Automatic sedimentation rate recorder

Claim 2

Apparatus for automatically timing and recording sedimentation rate and similar tests of fluid samples for a selected test period, comprising an axially elongated, vertically disposed exposure source for emitting selected radiant energy, an axially elongated light-transmissive sample container tube for holding a quantity of a fluid sample in a test zone thereof, an elongated recording strip of material responsive to said radiant energy for recording an image indicative of the location of the boundary layer, said exposure source and recording strip having a height to span said test zone, holder means for removably supporting said container tube and recording strip in a fixed vertical position with the tube between said source and strip and the axes of said tube and source in parallelism in a vertical plane intercepting said strip to record an image in said strip indicating the location of said boundary layer upon activation of said source, and control circuit means including electrical timing circuitry operable substantially concurrently with insertion of the container tube in said holder means for timing said test period including means for producing pulses and counter means for counting said pulses and producing an exposure signal upon attainment of a selected pulse count corresponding to said selected period, and exposure circuit means responsive to said exposure signal to energize said exposure source to emit said radiant energy for recording said image.

Claim 3

Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said exposure source is a high-intensity flashlamp, and said recording strip is responsive to momentary energization of said flash lamp to record said image.

Claim 4

Apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein said flashlamp includes a first pair of electrodes for arming the same and a third trigger electrode to fire the flashlamp, and said exposure circuit means includes means for developing a high voltage charge in excess of several hundred volts to be applied across said first pair of electrodes of said flashlamp and includes a trigger circuit activated responsive to said exposure signal to apply a trigger voltage to said third electrode to fire the flashlamp.

Claim 5

Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for producing pulses is an electronic pulse generator circuit for producing clock pulses at a selected uniform pulse repetition rate and said counter means comprises a series of counter circuits responsive to said clock pulses to produce said exposure signal upon counting a number of said clock pulses corresponding to the duration of an appropriate standing period for said sample to enable a boundary layer of opaque matter to form therein appropriate for determination of the proportion of said opaque matter in said sample.

Claim 6

Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for producing pulses is an electronic pulse generator circuit for producing clock pulses at a rate of one pulse per second responsive to a pulsating voltage derived from an alternating current supply voltage by counting the pulsations of said pulsating voltage in preselected relation to the number of cycles per second of said supply voltage and producing a clock pulse at the conclusion of each of said number of cycles, and said counter means comprises a series of counter circuits responsive to said clock pulses to produce said exposure signal upon counting a number of said clock pulses corresponding to the time duration of the selected test period following insertion of said container tube.

Claim 7

Apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said means for producing pulses is an electronic pulse generator circuit for producing clock pulses at a selected uniform pulse repetition rate and said counter means comprises a series of counter circuits responsive to said clock pulses to produce said exposure signal upon counting a number of said clock pulses corresponding to the time duration of the selected test period following insertion of said container tube.

Claim 8

Apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said means for producing pulses is an electronic pulse generator circuit for producing clock pulses at a rate of one pulse per second responsive to a pulsating voltage derived from an alternating current supply voltage by counting the pulsations of said pulsating voltage in preselected relation to the number of cycles per second of said voltage and producing a clock pulse at the conclusion of each of said number cycles and said counter means comprises a series of counter circuits responsive to said clock pulses to produce said exposure signal upon counting a number of said clock pulses corresponding to 1 hour following insertion of said container tube.

Claim 9

Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said holder means includes scale means disposed between said strip and exposure source in alignment with radiant energy paths through said tube for casting image patterns on said strip in horizontal alignment with the portions of said test zone not occluded by sedimentation to thereby indicate the location of said boundary layer.

Claim 10

Apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said holder means includes scale means disposed between said strip and exposure source in alignment with radiant energy paths through said tube for casting image patterns on said strip in horizontal alignment with the portions of said test zone not occluded by sedimentation to thereby indicate the location of said boundary layer.

Claim 11

Apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein said holder means includes scale means disposed between said strip and exposure source in alignment with radiant energy paths through said tube for casting image patterns on said strip in horizontal alignment with the portions of said test zone not occluded by sedimentation to thereby indicate the location of said boundary layer.

Claim 12

Apparatus as defined iN claim 8 wherein a slide member supported for vertical movement in said holder means includes said scale means, and said holder means includes an adjustment member bearing on said slide member for positioning said scale means in proper horizontal alignment with said tube.

Claim 13

Apparatus as defined in claim 10 wherein a slide member supported for vertical movement in said holder means includes said scale means, and said holder means includes an adjustment member bearing on said slide member for positioning said scale means in proper horizontal alignment with said tube.

Claim 14

Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said control circuit means includes plural indicator lamps and control means therefor for activating said indicator lamps to distinctively signal when a test period is in the course of being timed, when said exposure source has been energized, and when said apparatus is conditioned to commence a test period.

Claim 15

Apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said control circuit means includes plural indicator lamps and control means therefor for activating said indicator lamps to distinctively signal when a test period is in the course of being timed, when said exposure source has been energized, and when said apparatus is conditioned to commence a test period.

Claim 16

Apparatus for automatically timing and recording sedimentation rate and similar tests of fluid samples for a selected test period, comprising an axially elongated, vertically disposed flashlamp for emitting momentary high-intensity radiant energy, an axially elongated light-transmissive sample container tube for holding a quantity of a fluid sample in a test zone thereof, an elongated recording strip of material which is normally nonresponsive to ordinary ambient light and heat intensities but which is responsive to said radiant energy emitted by said flashlamp for recording an image indicative of the location of the sedimentary boundary layer at the end of the selected test period, said flashlamp and recording strip having a height to span said test zone, holder means for removably supporting said container tube and recording strip in a fixed vertical position with the tube between said lamp and strip and the axes of said tube and lamp in parallelism in a vertical plane intercepting said strip to record an image in said strip indicating the location of said boundary layer upon activation of said flashlamp, and control means including electrical timing means operable substantially concurrently with insertion of the container tube in said holder means for automatically timing said test period and producing an exposure signal at the conclusion thereof and exposure circuit means responsive to said exposure signal to energize said flashlamp to emit said radiant energy for recording said image.

Claim 17

Apparatus for automatically timing and recording sedimentation rate and similar tests of fluid samples for a selected test period, comprising an axially elongated, vertically disposed flashlamp for emitting momentary high-intensity radiant energy, an axially elongated light-transmissive sample container tube for holding a quantity of a fluid sample in a test zone thereof, an elongated recording strip of material which is normally nonresponsive to ordinary ambient light and heat intensities but which is responsive to said radiant energy emitted by said flashlamp for recording an image indicative of the location of the sedimentary boundary layer at the end of the selected test period, said flashlamp and recording strip having a height to span said test zone, holder means for removably supporting said container tube and recording strip in a fixed vertical position with the tube between said lamp and strip and the axes of said tube and lamp in parallelism in a vertical plane intercepting said strip to record an image in said strip indicating the location of said boundary layer upon activation of said flashlamp, and control means including electrical timing means operable substantially concurrently with insertion of the container tube in said holder means for automatically timing said test period and producing an exposure signal at the conclusion thereof and exposure circuit means responsive to said exposure signal to energize said flashlamp to emit said radiant energy for recording said image.

Claim 18

Apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein said recording strip has a recording layer having image forming elements which undergo a change in properties when activated by radiant energy from said flashlamp in the regions of said strip extending between said boundary layer and the top of said zone of said container tube permitting processing of the recording layer to produce a record image from the changed image forming elements.

Claim 19

Apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein said holder means includes masking means forming distinctive image patterns between said flashlamp and said strip on a region vertically spanning the test zone and aligned along ray paths from said flashlamp through the sample in said tube to cause occlusion of said patterns from the strip by the opaque portions of the sample and permit passage of said patterns to said strip only over the region above said boundary layer to form a record image indicating the location of the boundary layer.

Claim 20

Apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein said recording strip has a recording layer which normally has a certain water permeability and which includes particles which are rendered less water permeable responsive to radiation from said flashlamp in tHe region thereof above the level of said boundary layer to provide a record image by the less water-permeable particles altered by said radiation which is rendered visible by washing the layer following exposure to leave only the less water-permeable particles thereon.

Claim 21

Apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein said recording strip has a recording layer which normally has a certain water permeability and which includes particles which are rendered less water-permeable responsive to radiation from said flashlamp in the region thereof above the level of said boundary layer to provide a record image by the less water permeable particles altered by said radiation which is rendered visible by washing the layer following exposure to leave only the less water permeable particles thereon.

Claim 22

Apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein said timing means include means for producing pulses and counter means for counting said pulses and producing said exposure signal upon attainment of a selected pulse count corresponding to said selected test period.

Claim 23

Apparatus as defined in claim 20, wherein said means for producing pulses is an electronic pulse generator circuit for producing clock pulses at a selected uniform pulse repetition rate and said counter means comprises a series of counter circuits responsive to said clock pulses to produce said exposure signal upon counting a number of said clock pulses corresponding to the duration of an appropriate standing period for said sample to enable a boundary layer of opaque matter to form thereon appropriate for determination of the proportion of said opaque matter in said sample.

Claim 24

Apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein said flashlamp includes a first pair of electrodes for arming the same and a third trigger electrode to fire the flashlamp, and said exposure circuit means includes means for developing a high-voltage charge in excess of several hundred volts to be applied across said first pair of electrodes of said flashlamp and includes a trigger circuit activated responsive to said exposure signal to apply a trigger voltage to said third electrode to fire the flashlamp.

Claim 25

Apparatus as defined in claim 20, wherein said means for producing pulses is an electronic pulse generator circuit for producing clock pulses at a rate of one pulse per second responsive to a pulsating voltage derived from an alternating current supply voltage by counting the pulsations of said pulsating voltage in preselected relation to the number of cycles per second of said supply voltage and producing a clock pulse at the conclusion of each of said number of cycles, and said counter means comprises a series of counter circuits responsive to said clock pulses to produce said exposure signal upon counting a number of said clock pulses corresponding to the time duration of the selected test period following insertion of said container tube.

Claim 26

Apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein said image patterns formed on said masking means are in the form of scale marks disposed between said strip and flash tube in alignment with radiant energy paths through said tube for casting image patterns on said strip in horizontal alignment with the portions of said test zone not occluded by sedimentation to thereby indicate the location of said boundary layer.

Claim 27

Apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein said image patterns formed on said masking means are in the form of scale marks disposed between said strip and flash tube in alignment with radiant energy paths through said tube for casting image patterns on said strip in horizontal alignment with the portions of said test zone not occluded by sedimentation to thereby indicate the location of said boundary layer.

Claim 28

Apparatus as defined in claim 24, wherein a rigid slide member supported for vertical movement in said holder means forms a carrier for said scale marks, and said holder means includes an adjustment member bearing on said slide member for positioning said scale marks in proper horiZontal alignment with said tube.

Claim 29

Apparatus as defined in claim 25, wherein a rigid slide member supported for vertical movement in said holder means forms a carrier for said scale marks, and said holder means includes an adjustment member bearing on said slide member for positioning said scale marks in proper horizontal alignment with said tube.

Claim 30

Apparatus as defined in claim 24, wherein said masking means further includes numbers spaced laterally in preselected alignment with said scale marks and displaced from the ray paths through the sample to cast on said strip images of said numbers along the whole height thereof.

Claim 31

Apparatus as defined in claim 25, wherein said masking means further includes numbers spaced laterally in preselected alignment with said scale marks and displaced from the ray paths through the sample to cast on said strip images of said numbers along the whole height thereof.

Claim 32

Apparatus for automatically timing and recording the sedimentation rate of plurally distinct samples of the same test fluid to provide information for a sequence-timed sedimentation rate curve of the test fluid, comprising a plurality of axially elongated light-transmissive sample container tubes for each holding a quantity of the same test fluid, a supporting station for each of the respective container tubes, plural radiant energy exposure devices and plural recording members paired therewith respectively associated with an associated one of the container tubes for recording an image indicating the location of the sedimentation boundary layer in the container tube associated therewith upon activation of the associated exposure device, a plurality of control circuit channels each associated with a respective one of said exposure devices, each control circuit channel having a source of pulses of selected sequence and pulse counting means for counting the pulses to produce an output signal after a selected pulse count cycle for activating the associated exposure device to cause recording of said image for the associated container tube, and sequencing means interconnecting said channels in a selected relationship relative to a first one of said channels for automatically activating each channel except such first channel to operate through its count cycle responsive to the output signal produced by the preceding channel in the sequence.

Claim 33

Apparatus for automatically timing and recording the sedimentation rate of plurally distinct samples of the same test fluid to provide information for a sequence-timed sedimentation rate curve of the test fluid, comprising a plurality of axially elongated light-transmissive sample container tubes for each holding a quantity of the same test fluid, a supporting station for each of the respective container tubes, plural radiant energy exposure devices and plural recording members paired therewith respectively associated with an associated one of the container tubes for recording an image indicating the location of the sedimentation boundary layer in the container tube associated therewith upon activation of the associated exposure device, a plurality of control circuit channels each associated with a respective one of said exposure devices, each control circuit channel having a source of pulses of selected sequence and pulse counting means for counting the pulses to produce an output signal after a selected pulse count cycle for activating the associated exposure device to cause recording of said image for the associated container tube, and sequencing means interconnecting said channels in a selected relationship relative to a first one of said channels for automatically activating each channel except such first channel to operate through its count cycle responsive to the output signal produced by the preceding channel in the sequence.

Claim 34

Apparatus as defined in claim 30 including switch means for each said channel for conditioning the selected channel to a first condition interconnecting the channels in said sequence relationship and a second condition rendering the associated channel independent of the remaining channels for cycling through its count cycle in individual association with insertion of a container tube in its associated supporting station.

Claim 35

Apparatus as defined in claim 30, wherein each said exposure device is a high-intensity flashlamp, and each recording member is a recording strip responsive to momentary energization of said flashlamp to record said image.

Claim 36

Apparatus as defined in claim 31, wherein said flashlamp includes a first pair of electrodes for arming the same and a third trigger electrode to fire the flashlamp, and said exposure circuit means includes means for developing a high-voltage charge in excess of several hundred volts to be applied across said first pair of electrodes of said flashlamp and includes a trigger circuit activated responsive to said exposure signal to apply a trigger voltage to said third electrode to fire the flashlamp.

Claim 37

Apparatus as defined in claim 30, wherein each said source of producing pulses is an electronic pulse generator circuit for producing clock pulses at a selected uniform pulse repetition rate and said counter means comprises a series of counter circuits responsive to said clock pulses to produce said exposure signal upon counting a number of said clock pulses corresponding to the duration of an appropriate standing period for the associated sample to enable a boundary layer of opaque matter to form therein appropriate for determination of the proportion of said opaque matter in said sample.