Serial dilution apparatus

Claim 2

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 1, in which said marker is a handle with which to move said carriage on said elevator.

Claim 3

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 1, which further provides an upright pilot pin on said carriage, and a member having successive apertures in said forward direction spaced as the cup rows in a tray, said apertures being coordinated with said carriage for alignment of said pin with successive apertures on alignment of successive cup rows in a located tray with said loops, and said pin moving into and from carriage-locking register with an aligned aperture on operational movement of said elevator into said upper and lower positions, respectively.

Claim 4

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 3, which further provides a plurality of loop service stations on said carriage spaced in said forward direction as successive cup rows, and spaced from a located tray in said rearward direction so that on movement of said carriage for alignment with said loops of the station leading in said forward direction, succeeding ones of said stations align with said loops on successive indexing steps of said carriage, and each station in alignment with said loops is raised and lowered into and from servicing relation wiTh said loops on movement of said elevator into its upper and lower positions, respectively; and other control means selectively presettable for operating said switch means to open said circuit in timed relation with the conclusion of an operating cycle of said indexing means in which said carriage is indexed to bring a selected station out of alignment with said loops.

Claim 5

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 5, in which said loop service stations are loop-washing, loop-blotting and sample-supply stations, of which said loop-washing station is said leading station and said sample-supply station is the trailing station, and said other control means is presettable for operating said switch means to open said circuit in timed relation with the conclusion of that operating cycle of said indexing device in which said carriage is indexed to bring either said loop-blotting station or said sample-supply station out of alignment with said loops.

Claim 6

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 5, which further provides other stop marks along the horizontal motion path of said marker spaced as the cup rows in a tray and so coordinated with said carriage that on alignment of said marker with said other stop marks in their succession in said forward direction corresponding stations on said carriage in their succession in said rearward direction will be in alignment with the loops.

Claim 7

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 7, which further provides an upright pilot pin on said carriage, and a member having two series of successive apertures in said forward direction, of which the apertures of each series are spaced as the cup rows in a tray, with said apertures being coordinated with said carriage, for alignment of said pin with successive apertures of one series on alignment of successive cup rows in a located tray with said loops, and for alignment of said pin with successive apertures of the other series on alignment of successive stations on said carriage with said loops, and said pin moving into and from carriage-locking register with an aligned aperture on operational movement of said elevator into said upper and lower positions, respectively.

Claim 8

Serial dilution apparatus for use with longitudinal titration trays having equally spaced transverse rows of cups, comprising an elevator mounted for vertical movement into upper and lower positions; a carriage for removable support of a tray in located position thereon, said carriage being supported and guided on said elevator for horizontal movement in forward and rearward directions lengthwise of a located tray thereon; fixed oscillatory loops on a level above said carriage, and coordinated with said carriage for their alignment with the cups, respectively, in any row in a located tray on movement of said carriage on said elevator in its lower position, and for their reach into the aligned cups on movement of said elevator into its upper position; a carriage indexing device providing dependent rack teeth on said carriage arranged in a row lengthwise of a located tray thereon and being spaced as the cup rows in a tray, a reciprocatory pawl having indexing and return strokes from and into a home position, respectively, and being located to be within operating reach of said rack teeth in said lower elevator position only, with said rack teeth being so coordinated with said pawl that the latter will, on successive indexing strokes in said lower elevator position, engage successive rack teeth and index said carriage through successive steps in said forward direction to bring successive cup rows in a located tray into alignment with said loops, and means operative on each return stroke of said pawl to its home position to retract the same from reach of said rack teeth to permit manual movement of said carriage on said elevator in its lower position when said pawl is in said home position; a device operable to reciprocate said elevator into its upper and lower positions; another device operable to oscillate said loops; power-operating mechanism fOr said devices, including a synchronous motor and a circuit therefor with switch means for opening and closing said circuit, said mechanism performing, on circuit closure, to operate said devices in timed repeat cycles, in each of which said elevator is moved to its upper position, said loops are oscillated, said elevator is moved to its lower position, and said pawl is reciprocated once from its home position back into its home position, in that order, with said switch means being manually operable to close said circuit; and control means operating said switch means to open said circuit in timed relation with the conclusion of an operating cycle in which said carriage is indexed to bring a predetermined cup row in a located tray out of alignment with said loops.

Claim 9

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 9, in which said pawl strokes are longer than the spacing of said rack teeth, said pawl is spring-urged into operative reach of said rack teeth in said lower elevator position, and said pawl retracting means is a fixed track in the path of the returning pawl onto which the latter rides after overriding only the next rack tooth to be engaged by the pawl on its next indexing stroke.

Claim 10

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 9, in which said indexing device further provides a bar from which said rack teeth depend and which is suspended from said carriage and has with the latter a lost-motion connection lengthwise of a located tray, and spring means urging said bar to one end of said connection at which the force of said spring means is normally effective to transmit pawl-induced indexing motions of said bar to said carriage, but in any pawl-induced motion of said bar the same will move relative to said carriage toward the other end of said lost-motion connection if said carriage should encounter any obstruction to its indexing motion.

Claim 11

Serial dilution apparatus for use with longitudinal titration trays having equally spaced transverse rows of cups, comprising a casing with a front wall; an elevator mounted in said casing for vertical movement into upper and lower positions; a carriage for removable support of a tray in located position thereon, said carriage being supported and guided on said elevator for horizontal movement in forward and rearward directions lengthwise of a located tray thereon and parallel to said casing wall; fixed rotary loops on a level above said carriage, and coordinated with said carriage for their alignment with the cups, respectively, in any row in a located tray on movement of said carriage on said elevator in its lower position, and for their reach into the aligned cups on movement of said elevator into its upper position; a carriage indexing device providing depending rack teeth on said carriage arranged in a row lengthwise of a located tray thereon, and being spaced as the cup rows in a tray, a reciprocatory pawl having indexing and return strokes from and into a home position, and being located at a level to be within operating reach of said track teeth only when said elevator is in said lower position, with said rack teeth being so coordinated with said pawl that the latter will, on successive indexing strokes in said lower elevator position, engage successive rack teeth and index said carriage through successive steps in said forward direction to bring successive cup rows in a located tray into alignment with said loops, and means operative on each return stroke of said pawl to its home position to retract the same from reach of said rack teeth to permit manual movement of said carriage on said elevator in its lower position when said pawl is in its home position; a device operable to reciprocate said elevator into its upper and lower positions; another device operable to oscillate said loops; power-operating mechanism for said devices, including a synchronous motor and a circuit therefor having therein first and second switches in parallel, of which said first switch is manually shiftable into closed position, and said second switCh is normally closed and is opened by said pawl on each return stroke to its home position, with said circuit being closed on closure of either switch, said mechanism performing, on closure of said first switch, to operate said devices in timed repeat cycles, in each cycle of which said elevator is moved to its upper position, said loops are oscillated, said elevator is moved to its lower position, and said pawl is reciprocated once from and back to its home position for indexing said carriage through one step, in that order; and control means operating, in timed relation with the indexing stroke of said pawl which brings a predetermined cup row in a located tray out of alignment with said loops, to shift said first switch into open position, whereupon on the following return stroke of said pawl to its home position said second switch is opened to open said circuit.

Claim 12

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 12, which further provides a fixed rod in said casing extending parallel to the guided motion path of said carriage on said elevator, with said casing wall having therein a first slot with opposite side edges extending parallel to said rod; a first handle slidable on said rod and projecting through said slot; a coupling between said handle and carriage, with said coupling being flexible to permit movement of said carriage with said elevator into its upper and lower positions, and being operative for moving said carriage on said elevator on manually moving said handle along said slot and rod; and stop marks on said casing wall along said slot and spaced as the cup rows in a tray, with said stop marks being so coordinated with said carriage that on alignment of said handle with the stop marks in their succession in said forward direction corresponding cup rows in a located tray in their succession in said rearward direction will be in alignment with said loops.

Claim 13

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 13, in which said first switch is mounted in said casing and has a spring-loaded arm for snap-over into switch opening and closing positions, said power operating mechanism further includes a rockable bale in said casing spaced from and parallel to said rod and having a lost-motion connection with said switch arm, with said bale being spring-forced against said handle to urge the latter against one of said slot edges, and said stop marks are notches of a first set provided in the other slot edge and arranged from first to last in their succession in said forward direction, with said flexible coupling also permitting rocking movement of said handle on said rod relative to said carriage, and said handle being, on alignment with any of said notches, manually rockable into register with the aligned notch to thereby rock said bale counter to its spring force, and said control means provide a bar guided on said casing wall for manual movement lengthwise of said slot into any coextension with the latter from a home position in which the end of said bar leading in said forward direction is spaced forwardly from said first notch less than the spacing of said notches, to an end position in which said bar end is spaced forwardly from said last notch less than the spacing of said notches, and said bar having a side edge which over any coextension of said bar with said slot extends between and parallel to said slot edges, said bale is at one end of said lost-motion connection with said switch arm at which the latter is snapped-over into switch closing position on rocking said handle into register with any of said notches, said bale will, on release of said handle while in register with a notch opposite said bar edge, urge said handle against said bar edge and move to the other end of its lost-motion connection with said switch arm at which the latter remains in switch-closing position, and when during an indexing step of said carriage said handle clears said bar end, said bale will rock said handle against said one slot edge and snap said switch arm to switch-opening position.

Claim 14

SeriAl dilution apparatus as in claim 14, in which said casing wall has a second slot parallel to said first slot, and there is further provided a second handle secured to said bar and extending through said second slot for moving said bar.

Claim 15

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 15, in which said casing wall bears adjacent said notches first indicia which in their succession in said forward direction denote corresponding cup rows in a located tray in their succession in said rearward direction, and said longitudinal casing wall further bears along said second slot second indicia which are identical with said first indicia, are spaced as the cup rows in a tray, and denote in their succession in said forward direction corresponding cup rows in a located tray in their succession in said rearward direction, with said second indicia being so coordinated with said bar that on alignment of said second handle with any second indicium denoting a certain cup row said bar end is spaced, less than the spacing of said notches, forwardly from that notch which denotes the same cup row, whereby on alignment of said second handle with any one of said second indicia said bar is preset to cause opening of said first switch in the course of the indexing step of said carriage which brings out of alignment with said loops that cup row in a located tray which is denoted by that second indicium with which second handle is aligned.

Claim 16

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 14, which further provides a plurality of loop service stations on said carriage spaced from each other lengthwise of a located tray thereon as successive cup rows, and spaced from a located tray in said rearward direction so that on movement of said carriage for alignment with said loops of the station leading in said forward direction, succeeding ones of said stations align with said loops on successive indexing steps of said carriage, and each station in alignment with said loops is raised and lowered into and from servicing relation with said loops on movement of said elevator into its upper and lower positions, respectively, said other slot edge is provided with second notches which are spaced from each other as successive cup rows in a tray, and are so coordinated with said carriage that on alignment of said handle with successive ones of said second notches from last to first in said forward direction successive ones of said stations from first to last in said forward direction will be in alignment with said loops, with said handle, on being rocked into register with any aligned one of said second notches, causing closure of said first switch through intermediation of said bale and switch arm, and said slot being shaped to provide a lug formation extending inwardly from said one slot edge and having an inner edge in alignment with said bar edge and extending from adjacent said last one of said second notches along the latter and beyond said first one of said second notches for a distance less than the spacing of said second notches, whereby said bale will, on release of said handle while in register with any of said second notches, urge said handle against said inner edge and move to said other end of its lost-motion connection with said switch arm at which the latter remains in switch-closing position, and when during an indexing step of said carriage said handle clears said inner edge, said bale will rock said handle against said one slot edge and snap said switch arm to switch-opening position.

Claim 17

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 17, in which said loop service stations are loop-washing, loop-blotting, and sample-supply stations, of which said loop-washing and sample-supply stations are said first and last stations, respectively, and said loop-blotting station is the second station.

Claim 18

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 18, in which said lug formation has in its inner edge a third notch so coordinated with the intermediate one of said second notches that during the indexing step of said carriage which brings said loop-blotting station out of alignment with said loops, said bale will rock said handle into said third notch and snap said switch arm to switch-opening position.

Claim 19

Serial dilution apparatus as in claim 19, which further provides a gate on said casing wall manually shiftable into first and second positions in which it continues said inner edge of said lug formation across said third notch and exposes the latter for reception of said handle, respectively, whereby in said first gate position there will be a repeat operating cycle following the conclusion of an operating cycle which brings said sample-supply station into alignment with said loops, and in said second gate position said first switch will be opened with the indexing step of said carriage which brings said loop-blotting station out of alignment with said loops.