The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 16, 1993
Filed:
Jan. 22, 1992
Louis T Staats, III, Lincoln University, PA (US);
James A Bristow, Elkton, MD (US);
Anil P Noronha, West Chester, PA (US);
Gregory E Murphy, Erial, NJ (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A cap for sealing pressure vessels is disclosed. The present invention permits a nominal closure to be formed by hand tightening and a substantially higher force to be applied to a cap by a separate clamp mechanism, thereby forming a pressure seal. In certain preferred embodiments, means for providing a process flow through a hole in the seal and filtering means are also provided as part of the cap assembly. A preferred application of the cap of the present invention is for the sealing of sample vessels used for supercritical fluid extraction of compounds from a solid matrix for subsequent chemical analysis. Methods of supercritical fluid extraction are also disclosed. The present invention thus provides methods and apparatus whereby the placement of a sample into a pressurized system may be automated and monitored to ensure adequate seals have been created and maintained within such pressurized systems.