JPS5912985B2 - Rotating drum for staining and decolorizing in electrophoresis equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a rotating drum for staining and decolorizing in an electrophoresis apparatus.

Electrophoresis is used for serum protein testing in clinical laboratories of medical institutions.
As is well known, the serum to be tested is coated on a support such as cellulose acetate paper, and then electricity is applied to form an image of the serum.

The energized sample is then stained with a staining solution, and the remaining portions other than the serum are decolorized and the sample is quantified using a colorimeter. All of these steps were performed manually, which was extremely inefficient. Moreover, testing by electrophoresis requires a great deal of skill, and has the drawback that results may vary depending on the person performing the test.f! Based on the above, automatic electrophoresis has been developed to improve efficiency and eliminate variations in results from test to test by automatically performing each work step of this electrophoresis method. Development of equipment is underway.

In the case of dyeing and decolorizing processes in each process of such an automatic electrophoresis apparatus, the support is immersed in a liquid and transported after treatment in order to send it to the next process. It is necessary to place a transport mechanism in the liquid in the liquid tank. Since the support is moved through the liquid by this conveyance mechanism, it may not be able to move smoothly due to large resistance, or the image on the support may be damaged. I have a problem. 15 The present invention was developed in view of the above points, and the dyeing and decolorizing steps are all performed in the same place while the support is fixed to the drum without moving in the liquid during transportation. The present invention provides a rotary drum for dyeing and decolorizing a support, which is configured to support the support 20 with the center part of the support separated from the peripheral surface.

The detailed contents of the present invention will be explained below based on the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a case installed on a stand 2. 3 and 4 are rollers attached to the mounting plates 5 and 6 and placed near the entrance 1a of the case 1; 7 is a light emitting diode; and 8 is a light receiving element placed above and below the entrance 1a to detect the support. It constitutes a mechanism.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a drum, which is rotatably attached to the case 1 by a means described later. 30 Also, as is clear from FIG. It is formed lower than 9b.

Members 9d and 9e to which supports made of a material such as sponge are attached are fixed to both sides 9b of the drum 9 and a part of the recess 9a. 3510 and 11 are each attached to the holding plate 12 by rollers.

Among these rollers, the roller 10 is pulled toward the center of the drum by a spring, and is brought into constant contact with the drum 9 by an appropriate means such as an A-wool.

13 is a support guide attached to the holding plate 12; 14;
15 and 16 are rollers, respectively, and 17 is a support guide, and these rollers and support guide are similar to the roller 10 and the support guide described above.

Next, a mechanism for rotating the drum will be explained based on FIG. 20 is a first motor, 21 and 22 are gears, and 23 is a one-way clutch; for example, when viewed from the right side of the drawing, the gear 22 rotates only when rotating clockwise.
It is now being transmitted to

25 is a second motor, 26 and 27 are gears, and 28 is a shaft to which the gear 27 is fixed, and one end thereof is fixed to one of the holding plates 12.

Reference numeral 29 is a one-way clutch, and the rotation of the shaft 28 is transmitted to the drum shaft 9c only when the rotation is counterclockwise when viewed from the left side of the figure.

Reference numeral 30 denotes a liquid tank containing, for example, a dyeing solution, which is moved down through an opening 2a formed in the stand 2 by an appropriate elevating mechanism, raised from the position shown in the figure, and inserted into the case 1 through the opening 2a. Particularly, the lower part of the drum 9 is filled with liquid 3.
It is configured to be immersed in 1.

Also, what is indicated by the reference numeral 32 in FIG. 2 is a duct whose other end (not shown) is connected to a dryer, from which dry warm air is sent in to dry the support. It's summery. Next, the operation of the dyeing/decolorizing rotating drum of the present invention will be explained.

First, serum was applied to a support made of cellulose acetate paper, etc., and then an electric current was applied to form a separate image.
Insert from a. Here, the support detection mechanism comprising the light emitting diode r and the light receiving element 8 detects insertion of the support and causes the drum 9 to rotate. That is, as described above, the first motor 20 shown in FIG. 2 is rotated to rotate the drum 9. In this case, if the rotation of the first motor 20 causes the gear 22 to rotate clockwise when viewed from the right side in FIG. 2, the rotation of the gear 22 is transmitted to the shaft 9c, thereby rotating the drum 9. Due to this rotation, the support body fed onto the surface of the drum 9 is fed so as to stick around the drum 9, and finally the support body sticks to a member 9d formed of sponge or the like on the drum 9. It is maintained in the same state. At this time, when the tip of the support body sent in reaches the surface of the drum 9, the drum 9e is fixed to the drum 9.
If the start position of the rotation is set so that the support body reaches that position, the tip of the support body first attaches to this member 9e and then gradually attaches to the member 9d fixed to both sides of the drum 9.
It is sent while being attached to the surface one after another. Also, the length on the surface of the drum 9 from the roller 10 to the roller 14 is made somewhat smaller than the length of the support, so that the support is attached to the drum 9 and the tip thereof is attached to the drum. If the rotation of the drum 9 is stopped after being inserted between the drum 9 and the roller 14, both ends of the support are connected to the drum 9, the roller 10, and the roller 1, respectively.
4, the support remains attached to the drum 9. In this state, the second motor 25 is rotated. If the gear 27 is rotated to the left as viewed from the left side of FIG. 2 by the rotation of the second motor 25, the shaft 28 fixed to the gear 27 will also rotate in the same direction, and the one-way clutch 29 will also rotate in the same direction. The shaft 9c of the drum 9 is also rotated. Therefore, the holding plate 12 fixed to the shaft 28 and the drum 9 rotate together. For this purpose, the support consists of a drum 9 and a roller 1 as described above.
0 and the roller 14, the entire body rotates while its both ends are held between them. In this way, when the drum 9 rotates half a turn and the support body is exactly at the lowest position, if the operation of the motor 25 is stopped, the drum 9, holding plate 12, roller 10, etc. will be in the opposite position to the position shown in the figure. Stop at the position. If the dyeing solution tank 30 is raised in this state, the lower portion of the drum 9 will be immersed in the dyeing solution 31. For this purpose, by rotating the drum 9 by half a rotation,
The support fixed to the drum 9 is also immersed in the dyeing solution. If the support is kept as it is for a certain period of time, the support will be dyed with the dyeing solution.
After dyeing the support, the dyeing solution tank 30 is lowered, and, although not shown, a decolorizing solution tank having a similar structure is inserted through the opening 2a of the stand 2 instead of the dyeing solution tank 30. The stained support is immersed in a decolorizing solution, and the serum portion is removed to perform decolorization. After the decolorization is completed in this way, the decolorization liquid tank is moved outside the case 1 and warm air is sent into the case 1 from the duct 32 to dry the support. After finishing dyeing, bleaching, and drying in this way, the motor 2
5 rotates, the drum 9, holding plate 12, rollers 10, 14, etc. rotate as one.

When the drum 9 returns to its original position, the rotation of the second motor 25 is stopped and the first motor 20 is rotated, so that the drum 9 rotates and the support is moved. In this case, as schematically shown in a perspective view in FIG. 3, the tip of the guide plate 17 slightly protrudes into the inside of the drum 9, so that the support is peeled off from the surface of the drum 9. , mouth 14
and the guide plate 1T, and are sent out from the outlet 1b of the case 1 to another process. According to the present invention as described above,
Since the rotating drum is constructed in such a way that the support can be supported in contact only with its side edges, the central part of the support, i.e. the part with the minute image, is free without contacting any part of the rotating drum. It will be held on the drum in a stable condition. Therefore, the odors and images of the staining and decolorizing processes are always kept safe and will not be damaged.
As a result, the test object can always be inspected satisfactorily and accurately.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are cross-sectional views of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a part of the device such as the drum. 9...Drum, 10,14...Roller, 12...Holding plate, 13,17...
Guide plate, 30...Dyeing solution tank, 31...
・Dyeing liquid, 32...Duct for sending warm air.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A portion of the circumferential surface other than the side edges is formed into a recess,
An electrophoresis device that supports a support that has been subjected to electrophoresis treatment with its center separated from the peripheral surface, and rotates the support to a position where it can come into contact with a staining solution or a decolorizing solution. Rotating drum for dyeing and bleaching.