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:
Apr. 25, 1995
Filed:
Mar. 04, 1993
William D Levey, Oakland, CA (US);
William J Sell, Petaluma, CA (US);
Brett Wilmarth, Gilroy, CA (US);
Environmental Sampling Supply, Inc., Oakland, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method for cleaning containers, such as sample containers for environmental testing, involves providing modular cleaning bays into which an array of inverted containers can be transported, such as by means of a drive chain. Independently operable nozzle banks disposed in the cleaning bay generally below the resident container tray are driven in an x-axis motion, such as by a stepper motor, to register a selected nozzle bank with successive rows of containers within the tray. At each row of containers the nozzle bank, which is selected in accordance with the size and spacing of the containers being processed, is caused to travel in a z-axis motion through a process cycle in which the nozzle elements of the nozzle bank traverse through the open mouth ends of the containers registered therewith and in which a fluid stream is projected directly onto the interior surfaces of the containers, preferably sweeping the entirety of those surfaces. The tray of containers is exited from the cleaning bay after the last row of containers in the tray is processed. Modular cleaning bays can be cascaded together for processing trays of containers through different washing and rinsing solutions, and for air drying the interior surfaces of the containers.