Capillary pins for high-efficiency microarray printing device
First Claim
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1. A microarray print head, said print head comprising:
- a plurality of spotting capillaries disposed in a support that permits the spotting capillaries to move in a direction parallel to the long axis of said capillaries, wherein said capillaries are disposed through a top and bottom wall of a vacuum chamber and can move or slide along their long axis with respect to said vacuum chamber, and where said capillaries are coupled to pistons disposed through a top wall of a said vacuum chamber;
a port in said vacuum chamber to which a vacuum can be applied;
wherein said pistons and capillaries are disposed such that increasing the vacuum in said chamber increases a force holding the pistons into the chamber and thereby increases resistance of said capillaries to deflection through said vacuum chamber away from a printing substrate.
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Abstract
This invention provides improved components (e.g. array “pins”, print head, substrate platen, print head platen, and the like) for microarray printing devices as well as microarray printing devices incorporating such components. In one embodiment, this invention provides a microarray print head comprising a plurality of glass or quartz spotting capillaries disposed in a support that maintains a fixed spacing between the spotting capillaries and that permits the spotting capillaries to move in a direction parallel to the long axis of the capillaries.
80 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A microarray print head, said print head comprising:
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a plurality of spotting capillaries disposed in a support that permits the spotting capillaries to move in a direction parallel to the long axis of said capillaries, wherein said capillaries are disposed through a top and bottom wall of a vacuum chamber and can move or slide along their long axis with respect to said vacuum chamber, and where said capillaries are coupled to pistons disposed through a top wall of a said vacuum chamber; a port in said vacuum chamber to which a vacuum can be applied; wherein said pistons and capillaries are disposed such that increasing the vacuum in said chamber increases a force holding the pistons into the chamber and thereby increases resistance of said capillaries to deflection through said vacuum chamber away from a printing substrate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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Specification