Vessel holder for automated analyzer
First Claim
1. A vessel holder for receiving a plurality of vessels and holding the vessels within an analyzer, which comprises an elongate body having a base and containing a single straight row of parallelly oriented elongate chambers that are all perpendicular to the base and located at predetermined positions, adjacent chambers being separated by a partition, each chamber being configured and dimensioned for receiving one vessel that within the chamber can either be present or absent, each chamber having a first side wall and a second side wall positioned and dimensioned so that the first side wall and the second side wall in cooperation with the partitions and the base form the chamber, each side wall having an inside and an outside, the inside of the first side wall of each chamber bearing a first bar code label for detecting the absence of a vessel in the chamber, and the outside of the second side wall of each chamber bearing a second bar code label for detecting the position of the chamber in the vessel holder, the first bar code label and the second bar code label being readable from the side of the vessel holder formed by the second side walls.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vessel holder for receiving a number of vessels is useful in an automated analyzer. To increase the number of vessels which can be received in the analyzer and to simplify the device for reading bar code labels, the vessel holder has an elongate body manufactured in one piece and containing a single straight row of identical elongate chambers. Each chamber is for receiving one vessel. All chambers have a common base with respect to which they are perpendicularly disposed. Adjacent chambers are separated by a partition. The inside of a side wall of each chamber bears a first bar code label for detecting the absence of a vessel in the chamber, and the outside of a side wall of each chamber bears a second bar code label for detecting the position of the chamber in the vessel holder. The first and the second bar code labels are readable by a bar code reader from one and the same side of the vessel holder.
131 Citations
12 Claims
- 1. A vessel holder for receiving a plurality of vessels and holding the vessels within an analyzer, which comprises an elongate body having a base and containing a single straight row of parallelly oriented elongate chambers that are all perpendicular to the base and located at predetermined positions, adjacent chambers being separated by a partition, each chamber being configured and dimensioned for receiving one vessel that within the chamber can either be present or absent, each chamber having a first side wall and a second side wall positioned and dimensioned so that the first side wall and the second side wall in cooperation with the partitions and the base form the chamber, each side wall having an inside and an outside, the inside of the first side wall of each chamber bearing a first bar code label for detecting the absence of a vessel in the chamber, and the outside of the second side wall of each chamber bearing a second bar code label for detecting the position of the chamber in the vessel holder, the first bar code label and the second bar code label being readable from the side of the vessel holder formed by the second side walls.
Specification