JP7705637B2 - Closed Chamber - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a chamber that maintains airtightness in the field of physics and chemistry.

In physicochemical research, samples are sometimes placed in sealed cylindrical or rectangular containers to observe the progress of the samples in a specific atmosphere, or to maintain the condition during transportation or transfer. In the field of life science, they are used as incubators to adjust the concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide to suit the cells.

While a cylinder has a simple structure, as it can be made by simply attaching a ring-shaped packing around the lid, a rectangular parallelepiped shape is often used to ensure a larger volume. To strengthen the airtightness of a rectangular parallelepiped, one method is to use the top surface of the rectangular parallelepiped as a lid and to strongly close the four sides with clips or the like. However, there is a problem that opening and closing requires the laborious operation of four places and requires force. The present invention solves such problems.

In order to solve the problem, this device has a rectangular prism with the bottom, front, rear and left and right sides as the housing, and the top as a lid, which is a structure made by bending a plate into a shape with left and right sides, the rear of the lid is connected to the rear of the housing with a hinge, a cylindrical protrusion is provided at the center of the left and right sides of the lid, a rotating shaft is provided on the left and right sides of the housing between the protrusion on the lid and the hinge, the tips of the short sides of L-shaped hook-shaped cantilevers are connected respectively to the rotating shafts on the left and right sides of the housing, the tips of the long sides of the left and right cantilevers are connected by a shaft via a cross block, a bracket is provided to rotate around the axis of the shaft, a rectangular prism-shaped stopper is provided on the front of the housing, and after the lid is closed, the shaft presses down on the front edge of the lid, and at the same time the cantilever presses down on the protrusions on the left and right sides of the lid, and the bracket on the shaft is hooked onto the stopper on the front of the housing to secure it.

By simply fixing the bracket to the stopper, the four sides of the lid are fixed, making it easy to maintain airtightness.

"A perspective view showing the configuration of the present invention with the lid open." "A perspective view showing the configuration of the present invention with the lid loosened." "A perspective view showing the configuration of the present invention with the lid closed." "A side view showing the configuration of the present invention with the lid open." "A side cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the present invention with the lid open." "A side view showing the configuration of the present invention with the lid closed." "A side cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the present invention with the lid closed." "A front view showing the configuration of the present invention with the lid closed." "A front cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the present invention with the lid closed." "A side view showing the configuration of the cantilever and the cantilever block of the present invention."

The embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
(i) In a rectangular container, the top surface is a lid 1 and the front, rear, left and right sides and bottom are configured as a housing 10, with lid 1 having sides that hang down on the left and right to align with the left and right sides of housing 10, and the rear of lid 1 is connected to the rear of housing 10 with hinge 4.
(b) One cylindrical protrusion 2 is provided on each side of the lid 1 in the center of the left and right sides, a tab 3 extending forward is provided on the front edge of the lid 1, a rotation axis 13 is provided on the left and right sides of the housing 10 so as to be positioned toward the rear of the housing 10 relative to the protrusions 2 on the left and right sides of the lid 1, and a rectangular stopper 11 is provided on the front of the housing 10.
(c) The cantilever 14 and the cantilever block 15 are configured in an L-shape, the tip of the cantilever block 15 is connected so as to rotate around the rotation axis 13, and is connected to the tip of the cantilever 14 by a shaft 16 via a cross block 18, with the shaft 16 positioned to hold down the front edge of the lid 1.
(ii) A bracket 17 having a U-shape laid on its side, which is adapted to sandwich the width of the tab 3 and the stopper 11 on the inside, and the upper side of the horizontal plane has a shape and dimensions that match the bottom surface of the stopper 11, and the bracket 17 is attached to the shaft 16 so as to rotate around the axis of the shaft 16.
(e) An O-ring 12 made of a soft material such as fluororubber is provided on the top surface of the housing 10.
The present invention has the above-mentioned structure and is used as follows.

With the lid 1 open as shown in Figures 1, 4 and 5, a container seeded with cells or microorganisms to be tested or a sample such as a test material is placed in the housing 10, and the lid 1 is closed as shown in Figure 2, and the tab 3 on the front edge of the lid 1 is fitted to the top surface of the stopper 11 on the front of the housing 10.

3, 6 and 7, the shaft 16 pushes down the tab 3, and the top of the horizontal surface of the bracket 17 is pressed into the bottom surface of the stopper 11. The rear side of the lid 1 is connected to the housing 10 by a hinge 4, and the repulsive force of the O-ring 12 fixes the lid 1 to the housing at two sides, the front and rear.

3, 8, and 9, the cantilever 14 simultaneously pushes down the left and right protrusions 2 of the lid 1. The left and right sides of the lid 1 have a U-shaped cross section with drooping sides and are rigid in the front-to-back direction, so when the protrusions 2 move down, the repulsive force of the O-ring 12 provided on the top surface of the housing 10 pushes down the two left and right sides of the lid 1. As a result, all four sides of the lid 1 are tightly attached to the housing 10, sealing the inside.

The cantilever 14 and the cantilever block 15 are not integrated into a hook shape but are divided into two components, which allows the vertical length of the cantilever block 15 to be changed, thereby changing the vertical position of the cantilever 14 and adjusting the force pressing down on the protrusion 2. Furthermore, by dividing the cantilever 14 into cantilever blocks 15a and 15b and fastening them vertically with screws as shown in Fig. 10, the vertical position of the cantilever 14 can be easily changed by adjusting the amount of fastening of the screws, and the force pressing down on the protrusion 2 can be adjusted even more easily. This makes it possible to prevent gas leakage by uniformly tightly fitting the four sides of the lid 2 to the O-ring 12 and ultimately to the housing 10, without causing gas leakage due to a weak fastening force of the protrusion 2, or conversely, without causing a weakening of the force of the shaft 16 pressing down on the tab 3 due to a strong fastening force.

Fittings 19 are provided on the side of the housing 10 to connect tubes 20. As shown in Figure 3, one of the fittings 19 is equipped with a check valve so that gas flows in the direction into the chamber and the other in the direction out of the chamber, but does not flow in the opposite direction. When gas is allowed to flow into the chamber through the tube 20 and the gas flow is stopped when the chamber is filled, the check valve keeps the gas trapped inside the chamber, making it possible to remove the tube 20 and move or transport the chamber.

To open the cover 1, the bracket 17 is simply rotated forward by pulling it with the hand. A protrusion may be provided on the underside of the bracket 17 to make it easier to pull.

The inside can be observed by providing glass 5 on the lid 1 and the bottom of the housing 10. A transparent conductive film is deposited on the glass 5, and the inside of the container can be kept warm by passing electricity through it to generate heat.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Lid 2 Protrusion 3 Tab 4 Hinge 5 Glass 10 Housing 11 Stopper 12 O-ring 13 Rotating shaft 14 Cantilever 15 Cantilever block 15a Cantilever block 15b Cantilever block 16 Shaft 17 Bracket 18 Cross block 19 Joint 20 Tube

Claims (2)

a cantilever and cantilever block having an L-shape, the tips of which are connected to the left and right rotating shafts provided on the housing, one each, and the tips of the left and right cantilevers are connected orthogonally to a shaft, a bracket that rotates around the axis of the shaft is provided on the shaft, a rectangular stopper is provided on the front of the housing, and when the lid is closed and the shaft is lowered, the shaft presses against the front edge of the lid, and the cantilever connected to the shaft presses against the protrusions on the left and right sides of the lid, and the bracket is hooked onto the rectangular stopper provided on the front of the housing to secure the lid together with the shaft and cantilever. The sealed chamber of claim 1 , further comprising two joints on the side of the housing, a tube attached to the joints, one of the joints equipped with a check valve for flowing in the direction of entering the chamber and the other of flowing out of the chamber and stopping the flow in the reverse direction, transparent glass fitted to the top and bottom, a transparent conductive film vapor-deposited on the glass and having a function of passing electricity therethrough, and a temperature sensor attached to detect the temperature of the transparent conductive film.

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