Sample sucking pipe and method for manufacturing same

• US 5,969,272 A
• Filed: 03/14/1997
• Issued: 10/19/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sysmex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sysmex Corporation
• Inventors: Tanaka, Shuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): RAEVIS, ROBERT R
• Application Number:
  US08/815,011
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• Field of Search: 73/863.31-863.33, 73/864.01, 73/864.21-864.25, 422/100, 138/115
• US Class Current: 73/864.24
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/06 Body-piercing guide needles or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/1079 with means for piercing stoppers or septums

Abstract

There is disclosed a sample sucking pipe the manufacture of which is easy and which is also advantageous costwise, whose strength is relatively great and whose usage life is long and with which it is possible to prevent the occurrence of trouble such as dust clogging and sample leakage. There is also disclosed a method for manufacturing the same. A sample sucking pipe P is for sucking samples of blood contained in a sample vessel T through a rubber cap C, and is made up of a sucking pipe 10, a venting pipe 20 and a holding piece 30. The pipes 10, 20 are made of the same stainless steel. The holding piece 30 is made of polyacetal resin. The pipes 10, 20 are disposed parallel with each other with their tip ends aligned and then integrated by welding carried out along the tip end portion of the contacting part of their walls. A sucking opening 13 and a venting opening 23 are provided in the walls of the pipes 10, 20 respectively and, on the tip end side of these openings, the pipe passageways of the pipes 10, 20 are closed with rod-like members made of the same material as the pipes.

Claims

1. A sample sucking pipe structure adapted to pierce through a cap of a sample vessel both to vent the vessel and to suck a portion of a sample in the vessel the sucking structure comprising:

a first metal pipe for sucking having a closed portion at a tip end of its pipe passageway and a non-closed portion of its pipe passageway serving as a sample passageway and having in its wall a side-facing sucking opening communicating with the sample passageway;

a second metal pipe for venting having a closed portion at a tip end of its pipe passageway and a non-closed portion of its pipe passageway serving as a venting passageway and having in its wall a side-facing venting opening communicating with the venting passageway;

the first and second pipes disposed parallel to and in contact with each other and bonded together to form an integrated pipe unit, and having diagonal cut surfaces formed at a tip end of the integrated pipe for piercing the vessel cap; and

each of the sucking opening and the venting opening disposed in a location shifted from a generatrix of the associated pipe extending from an end of the major axis of the diagonal cut surface of the associated pipe.

2. A sample sucking pipe structure according to claim 1, wherein the two pipes are both made of the same material and the closed portion is formed by inserting a rod-like member made of the same material into the tip end and bonding.

3. A sample sucking pipe structure according to claim 1, wherein the diagonal cut surfaces form a cap piercing point at a tip end of the unified tip portion and extend from the piercing point along the respective closed pipe tip portions for a selected extent, and the diagonal cut surfaces are peripherally displaced about the integrated pipe unit relative to respective peripheral positions of the side-facing sucking and venting openings.

4. A sample sucking pipe structure according to claim 3 wherein the diagonal cut surfaces are disposed back-to-back.

5. A sample sucking pipe structure according to claim 3, wherein the diagonal cut surfaces are formed substantially in symmetry.

6. A sample sucking pipe structure according to claim 1, wherein each of the sucking opening and the venting opening is disposed on a generatrix of the associated pipe extending from an end of the minor axis of the diagonal cut surface of the associated pipe.

7. A sample sucking pipe structure according to claim 1, further comprising two triangular prism-like members formed of the same material as the two pipes, wherein

each of the triangular prism-like members includes a concave curved surface having substantially the same curvature as a side wall of one of the pipes and a concave curved surface having substantially the same curvature as a side wall of the other of the pipes, the two curved surfaces being adjacent to each other at a ridgeline, and

the two triangular prism-like members are arranged along and in close contact with the two pipes at a sidewall of at least a tip end portion of the pipes with the ridgelines of the triangular prism-like members facing each other and are integrated with the pipes by bonding, whereby a transversal cross section of at least the tip end portion of the sample sucking pipe is shaped substantially like an ellipse.

8. A sample sucking pipe structure according to claim 1, wherein the bonding is performed by electric resistance welding.