tip collar engages the declining ramp of the lobes to provide an over-center engagement, however, the required ejection force is small. | 03-31-2011 |
20110268627 | Manually Directed, Multi-Channel Electronic Pipetting System - A manually directed, multi-channel electronic pipetting system is designed to transfer liquids from a standard multi-well plate, deep-well plate or reservoir into another multi-well plate. The preferred pipetting head includes an array of 96-tip fittings. A deck with at least one but preferably two or more wellplate nesting receptacles holds one or more multi-well plates or reagent reservoirs for access by an array of disposable pipette tips mounted to the pipetting head. The electronic motion control system includes a control handle that is mounted to a load cell, the carriage for the pipetting head and is held in the palm of the user. In use, the user grasps the control handle and operates the system in a manner similar to one using a handheld electronic pipettor. | 11-03-2011 |
20110268628 | Unintended Motion Control For Manually Directed Multi-Channel Electronic Pipettor - A manually directed, electronic multi-channel pipettor uses servo controlled motors to drive a carriage and pipetting head in response to a user's manipulation of a control handle. The pipetting head include an array of tip fittings, e.g. | 11-03-2011 |
20110311410 | Programmable Multi-Channel Pipettor with Repositionable Tips - A hand-held, multi-channel pipettor has an electronically controlled motor to reposition pipette tips for different center to center spacing. Each repositionable tip fitting assembly has a cam following pin that is driven by cam tracks in a motor driven roller drum. Stationary ports for the multiple aspiration cylinders are strategically placed to simplify management of flexible tubes leading to the repositionable pipette tip fitting assemblies. The pipettor has a user interface that can be operated conveniently by one hand to reposition pipette tips. It has a pipette tip ejection mechanism with a sinusoidal stripper bar. | 12-22-2011 |
20120164037 | Multi-Channel Pipettor with Variably Repositionable Tips - A hand-held, multi-channel pipettor has an electronically controlled motor to reposition pipette tips for different center to center spacing. Each repositionable tip fitting assembly has a cam following pin that is driven by cam tracks in a motor driven roller drum. Stationary ports for the multiple aspiration cylinders are strategically placed to simplify management of flexible tubes leading to the repositionable pipette tip fitting assemblies. The pipettor has a user interface that can be operated conveniently by one hand to reposition pipette tips. It has a pipette tip ejection mechanism with a sinusoidal stripper bar. | 06-28-2012 |
20130306155 | Method of using a disposable pipette tip - The pipetting method is directed to mounting and ejecting a disposable pipette tip. The pipetting system has one or more tip mounting shafts with an upper locking section and a lower sealing section. The upper locking section has outwardly extending lobes spaced around the mounting shaft and located above a stop member. The lower sealing section on the tip mounting shaft is located below the stop. As the mounting shaft is inserted into the collar of the disposable pipette, the collar distorts out of round and engages the lobes on the upper locking section of the tip mounting shaft. Contemporaneously, the lower sealing section of the mounting shaft seals against the barrel of the disposable pipette tip. | 11-21-2013 |
20150030513 | Multi-Channel Pipettor with Repositionable Tips - A hand-held, multi-channel pipettor has an electronically controlled motor to reposition pipette tips for different center to center spacing. Each repositionable tip fitting assembly has a cam following pin that is driven by cam tracks in a motor driven roller drum. Stationary ports for the multiple aspiration cylinders are strategically placed to simplify management of flexible tubes leading to the repositionable pipette tip fitting assemblies. The pipettor has a user interface that can be operated conveniently by one hand to reposition pipette tips. It has a pipette tip ejection mechanism with a sinusoidal stripper bar. | 01-29-2015 |
20150086447 | Locking pipette tip and mounting shaft and hand-held manual pipette - The pipetting method is directed to mounting and ejecting a disposable pipette tip. The pipetting system has one or more tip mounting shafts with an upper locking section and a lower sealing section. The upper locking section has outwardly extending lobes spaced around the mounting shaft and located above a stop member. The lower sealing section on the tip mounting shaft is located below the stop. As the mounting shaft is inserted into the collar of the disposable pipette, the collar distorts out of round and engages the lobes on the upper locking section of the tip mounting shaft. Contemporaneously, the lower sealing section of the mounting shaft seals against the barrel of the disposable pipette tip. | 03-26-2015 |