Technicon Instruments Corporation

Harold E Sandrock

Edward W Stark

Morris W Leen

Steven A Gyori

A multichamber cuvette for maintaining in independent and separate condition at least two reactants until such time that it is desired to mix them for reaction with each other and a reactant liquid sample while in the cuvette for analysis in the cuvette, and a method of use of such cuvette. There is provided a cuvette body of a suitable plastic defining at least two chambers interconnected by a passageway of relatively small cross section having at least the end portion thereof of capillary size to prevent under many circumstances, as by surface tension, accidental mixture of liquid reactants in the chambers. If there is a substantial head of liquid in one chamber and/or a risk of impact of the cuvette with an external foreign object, sufficient to break such surface tension, an air lock in the passageway when the latter is below the liquid levels in the chambers prevents such accidental mixture. A baffle in the passageway enhances separation of liquids and/or solid substances in the chambers. The chambers are open-topped, and a unitary probe-wiping multi-ply laminated cover of a type puncturable by a probe extends over the chambers closing them from the external environment. The laminated cover tends to be self-closing with reference to such punctures. One ply is of metal foil to act as a vapor seal and has an undercoating of a heat sealable material compatible with the body material and sealed thereto. The top ply is of a moisture-absorbent material which is secured to the foil ply by an intermediate plastic ply.

Cuvette and method of use

A multichamber cuvette for maintaining in independent and separate condition at least two reactants until such time that it is desired to mix them for reaction with each other and a reactant liquid sample for analysis in the cuvette. There is provided a cuvette body of a suitable plastic defining at least two chambers interconnected by a passageway of relatively small cross section having at least the end portions thereof of capillary size to prevent under many circumstances, as by surface tension, accidental mixture of liquid reactants in the chambers. If there is a substantial head of liquid in one chamber and/or a risk of impact of the cuvette with an external foreign object, sufficient to break such surface tension, an air lock in the passageway when the latter is below the liquid levels in the chambers prevents such accidental mixture. A baffle in the passageway enhances separation of liquids and/or solid substances in the chambers. The chambers are open-topped, and a unitary probe-wiping multi-ply laminated cover of a type puncturable by a probe extends over the chambers closing them from the external environment. The laminated cover tends to be self-closing with reference to such punctures. One ply is of metal foil to act as a vapor seal and has an undercoating of a heat sealable material compatible with the body material and sealed thereto. The top ply is of a moisture-absorbent material which is secured to the foil ply by an intermediate plastic ply.

A multichamber cuvette for maintaining in independent and separate condition at least two reactants until such time that it is desired to mix them for reaction with each other and a reactant liquid sample while in the cuvette for analysis in the cuvette, and a method of use of such cuvette. There is provided a cuvette body of a suitable plastic defining at least two chambers interconnected by a passageway of relatively small cross section having at least the end portions thereof of capillary size to prevent under many circumstances, as by surface tension, accidental mixture of liquid reactants in the chambers. If there is a substantial head of liquid in one chamber and/or a risk of impact of the cuvette with an external foreign object, sufficient to break such surface tension, an air lock in the passageway when the latter is below the liquid levels in the chambers prevents such accidental mixture. A baffle in the passageway enhances separation of liquids and/or solid substances in the chambers. The chambers are open-topped, and a unitary probe-wiping multi-ply laminated cover of a type puncturable by a probe extends over the chambers closing them from the external environment. The laminated cover tends to be self-closing with reference to such punctures. One ply is of metal foil to act as a vapor seal and has an undercoating of a heat sealable material compatible with the body material and sealed thereto. The top ply is of a moisture-absorbent material which is secured to the foil ply by an intermediate plastic ply.

Apparatus and method for photometrically analyzing a constituent of interest in body or other fluids and well suited for kinetic determinations which are temperature-and-time dependent. There is provided a sample holder holding a cuvette supporting a liquid sample and other reactants among which is a trigger reactant to initiate the reaction which is analyzed. The trigger and the other reactants are initially isolated in the cuvette. The holder, one of a series, is moved periodically to move the cuvette, one of a series handled sequentially, to a temperature-sensing and preheating station, to a station where the contents of the cuvette are mixed to enable the reaction to proceed, to an optical station where the reaction is viewed for an optical density determination over a period of time under temperature conditions regulated within limits, and to a station for sensing the temperature of the mixture, by immersion of a temperature sensor therein, and supplying data for estimation of the real temperature during the optical determination for inclusion in the determination of the concentration of the constituent of interest, all in a relatively short period of time.

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Rockville Centre, NY, United States of America

Harold E Sandrock