JPH04248980A - Device of automatically testing microorganism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the title device of lightening labor and not excessively requiring a furnishing position by setting up a feeder of laboratory dish, a diluting and pouring device, an agar solidifying dryer, an inoculating device and transporting mechanism of laboratory dish. CONSTITUTION:A feeder 1 of laboratory dish, a diluting and pouring device 2, an agar solidifying dryer 3, an inoculating device 4 and a laboratory dish housing device 5 are furnished and laboratory dishes are sent between the devices by transporting mechanism. Covers 11 of the laboratory dishes are conveyed in parallel with the laboratory dishes separately from the laboratory dishes. A great number of empty laboratory dishes are housed in the feeder of laboratory dish, taken out one by one and supplied. The diluting and pouring device successively dilutes a solution to be diluted with a diluting liquid in a dilution ratio of plural stages and with agar in a fluidized state and dividedly added to laboratory dishes. A flat medium is produced by the agar solidifying dryer and inoculated with a microorganism solution by the inoculating device.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] This invention relates to an automatic microbial test device that automatically creates an agar plate medium in a petri dish (Petri dish), cultivates bacteria in the medium, and performs a microbial test. Automatic microbial testing equipment is useful, for example, when carrying out the agar plate dilution method, which is a method for testing the sensitivity of bacteria to chemotherapy drugs, or the pour plate culture method, which is a method for measuring the number of viable bacteria. It is used for such things.

0002

[Prior Art] For example, in the agar plate dilution method used for chemotherapeutic drug susceptibility testing, a test drug solution is serially diluted, and the drug solution is serially diluted 2 times in about 10 to 15 steps to obtain various drug concentrations. After preparing the liquid, a certain amount of each prepared diluted liquid and a certain amount of heated and fluidized agar are sequentially dispensed into a petri dish, and after mixing the two in the petri dish, the agar is solidified. Dry and prepare a series of media containing serially diluted test drugs, inoculate each of these plate media with the test bacteria, and store them in an incubator, incubation room, culture container, etc. for a specified period of time to expose them to the test drug. After culturing the test bacteria, the presence or absence of growth of the test bacteria is observed to determine the lowest concentration of the drug that inhibits growth, that is, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC).

[0003] In addition, to measure the number of viable bacteria using the pour plate culture method, prepare 10-fold serial dilutions of the bacterial solution whose number of bacteria is to be determined, and add a certain amount of each dilution to a certain amount of liquid agar. After sequentially dispensing and mixing in a Petri dish, the agar is solidified, and the agar is stored in an incubator, incubation chamber, culture container, etc. for a predetermined period of time to culture bacteria. The number of viable bacteria in the original bacterial solution is determined by counting the number of colonies on a plate medium in which around 200 colonies have been formed, and calculating backwards using the dilution factor based on the number of colonies. There is.

[0004] Conventionally, the operation of diluting and dispensing test tube drug solutions and bacterial solutions has been carried out manually using a micropipette or the like. In addition, to supply the petri dishes used at that time, prepare several piles of empty petri dishes by stacking many empty petri dishes on the workbench, and then the operator can pick up one dish from each pile of petri dishes. The work was carried out by picking it up by hand and placing it at a predetermined work position. In addition, in MIC measurement using the agar plate dilution method, liquid agar containing a 2-fold serially diluted drug solution is solidified in a petri dish and its surface is dried to create a plate culture medium containing the drug. Dispense liquid agar at room temperature for 30 minutes.
The agar was allowed to stand for 1 minute to 1 hour to naturally cool and solidify, and the surface of the solidified agar was allowed to dry naturally. Furthermore, the subsequent inoculation operation has traditionally been
This was done manually using inoculation tools. In order to move the petri dishes between the work positions where each operation is performed, the operator stacks up a plurality of petri dishes, holds them together, and transports them between the work positions.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] At offices such as pharmaceutical company laboratories and clinical testing centers where inspection work such as bacterial susceptibility testing and viable bacterial count measurements to the above-mentioned chemotherapeutic agents is carried out, large quantities of As the medium is consumed,
Numerous plates are prepared at one time. In laboratories and the like where a large number of plate culture media must be prepared at once, it takes a lot of effort and time to manually perform each of the above operations. Further, when each of the above operations is shared between multiple workers, a relatively large work space is required to the extent that each worker's work is not hindered. In addition, the conventional method of leaving liquid agar to cool and dry naturally requires a large space to leave a large number of petri dishes, and also requires a relatively long time of 30 minutes to 1 hour. Therefore, when a series of inspection steps are performed continuously, work efficiency becomes extremely low. Furthermore, moving petri dishes manually is
This is extremely troublesome.

[0006] This invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to automatically perform microbial tests such as susceptibility testing using agar plate dilution method and viable cell count measurement using pour plate culture method. The technical problem is to provide a device that can be used and does not take up much installation space.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, an automatic microbial test device used as a bacterial susceptibility test device using the agar plate dilution method, for example, is equipped with a stocker that stores a plurality of empty petri dishes in a horizontal position in a stacked state. It has an automatic petri dish supply device equipped with a petri dish ejection mechanism that sequentially takes out empty petri dishes one by one from the stocker, and a mounting table on which a rack in which a large number of sample containers are stored in parallel is placed. , a dilution device that sequentially dilutes the liquid to be diluted with a dilution liquid to a plurality of dilution ratios and injects the prepared dilution liquid at each dilution ratio into each of the sample containers;
and a dispensing device that separates the prepared diluted liquid contained in each of the sample containers, mixes it with agar in a fluid state at a constant ratio, and sequentially dispenses the mixture into each petri dish supplied from the petri dish supply device. an automatic dilution/dispensing device equipped with an automatic agar solidifying/drying device that creates a flat plate medium, and an automatic agar solidifying/drying device that automatically inoculates a bacterial solution into the flat plate medium housed in a petri dish carried out from the automatic agar solidifying/drying device. It is configured to include an inoculation device, and a petri dish conveying mechanism that sequentially conveys the petri dishes between the automatic petri dish supply device, automatic dilution/dispensing device, automatic agar solidification/drying device, and automatic inoculation device. The above-mentioned automatic agar solidification/drying device has a solidification chamber that solidifies the agar by sending cooling air to the fluidized agar containing the prepared diluent housed in a Petri dish, and a solidification chamber that solidifies the agar by sending dry air to the solidified agar to dry the agar surface. a petri dish carrying means that has a common or separate housing in which a drying chamber is formed, and that sequentially carries petri dishes containing agar in a fluid state into the solidification chamber; The petri dish transporting means sequentially transports the petri dishes to the drying chamber, and the petri dish carrying means sequentially carries out the petri dishes containing agar that has been solidified and has a dry surface.

[0008] Furthermore, the automatic microbial test device used for measuring the number of viable bacteria by the pour plate culture method includes an automatic Petri dish supply device, an automatic dilution and dispensing device, and a Petri dish feeding device to the automatic dilution and dispensing device. and a petri dish conveyance mechanism that sequentially conveys the petri dish.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall external perspective view showing an example of a configuration in which the present invention is applied to an apparatus for automatically performing a bacterial susceptibility test using an agar plate dilution method.

The automatic microbial test device shown in FIG. 1 includes an automatic Petri dish supply device 1, an automatic dilution/dispensing device 2, an automatic agar solidification/drying device 3, and an automatic inoculation device 4 (in this example, two are installed together). and a petri dish storage device 5, and a petri dish conveying mechanism having a configuration described later is provided to convey the petri dish 10 between each device. In addition, 11 in FIG. 1 is a lid of the petri dish, and the lid 11 is conveyed in parallel with the petri dish 10 by a conveyor belt conveyor or the like, separately from the petri dish 10.

First, the configuration and operation of the automatic Petri dish feeding device 1 will be explained.

2 and 3 show an example of the configuration of an automatic petri dish feeding device, and FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the main part of the automatic petri dish feeding device 1, which is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a cross section taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2 with a portion cut away.

The automatic petri dish feeding device 1 includes a circular horizontal guide table 14 fixed on a substrate 12.
The horizontal guide table 14 is formed with a discharge hole 16 having an inner diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the petri dish 10 and into which the petri dish 10 in a horizontal position is loosely fitted. A rotary stocker 18 for storing a large number of empty petri dishes 10 is disposed directly above the horizontal guide table 14.

The rotary stocker 18 has a structure including a holding member in which a large number of vertical rods 22 are installed on the upper surface side of a horizontal holding plate 20 and their upper ends are fixed to an upper horizontal plate 24. A petri dish 10 in a horizontal position is mounted on the horizontal holding plate 20.
A plurality of holding holes 26 into which the horizontal holding plate 20 is loosely fitted are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, and the upper horizontal plate 24 is also provided with a horizontal position so as to correspond to each holding hole 26 of the horizontal holding plate 20. A plurality of loading holes 28 into which petri dishes 10 are loosely fitted are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, and each holding hole 26 of the horizontal holding plate 20
A plurality of petri dishes 10 can be held in a stacked state at the respective positions. Further, the horizontal holding plate 20 of the rotating stocker 18 is disposed close to and parallel to the horizontal guide table 14, and has a rotating support shaft 30 fixed to the center thereof, and is attached to the substrate 12 via an index drive 40. It is rotatably supported in a horizontal plane. Then, as the horizontal holding plate 20 rotates, each holding hole 26 is opened to the discharge hole 1 of the horizontal guide table 14.
They sequentially move to position 6 and overlap each other.

The rotation drive mechanism 32 of the rotation stocker 18 is fixed to a rotation drive motor 34, a reduction gear 36, a rotation transmission mechanism 38 consisting of a pair of pulleys and a belt, an index drive 40, and a horizontal holding plate 20 of the rotation stocker 18. The rotational force of the rotary drive motor 34 is transmitted to the horizontal holding plate 20 via the reducer 36, the rotation transmission mechanism 38, the index drive 40, and the rotational support shaft 30, and the rotating shaft 30 is rotated. The stocker 18 is rotated intermittently at low speed. A control signal is sent to the rotary drive motor 34 from a control circuit (not shown), and each operation of rotating and stopping the rotary stocker 18 is controlled.

The upper surface of the horizontal guide table 14 is a horizontal smooth surface, and as the rotary stocker 18 rotates,
The outer bottom surface of the lowermost petri dish 10 that is engaged and held in each holding hole 26 of the horizontal holding plate 20 is the horizontal guide table 1.
The petri dish 10 moves while slidingly contacting the horizontal smooth surface of the plate 4.

A petri dish transport mechanism 42 is provided below the horizontal guide table 14 for sequentially transporting empty petri dishes 10 outward from a position directly below the discharge hole 16 thereof. This petri dish transport mechanism 42 includes a guide rail base plate 44 arranged in a straight line in a horizontal plane, and a large number of protruding pieces 48 on the upper end surface of a linearly extending thin strip plate arranged below and parallel to the guide rail base plate 44. It is constructed by combining comb-shaped carriers 46 that are formed at equal intervals with a distance larger than the diameter of the Petri dish 10 .

The guide rail base plate 44 has a continuous slit 52 formed in the center along the longitudinal direction, and the continuous slit 52 is formed on the upper surface of the horizontal long plate 50 whose upper surface is finished with a smooth surface.
A pair of guide rails 54 parallel to each other on both sides of the
, 54 are attached. The width of the continuous slit 52 formed in the horizontal long plate 50 is slightly wider than the width of each protruding piece 48 of the comb-shaped carrier 46. Moreover, the distance between the pair of guide rails 54, 54 is
The petri dish 10 is placed between a pair of guide rails 54, 54 on the upper surface of the horizontal long plate 50.

Further, the comb-shaped carrier 46 is moved vertically upward → horizontally forward direction → vertically downward → horizontally backward → vertically upward →... while maintaining its horizontal posture by a drive mechanism (not shown).
...is repeatedly driven intermittently. As the comb-shaped conveyor 46 moves vertically upward, each protruding piece 48 passes through the continuous slit 52 of the guide rail base plate 44 and projects upward from the upper surface of the horizontal long plate 50, causing the comb-shaped conveyor to move upward. As the child 46 moves in the horizontal forward direction, the front side of the protruding piece 48 comes into contact with the back side of the Petri dish 10 on the guide rail base plate 44 and presses the Petri dish 10, so that the Petri dish 10 becomes larger than its diameter. It can be pushed forward over a long distance while the outer bottom surface is in sliding contact with the upper surface of the horizontal long plate 50. Thereafter, the comb-shaped carrier 46 moves vertically downward to release the connection with the petri dish 10, and then moves in the horizontal retreat direction to return to the initial position. Thereafter, by repeating the series of operations described above, the petri dish 10 is intermittently transferred by a certain distance.

Further, a horizontal guide table 14 is attached to the horizontal long plate 50 of each guide rail base plate 44 of the Petri dish transport mechanism 42.
A circular hole 56 is formed in a portion corresponding to a position directly below the discharge hole 16 . A petri dish transfer mechanism 58 is disposed at the position where the circular hole 56 is formed. This Petri dish transfer mechanism 58 has an outer diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the circular hole 56 in the horizontal long plate 50 of the guide rail base plate 44, and has an outer diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the circular hole 56 in the horizontal long plate 50 and It passes through the discharge hole 16 and goes up and down, and the petri dish 1
0 horizontally, a lifting mechanism equipped with a horizontal support plate 60 and its support rod 62, a circular hole 66 having an inner diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the horizontal support plate 60, and a lifting mechanism connected to the circular hole 66. A movable plate 64 in which a slit 68 having a width larger than the diameter of the support rod 62 of the horizontal support plate 60 is formed along the direction of the continuous slit 52 of the horizontal long plate 50.
It is composed of.

The horizontal support plate 60 has an upper surface that is similar to the horizontal long plate 5.
The horizontal guide table 14 is supported by a support rod 62 so as to be able to reciprocate vertically between a height position corresponding to the upper surface of the horizontal guide table 14 and a height position corresponding to the upper surface of the horizontal guide table 14 . The support rod 62 of the horizontal support plate 60 is reciprocated in the vertical direction while synchronizing with the intermittent movement of the comb-shaped carrier 46 by a vertical reciprocating drive mechanism (not shown). Moreover, the movable plate 64 has its circular hole 6
6 is supported so as to be able to reciprocate in the horizontal direction between a position where it overlaps with the circular hole 56 of the horizontal long plate 50 and a position where it is retracted from that position. The support plate 60 is reciprocated in the horizontal direction while being synchronized with the vertical movement of the support plate 60.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the operation of discharging the petri dish 10 in the automatic petri dish supplying device 1 configured as described above.
The explanation will be based on.

As shown in FIG. 4(a), when the horizontal support plate 60 supports the Petri dish 10 at its uppermost position,
After the comb-shaped conveyor 46 of the petri dish conveyance mechanism 42 moves vertically upward and causes its protruding piece 48 to protrude upward from the upper surface of the horizontal long plate 50 of the guide rail base plate, as shown in FIG. , by moving the comb-shaped carrier 46 in the horizontal forward direction, the protruding piece 48 presses the Petri dish 10', and as shown in FIG.
), the petri dish 10' is transported forward while its outer bottom surface is brought into sliding contact with the upper surface of the horizontal long plate 50. Subsequently, the comb-shaped carrier 46 is moved vertically downward (see FIG. 4(d)
)), and is moved in the horizontal backward direction to return the comb-shaped carrier 46 to the initial position shown in FIG. 4(a), as shown in FIG. 5(e). Next, in the state shown in FIG. 5(e), by lowering the horizontal support plate 60 supporting the petri dish 10 to the position of the horizontal long plate 50, as shown in FIG. 5(f), the petri dish 10 is transferred from the horizontal support plate 60 to the horizontal long plate 50. Next, by moving the movable plate 64 horizontally forward, its tip surface touches the petri dish 10.
Press and push it forward, as shown in Figure 5(g),
While moving the petri dish 10 from the position directly above the horizontal support plate 60 to the front position on the horizontal long plate 50,
The petri dish 10'' placed above is transferred from the top of the petri dish 10 to the movable plate 64.Then, the horizontal support plate 60
passes through the circular hole 56 of the horizontal long plate 50, the circular hole of the movable plate 64, and the discharge hole 16 of the horizontal guide table 14 and rises, thereby transferring the Petri dish 10'' from the movable plate 64 to the horizontal support plate 60. Then, as shown in FIG. 5(h), the petri dish 10'' is again pushed up to the level of the holding hole 26 of the horizontal holding plate 20 of the rotary stocker. After that, the movable plate 64
moves horizontally toward the first retracted position and returns to the state shown in FIG. 4(a). Thereafter, by repeating each of the above operations, the petri dish is carried out.

When the operation of carrying out one row of petri dishes is completed, the height positions of the top surface of the horizontal support plate 60 and the top surface of the horizontal guide table 14 are aligned, as shown in FIG. 4(a). , the rotary stocker rotates, and as the rotating stocker rotates, the next row of petri dishes held in the holding holes 26 of the horizontal holding plate 20 horizontally guide the outer bottom surface of the bottommost petri dish. The rotary stocker moves in the circumferential direction while slidingly contacting the upper surface of the table 14, and stops rotating when it reaches the horizontal support plate 60. Subsequently, the petri dish is taken out by the same operation as above.

Next, the configuration and operation of the automatic dilution/dispensing device 2 will be explained.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show an example of the configuration of an automatic dilution/dispensing device, with FIG. 6 being a front view and FIG. 7 being a plan view with the upper liquid feeding section removed. However, in each figure, illustration of the liquid feeding tube is omitted.

This automatic dilution/dispensing device, for example, the automatic diluting/dispensing device 2 used for MIC measurement by the agar plate dilution method.
is composed of an operating section 70, a liquid feeding section 72, and a control section 74.

The operation unit 70 includes a mounting table on which a rack 80 is placed, on a flat base 76, in which a large number of test tubes 78 are housed in parallel in the X direction and in the Y direction perpendicular to the X direction. 82 is provided, and the mounting table 82 is guided by a guide table 84 and reciprocated in the Y direction by a drive mechanism (not shown). Also,
In the operating section 70, two mutually parallel guide rods 86 and 88 are arranged above the mounting table 82 in the X direction and parallel to the flat base 76. A dilution nozzle holding device 92 that holds a dilution nozzle 90 (see FIG. 8) in a vertically movable manner and includes a drive mechanism that reciprocates the dilution nozzle 90 in the vertical direction is engaged with one guide rod 86. It is provided. This dilution nozzle holding device 92 is configured to be guided by a guide rod 86 and reciprocated in the X direction by a drive mechanism (not shown). Further, on the other guide rod 88, there is a dispensing nozzle holding device 96 that holds a dispensing nozzle 94 (see FIG. 9) so as to be movable up and down, and is equipped with a drive mechanism that reciprocates the dispensing nozzle 94 in the vertical direction. The dispensing nozzle holding device 96 is guided by the guide rod 88 by a drive mechanism (not shown), and is configured to reciprocate in the X direction independently of the dilution nozzle holding device 92. It is configured. Note that the distance between the dilution nozzle 90 held in the dilution nozzle holding device 92 and the dispensing nozzle 94 held in the dispensing nozzle holding device 96 in the Y direction is the same as that of the test tube 78 housed in the rack 80 in the Y direction. They are arranged at a distance that is an integer multiple, for example twice, of the distance in .

The liquid feeding section 72 also includes a dilution liquid feeding device 98.
, a dispensing liquid feeding device 100, and a cleaning liquid feeding device 102. As shown in FIG. 8, the dilution liquid feeding device 98 includes a drug solution measuring syringe 106 connected to the dilution nozzle 90 through a liquid feeding tube 104, a dilution liquid measuring syringe 108, and a flow path switching valve 110. It is equipped with The dilution liquid measuring syringe 108 is connected to a liquid feeding tube 112 in which a flow path switching valve 110 is inserted.
A flow path is connected to a liquid container 116 containing a diluting liquid, for example, sterile distilled water 114. In addition, the syringe 106 for measuring liquid medicine and the syringe 108 for measuring dilution liquid are
With the flow path switching valve 110 interposed, the liquid feeding tube 1
The flow path is connected through 18. By switching the flow path switching valve 110, the dilution liquid measuring syringe 108 can be selectively connected to the liquid container 116 and the drug liquid measuring syringe 106 (therefore, the dilution nozzle 90). The flow path is configured to allow In FIG. 8, 120 is a drain section. The dilution device is configured as described above.

As shown in FIG. 9, the liquid dispensing device 100 also includes a syringe 124 for measuring the prepared diluted liquid, which is connected to the dispensing nozzle 94 via a liquid feeding tube 122, and agar for mixing and pouring. Measuring syringe 126 and flow path switching valve 12
It has 8. The syringe 126 for measuring agar for mixing and pouring is
Liquid feeding tube 130 with flow path switching valve 128 inserted
A flow path is connected to an agar container 134 containing an agar liquid 132 via the agar liquid 132 . Note that this agar container 134 is heated to prevent the agar from solidifying. Also, a syringe 124 for measuring prepared diluted liquid and a syringe 126 for measuring agar for pouring.
The flow path is connected through the liquid feeding tube 136 with the flow path switching valve 128 interposed therebetween. Then, by switching the flow path switching valve 128, the syringe 126 for measuring agar for pouring is selectively connected to the flow path between the agar container 134 and the syringe 124 for measuring the prepared diluted liquid (therefore, the dispensing nozzle 94). The flow path is configured so that it can be connected. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 138 denotes a liquid drainage part, and this liquid drainage part 1
At step 38, the two syringe pumps 140 and 142 provided in the cleaning liquid feeding device 102 are driven, and the flow path switching valve 144 is switched, so that the cleaning liquid is continuously fed through the liquid feeding tube 146. The cleaning liquid cleans the outer peripheral surface of the dispensing nozzle 94. Note that the cleaning liquid is heated to prevent the agar from solidifying within the dispensing nozzle 94. The dispensing device is configured as described above.

The control section 74 has a built-in microcomputer, and controls the keys on the operation panel 148.

Next, the dilution and dispensing operation by the automatic dilution and dispensing device 2 will be explained based on FIGS. 8 and 9.

First, to explain the dilution operation, operate the flow path switching valve 110 to switch it to the solid line position as shown in FIG. By driving the piston of the measuring syringe 106 in the direction of the solid line arrow, for example, 1,000 μg contained in the first test tube 78-1
By sucking 2 ml of the 4 ml drug stock solution 150 prepared to a concentration of /ml into the dilution nozzle 90 and driving the piston of the dilution liquid measuring syringe 108 in the direction of the solid line arrow, sterilized distilled water 114 is drawn. 2ml of
Aspirate only into the syringe. Next, the dilution nozzle holding device 92 is moved in the X direction by the X direction drive mechanism of the dilution nozzle holding device 92, and after moving the dilution nozzle 90 to the position of the adjacent empty test tube 78-2, The nozzle drive mechanism of the nozzle holding device 92 moves the dilution nozzle 90 downward and the tip thereof is attached to the test tube 7.
Insert into 8-2. Next, after operating the flow path switching valve 110 and switching it to the chain line position, the pistons of the drug solution measuring syringe 106 and the diluting liquid measuring syringe 108 are simultaneously driven in the direction of the dotted line arrow. The drug stock solution and 2 ml of sterile distilled water are discharged through the dilution nozzle 90 into the second test tube 78-2. Both liquids discharged from the dilution nozzle 90 are transferred to the test tube 78-2.
4 ml of a 2-fold diluted solution with a concentration of 500 μg/ml is prepared.

When the first stage dilution operation is completed, the flow path switching valve 110, the drug solution measuring syringe 106, and the diluting liquid measuring syringe 108 are operated in the same manner as described above, and the second test tube 78-2 is opened. 2 ml of the 4 ml diluent prepared to a concentration of 500 μg/ml is aspirated into the dilution nozzle 90 whose tip remains inserted into the dilution nozzle 90, and the syringe 108 of the dilution liquid measuring syringe 108 is aspirated. 2 ml of sterile distilled water 114 is aspirated. Then, by the nozzle drive mechanism of the dilution nozzle holding device 92,
Move the dilution nozzle 90 upward and insert its tip into the test tube 78-2.
The drive mechanism of the dilution nozzle holding device 92 moves the dilution nozzle holding device 92 to move the dilution nozzle 90 to the position of the adjacent empty test tube 78-3, and then the nozzle drive mechanism removes the dilution nozzle. 90 is moved down and its tip is inserted into the test tube 78-3, and 2 ml of the prepared diluent and 2 ml of sterile distilled water are discharged through the dilution nozzle 90 into the third test tube 78-3. , further diluted 2 times with a concentration of 250 μg/ml diluent 4
ml is prepared. Thereafter, similar operations are repeated one after another to obtain prepared diluted solutions of each concentration that are serially diluted in 10 to 15 steps.

After completing a series of stepwise dilution operations for the group of test tubes lined up in the X direction, the dilution nozzle holding device 92
The tip of the dilution nozzle 90 is pulled out from inside the last test tube 78 by driving the nozzle drive mechanism, and the drive mechanism of the dilution nozzle holding device 92 moves the dilution nozzle holding device 92 to move the dilution nozzle 90 to the draining section. 120, operate the flow path switching valve 110 as appropriate, and drive the drug solution measuring syringe 106 and the dilution liquid measuring syringe 108 to discharge an appropriate amount of sterilized distilled water from the dilution nozzle 90. The inside of the dilution nozzle 90 is cleaned, and the outer peripheral surface of the dilution nozzle 90 is also cleaned with sterilized distilled water discharged from the dilution nozzle 90 and temporarily stored in the drainage part 120.

When the cleaning is finished, the test tube 7 is moved by the drive mechanism in the Y direction along the guide table 84.
8 intervals, and perform the same serial dilution operation for the next row of test tubes.

Next, the dispensing operation will be explained. first,
Using the X-direction drive mechanism and nozzle drive mechanism of the dispensing nozzle holding device 96, the dispensing nozzle 94, which is filled with agar liquid up to the tip, is moved and the tip is inserted into the test tube 78, and the flow path switching valve is opened. 128 to switch it to the solid line position as shown in FIG. 1 ml of the 2 ml of prepared diluted liquid 152 is aspirated into the dispensing nozzle 94. At the same time, or subsequently, by driving the piston of the agar measuring syringe 126 in the direction of the solid line arrow, the agar liquid 13
2 into a 9 ml syringe. Next, the dispensing nozzle holding device 96 is moved in the X direction to the tip of the guide rod 88 by the X-direction drive mechanism of the dispensing nozzle holding device 96, and the dispensing nozzle 94 is moved to a position above the petri dish 10. The nozzle drive mechanism of the dispensing nozzle holding device 96 moves the dispensing nozzle 94 downward. And the flow path switching valve 128
1 ml of the prepared diluted liquid and 9 ml of the prepared diluted liquid by operating the pistons of the syringe 124 for measuring the prepared diluted liquid and the syringe 126 for measuring the agar for pouring at the same time in the direction of the dotted line arrow. and the agar solution are discharged into the petri dish 10 through the dispensing nozzle 94, and both liquids are mixed in the petri dish 10. As a result, 10 ml of agar medium containing the drug diluted to an appropriate concentration is obtained. Subsequently, the same dispensing operation as described above is sequentially repeated for adjacent test tubes.

When a series of dispensing operations for the group of test tubes lined up in a row in the X direction is completed, the dispensing nozzle 94 is drained by the nozzle drive mechanism of the dispensing nozzle holding device 96 and the X direction drive mechanism. 138, and operate the flow path switching valve 128 as appropriate, as well as the syringe 124 for measuring the prepared diluted liquid and the syringe 126 for measuring the agar for pouring.
Discharges an appropriate amount of agar solution from the dispensing nozzle 94 to clean the inside of the dispensing nozzle 94, and also drives the syringe pumps 140, 142 of the cleaning liquid supply device 102 to clean the liquid supply tube 146. A heated cleaning liquid is supplied through the dispensing nozzle 94, and the prepared diluted liquid adhering to the outer peripheral surface of the dispensing nozzle 94 is washed away by the cleaning liquid.

When the cleaning is completed, the next row of test tubes placed on the mounting table 82 is moved in the Y direction along the guide table 84 by the interval distance of the test tubes 78 by the drive mechanism. Perform the same dispensing operation.

[0041] When performing the above-mentioned dispensing operation continuously on a group of sample containers arranged in a row in the It is preferable to do so in order to minimize the influence of contamination. Further, the distance in the Y direction between the dilution nozzle 90 held by the dilution nozzle holding device 92 and the dispensing nozzle 94 held by the dispensing nozzle holding device 96 is the same as that in the Y direction of the test tube 78 housed in the rack 80. If the distance is, for example, twice the distance between the two, it is possible to perform the dilution operation while simultaneously performing the dispensing operation on the row of sample containers for which the dilution operation has already been completed. The work efficiency of dispensing operations can be improved.

Next, the structure and operation of the automatic agar solidifying and drying apparatus 3 will be explained.

10 to 12 show an example of the configuration of an automatic agar solidifying and drying apparatus, and FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the automatic agar solidifying and drying apparatus 3 shown together with a petri dish conveying mechanism 42 in a partially broken state. FIG. 11 is a plan view of the casing constituting the solidification chamber and drying chamber of this device with the upper cover removed, and FIG. 12 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line XII-XII in FIG. 11. .

From the above-mentioned automatic dilution/dispensing device 2 installed at the front stage of this automatic agar solidification/drying device 3, that is, on the left side in FIG.
Petri dishes 10 containing test chemical solutions diluted to various concentrations and unsolidified liquid agar are sequentially transported. The automatic agar solidifying and drying device 3 is disposed above the guide rail base plate 44 of the Petri dish transport mechanism 42 so as to intersect therewith. The automatic agar solidifying and drying device 3 consists of a sealed housing 160 with a flat appearance, and the inside of the housing 160 is partitioned vertically by a horizontal partition wall 162 and left and right by vertical partition walls 164 and 166. By this,
Four chambers are formed: a cooling air supply chamber 168, a solidification chamber 170, a dry air supply chamber 172, and a drying chamber 174.

The cooling air supply chamber 168 and the solidification chamber 170 communicate with each other through six ventilation holes 176 formed in the horizontal partition wall 162. Furthermore, the dry air supply chamber 172 and the drying chamber 174 are attached to each of six mounting holes 178 formed in the horizontal partition wall 162, and the lower end opening surface is opened near the bottom surface of the drying chamber 174. 18 blowout cylinders
It communicates through 0. On the other hand, the solidification chamber 170 and the drying chamber 174 are formed by a slit-like passage 182 formed by cutting out the lower part of the vertical partition wall 166 along the inner bottom surface of the housing 160.
However, the slit-like passage 182 is formed to have the minimum width dimension so that a rotary table 184 (described later) can rotate in a horizontal plane while holding the petri dish 10. and solidification chamber 17
There is almost no air circulation between the drying chamber 174 and the drying chamber 174.

The inner bottom surface of the housing 160 is smoothed to form a horizontal smooth surface 186.
A rotary table 184 is supported above so as to be rotatable about a rotary shaft 188. The rotary table 184 has
A circular holding hole 1 large enough to loosely fit the Petri dish 10
Twelve pieces 90 are equally spaced in the circumferential direction. Then, by intermittently rotating the rotating table 184 while holding the petri dish 10 in each holding hole 190, the petri dish 10 slides its outer bottom surface against the horizontal smooth surface 186 forming the inner bottom surface of the housing 160. It is designed to move and be transported intermittently on a circular orbit. 192 in Figure 12
is the drive motor of the rotary table 184, and 19
Reference numeral 4 denotes an index drive that is connected to the drive shaft of the drive motor 192 via a transmission mechanism and rotates the rotary table 184 intermittently, but a detailed explanation of the configuration of these rotary drive mechanisms will be omitted here. .

The rotary table 184 also has a holding hole 1.
A small ventilation hole 196 with a smaller diameter than the holding hole 190 is provided inside the holding hole 190.
A plurality of holes are bored at a predetermined pitch in the circumferential direction. On the other hand, in an area of the bottom wall of the casing 160 that forms the bottom of the drying chamber 174, a plurality of exhaust holes 19 are provided concentrically with the ventilation holes 196 of the rotary table 184 and at the same pitch as the ventilation holes 196.
8 are bored, and when the small ventilation hole 196 of the rotating table 184 and the exhaust hole 198 on the bottom of the drying chamber 174 overlap with the intermittent rotational movement of the rotating table 184, the small ventilation holes 196 and The inside of the drying chamber 174 is vented through the exhaust hole 198.

A cooler 200 is disposed on the solidification chamber 170 side of the casing 160, and has an outlet located on the cooling air supply chamber 168 side and an intake port located on the solidification chamber 170 side. This cooler 200 supplies cooling air, for example, air cooled to a temperature of 15° C. or lower, from the cooling air supply chamber 168 to the solidification chamber 170 through the vent hole 176, and
The agar in a fluid state contained in the Petri dish 10 transferred into the chamber 70 is cooled with cooling air and solidified. Then, the air in the solidification chamber 170 is cooled again by passing through a cooler 200 having a built-in circulation fan, and is used for circulation.

Furthermore, an air supply pipe 202 connected to a dry air source communicates with the dry air supply chamber 172, and a small fan 204 is attached to the upper end opening of each blowout cylinder 180. Dry air is supplied from a dry air source to the dry air supply chamber 172 through the air supply pipe 202, and the dry air is sent to the drying chamber 174 through the blow cylinder 180 by each small fan 204. Dry air is prepared by dehumidifying air that has passed through a sterile filter and then heating it to, for example, 40 to 50°C. Then, the surface of the agar is dried by blowing dry air from the lower end opening surface of the blowing cylinder 180 onto the surface of the solidified agar stored in the Petri dish 10 transferred into the drying chamber 174. Note that the air used to dry the agar is exhausted to the outside through the small ventilation hole 196 of the rotary table 184 and the exhaust hole 198 of the drying chamber 174, as described above.

Next, the means for carrying in and out the petri dish 10 to and from the drying and solidifying apparatus 3 will be explained. On the bottom of the solidification chamber 170, a circular shape of a size large enough to loosely fit the Petri dish 10 in a horizontal position is provided at a position overlapping one of the holding holes 190 of the rotary table 184 and at a position intersecting the rotary rail base plate 44. A loading/unloading hole 206 is formed. On the other hand, a circular hole 208 is formed in the horizontally elongated plate 50 of the guide rail base plate 44 in a portion corresponding to a position directly below the carry-in/out hole 206 . Further, the position where the circular hole 208 is formed has an outer diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of each of the circular hole 208 and the carrying-in/out hole 206, and a width slightly larger than the width of the comb-shaped carrier 46. A circular horizontal support plate 210 is provided with a sized slit 212 formed in the center. The horizontal support plate 210 can freely reciprocate in the vertical direction between a height position where its upper surface coincides with the upper surface of the horizontal long plate 50 and a height position where its upper surface coincides with the horizontal smooth surface 186 forming the inner bottom surface of the housing 160. are supported by support rods 214, 214. The support rods 214, 214 of the horizontal support plate 210 are reciprocated in the vertical direction in synchronization with the intermittent movement of the comb-shaped carrier 46 and the intermittent rotational movement of the rotary table 184 by a vertical reciprocating drive mechanism (not shown).

The operation of the automatic agar solidifying and drying apparatus 3 constructed as above will be explained.

First, the comb-shaped carrier 46 is moved in the vertically upward direction a.
Then, by moving in the horizontal forward direction b, the petri dish 1
0 is transferred forward. At this time, the horizontal support plate 210 is at the lowest position, and the upper surface of the horizontal long plate 50 of the guide rail base plate 44 is flush with the upper surface of the horizontal support plate 210, and the outer bottom surface is the upper surface of the horizontal long plate 50. One petri dish 10 containing agar in a fluid state, which has been transferred while being in sliding contact with the petri dish 10, is transferred from the horizontal long plate 50 to the horizontal support plate 210.

[0054] When the petri dish 10 is placed on the horizontal support plate 210, the horizontal support plate 210 rises. At this time, the comb-shaped carrier 46 moves in the vertically downward direction c, then moves in the horizontal retreat direction d, and returns to the initial position. Horizontal support plate 210
The petri dish 10 penetrates the loading/unloading hole 206 at the bottom of the solidification chamber 170 and rises until its top surface is at the same height as the horizontal smooth surface 186 forming the inner bottom surface of the housing 160, and stops at the uppermost position. is the holding hole 19 of the rotary table 184
It is inserted into 0.

When the petri dish 10 is held in the holding hole 190 of the rotary table 184 and stored in the solidification chamber 170, the rotary table 184 rotates by an angle of 30° (=360°/12) and then stops. . This rotary table 184
With the rotation of the petri dish 1 containing agar in a fluid state,
0 is transferred from the horizontal support plate 210 onto the horizontal smooth surface 186 and moved within the solidification chamber 170, and the petri dish 10 containing the agar that has undergone solidification and surface drying processing is transferred from the drying chamber 174. horizontal smooth surface 186
It is transferred onto the horizontal support plate 210 from above.

[0056] When the petri dish 10 containing the agar that has been solidified and has a dry surface is supported on the horizontal support plate 210, the horizontal support plate 210 is lowered and returned to the initial lowermost position. When the horizontal support plate 210 stops at the lowest position, the comb-shaped conveyor 46 is driven again to return to the initial operation, and the petri dish 10 containing the solidified and surface-dried agar is moved onto the horizontal support plate 210 by the transfer operation. From the horizontal long plate 5 of the guide rail base plate 44
At the same time, as described above, the petri dish 10 containing agar in a fluid state is transferred from the horizontal long plate 50 to the horizontal support plate 210.

[0057] From then on, by repeating the above operations,
The petri dish 10 is inserted into the solidification chamber 17 from above the guide rail base plate 44.
The agar is transferred to the drying chamber 1 from the solidification chamber 170 and is moved intermittently through the solidification chamber 170, where the fluidized agar is solidified by the cooling air while passing through the solidification chamber 170.
After the surface of the solidified agar is dried by the drying air while moving intermittently within the drying chamber 174, the agar is moved to the solidification chamber 170 again, and from the solidification chamber 170 the guide rail base plate 44 is moved to the solidification chamber 170. The seedlings are transferred to the top, conveyed on the guide rail base plate 44, and sent to the automatic inoculation device 4 at the next stage.

When using the above device, when dry air adjusted to a temperature of 40 to 50° C. is supplied to the dry air supply chamber 172 at a flow rate of 25 m3/min, the rotary table 184 is intermittently operated at 20 second intervals. By rotating the plate medium, a plate culture medium with satisfactory quality can be produced.

Next, the configuration and operation of the automatic inoculation device 4 will be explained.

13 and 14 show an example of the configuration of an automatic inoculation device, and FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the automatic inoculation device 4 with the table surface, machine frame, etc. omitted; Figure 14
1 is an external perspective view showing a portion of the automatic inoculation device 4 that is visible on the table surface.

[0061] This automatic inoculation device 4 is placed on a work table 220, as shown in FIG. On the surface of the work table 220, there are support plates 22 at the upper ends of a pair of support rods 226, 226 that move up and down in the vertical direction through a pair of through holes 222, 222 formed in the work table 220.
8 is fixed to the supporting plate 228, and a horizontal plate part 230, which has a handle 232 fixed to the upper surface side and a plurality of stainless steel inoculation rods 234 vertically arranged on the lower surface side, is engaged with the supporting plate 228 in a detachable manner. The held inoculation stick holder 224, this inoculation stick holder 22
4, a fixed table 236 on which a plurality of small test tubes 238 containing different bacterial solutions are placed and held, and a petri dish transfer table 240.
The support plate portion 242 that supports the petri dish is visible.

As shown in FIG. 13, the inoculation rod holder 224 has a pair of support rods 226, 226 that slide onto a pair of bushes 244, 244 fixed to a fixture frame (not shown). It is inserted freely and supported so that it can be raised and lowered. Further, the upper end of a vertical mounting plate 246 is fixed to the support plate portion 242 of the petri dish transfer table 240, and the petri dish transfer table 240 is guided by a horizontal guide (not shown) to the standby position A and the inoculation rod holder. It is supported so as to be able to reciprocate horizontally between a position directly below the fixed table 224 and a position directly above the fixed table 236, which is the inoculation position B.

At the bottom of the work table 220, one rotary shaft 252 that is driven to rotate at a low speed by a rotary drive motor (not shown) is disposed, and the common rotary shaft 25
2, two cams 254 and 256 each having a different profile are fixed in parallel in the axial direction. Of those two cams, the first cam 254
A roller 262 pivotally attached to a lever 258 for driving a seeding rod, which is supported to be swingable in the vertical direction about a fixed fulcrum 260, is rotatably abutted on the circumferential surface of the roller 262 . The seeding rod driving lever 258 is connected with a pin to the lower end of a connecting plate 264 on the other end side of the fixed fulcrum 260, and the lower ends of the pair of support rods 226, 226 are connected to the upper end of the connecting plate 264. Brackets 26 of lifting plates 266 fixed respectively
8 are connected by pins. When the rotating shaft 252 rotates, the rotational motion is transmitted to the inoculation rod driving lever 258 via the first cam 254, and further to the connecting plate 264.
and a pair of support rods 226, 226 via a lifting plate 266.
, the pair of support rods 226, 226 are driven in the vertical direction, so that the entire inoculation rod holder 224 moves up and down.

Further, on the circumferential surface of the second cam 256, a roller 274 is rotatably mounted on a transfer table driving lever 270 that is supported so as to be swingable in the front and rear directions about a fixed fulcrum 272 at the lower end. It touches freely. The transfer table driving lever 270 has its upper end connected to the connecting plate 270.
One end of the connecting plate 276 is connected with a pin, and the other end of the connecting plate 276 is
It is connected with a pin to a vertical mounting plate 246 of the Petri dish transfer table 240. In addition, the lever 27 for driving the transfer table
0, the other end of a tension coil spring 278 whose one end is fixed to the stationary frame is fixed, and the transfer table driving lever 270 is always biased in the direction of arrow a. Then, when the rotating shaft 252 rotates, the rotational movement is caused by the second
The lever 270 for driving the transfer table via the cam 256 of
and further transmitted to the petri dish transfer table 240 via the connection plate 276, thereby causing the support plate portion 242 of the petri dish transfer table 240 to reciprocate in the horizontal direction.

With the cam mechanism configured as described above, each operation in a series of inoculation operations is performed in a predetermined order and timing.

The Petri dish carrying device carries the Petri dish containing the drug-containing medium to the standby position A of the automatic inoculation device 4, and transfers the Petri dish containing the drug-containing medium to the support plate portion 2 of the Petri dish transfer table 240.
42, the inoculation rod 234 of the inoculation rod holder 224 descends to the lowest position while the rotating shaft 252 rotates 60 degrees from the origin position (0 degree angle position). At the lowest position, the lower end of each inoculation rod 234 is immersed in various bacterial solutions contained in each small test tube 238 held on the fixed table 236, so that the lower end of each inoculation rod 234 Various bacterial liquids adhere. When the attachment of the bacterial liquid to the inoculation rod 234 is completed, the bacterial liquid rod 234 rises.

[0067] Then, the rotating shaft 252 moves 12 times from the origin position.
While rotating from the 0° angular position to the 180° angular position, the Petri dish supported on the support plate portion 242 of the Petri dish transfer table 240 is horizontally moved from the standby position A to the inoculation position B, and then rotated. The axis 252 moves 2 from the origin position.
While rotating to the 45° angle position, the Petri dish remains stopped at the inoculation position B. Then, each inoculation rod 234 of the inoculation rod holder 224 begins to descend from the point immediately before the petri dish stops at the inoculation position B (the point in time when the rotating shaft 252 rotates from the origin position to an angular position of 175°). When the rotation shaft 252 rotates from the origin position to an angular position of 210°, the inoculation rods 234 reach the intermediate position, and the bacterial liquid attached to the lower end of each inoculation rod 234 of the inoculation rod holder 224 is
The bacterial solution is inoculated by contacting the surface of the agar medium housed in the Petri dish stopped at the inoculation position B. When the inoculation of the bacterial solution onto the agar medium in the petri dish is completed, the inoculation rod 234 rises again.

When the inoculation rod 234 rises, the rotation shaft 252
When the petri dish has rotated from the original position to an angular position of 245°, the petri dish transfer table 240 begins to move in the opposite direction, returning the petri dish from the inoculation position B to the standby position A. Then, the petri dish is carried out from above the petri dish transfer table 240 by the petri dish transport device.

As described above, one step of the inoculation operation is performed each time the rotating shaft 252 rotates once, and by repeating the series of operations described above, the inoculation operation is performed one after another.

Finally, the automatic petri dish storage device 5 has the same configuration as the automatic petri dish supply device 1 described above. Then, the operation of storing the petri dish 10 in the automatic petri dish storage device 5 is performed by loading the petri dish 10 from the automatic petri dish supply device 1.
This is done by the 0 discharge operation and the reverse operation.

The device described above is an example of the configuration in which the present invention is applied to an automatic bacterial susceptibility testing device, but when applied to a viable cell count measuring device using the pour plate culture method, automatic agar solidification is required. Since the drying device 3 and the automatic inoculation device 4 are not particularly necessary, the configuration is such that these devices are omitted.

[0072]

[0073]

Effects of the Invention Since the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, if this automatic microbial test device is used, it is possible to perform bacterial susceptibility testing by the agar plate dilution method by consuming a large amount of plate culture at one time. In pharmaceutical company laboratories and clinical testing centers where viable bacteria counts are measured using the pour plate culture method, it is possible to save the labor and time of workers that were previously required, and to save space. It also has an advantage in terms of space since it does not take up much space.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall external perspective view showing an example of a configuration in which the present invention is applied to a bacterial susceptibility testing device using an agar plate dilution method.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a main part showing an example of the configuration of an automatic petri dish feeding device, and is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway view showing a cross section taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2;

[Figure 4]

FIG. 5 is a partial longitudinal cross-sectional view for explaining the operation of discharging a petri dish in the automatic petri dish supply device.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing an example of the configuration of an automatic dilution/dispensing device.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the automatic dilution/dispensing device shown in FIG. 6 with the upper liquid feeding section removed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the dilution operation by the diluter of the automatic dilution/dispensing device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the dispensing operation by the dispensing device of the automatic dilution dispensing device.

FIG. 10 shows an example of the configuration of an automatic agar solidification drying device,
It is a perspective view showing a part of the automatic agar solidification drying device in a broken state together with a petri dish conveyance mechanism.

11 is a plan view of the casing forming the solidification chamber and drying chamber of the automatic agar solidification and drying apparatus shown in FIG. 10 with the upper cover removed; FIG.

12 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line XII-XII in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of an automatic inoculation device, with illustrations of the table surface, machine frame, etc. omitted.

FIG. 14 is an external perspective view showing a portion of the automatic inoculation device shown in FIG. 13 that is visible on the table surface.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Automatic petri dish feeding device 2 Automatic dilution/dispensing device 3 Automatic agar solidification drying equipment 4 Automatic inoculation device 5 Automatic petri dish storage device 10 Petri dish 14 Horizontal guide table 16 Discharge hole 18 Rotating stocker 20 Horizontal holding plate 26 Holding hole 32 Rotation drive mechanism 42 Petri dish transport mechanism 58 Petri dish transfer mechanism 60 Horizontal support plate 78 Test tube 80 rack 82 Placement table 90 Dilution nozzle 92 Dilution nozzle holding device 94 Dispensing nozzle 96 Dispensing nozzle holding device 106 Syringe for measuring chemical liquid 108 Syringe for measuring liquid for dilution 110 Flow path switching valve 114 Sterile distilled water 116 Liquid container 124 Syringe for measuring prepared diluted liquid 126 Syringe for measuring agar for mixing and pouring 128 Flow path switching valve 132 Agar solution for mixing 134 Agar container 160 Housing 170 Solidification chamber 174 Drying room

Claims (4)

[Claims] Claim 1: An automatic petri dish feeding device having a stocker for storing a plurality of empty petri dishes stacked in a horizontal position, and a petri dish discharging mechanism for sequentially taking out the empty petri dishes one by one from the stocker, and a large number of dishes. It has a mounting table on which a rack in which sample containers are stored in parallel is placed, and the liquid to be diluted is sequentially diluted to multiple dilution ratios using a diluting liquid, and the diluted liquid prepared at each dilution ratio is prepared as described above. A diluting device injects each sample into each sample container, and a diluting device that separates the prepared diluted liquid contained in each sample container, mixes it with agar in a fluid state at a fixed ratio, and supplies it from the Petri dish supply device. an automatic diluting and dispensing device equipped with a dispensing device that sequentially dispenses into each petri dish; a solidification chamber that sends cooling air to fluidized agar containing a prepared diluent contained in the petri dish to solidify the agar; and a common or separate housing in which a drying chamber is formed to send dry air to the solidified agar to dry the surface of the agar, and the Petri dish containing the agar in a fluid state is transferred to the solidification chamber. A flat plate culture medium, comprising a petri dish carrying means for sequentially carrying petri dishes, a petri dish transferring means for sequentially transferring the petri dishes from the solidification chamber to the drying chamber, and a petri dish carrying means for sequentially carrying out the petri dishes containing agar that has been solidified and whose surface has been dried. an automatic agar solidifying and drying device that creates agar, an automatic inoculation device that automatically inoculates a bacterial solution into a flat plate culture medium housed in a petri dish carried out from the automatic agar solidifying and drying device, the automatic petri dish feeding device, An automatic microbial testing device comprising a petri dish conveying mechanism that sequentially conveys petri dishes between a dilution dispensing device, an automatic agar solidification/drying device, and an automatic inoculation device. 2. An automatic petri dish feeding device having a stocker for storing a plurality of empty petri dishes stacked in a horizontal position, and a petri dish discharging mechanism for sequentially taking out the empty petri dishes one by one from the stocker, and a large number of dishes. It has a mounting table on which a rack in which sample containers are stored in parallel is placed, and the liquid to be diluted is sequentially diluted to multiple dilution ratios using a diluting liquid, and the diluted liquid prepared at each dilution ratio is prepared as described above. A diluting device injects each sample into each sample container, and a diluting device that separates the prepared diluted liquid contained in each sample container, mixes it with agar in a fluid state at a fixed ratio, and supplies it from the Petri dish supply device. An automatic microbial test device comprising: an automatic dilution/dispensing device equipped with a dispensing device that sequentially dispenses into each petri dish; and a petri dish transport mechanism that sequentially transports the petri dishes from the automatic petri dish supply device to the automatic dilution/dispensing device. . 3. An automatic petri dish feeding device is provided with a horizontal guide table in which a discharge hole into which a petri dish in a horizontal position is loosely fitted is formed, and a horizontal guide table that is adjacent to and parallel to the horizontal guide table and rotatably supported within a horizontal plane. At the same time, a plurality of holding holes into which petri dishes in a horizontal position are loosely fitted are arranged equidistantly in the circumferential direction and are formed at radial positions corresponding to the discharge holes of the horizontal guide table, respectively, on the upper surface of the horizontal holding plate. A rotating stocker including a holding member that holds a plurality of petri dishes in a stacked state at each holding hole, a rotational drive means for rotationally driving the rotating stocker, and a rotating stocker that supports the petri dishes in a horizontal state and supports the horizontal guide table. 3. The petri dish discharge mechanism according to claim 1, further comprising a lifting means having a supporting part that extends through the discharge hole and is supported in a vertically movable manner, and a petri dish discharge mechanism that sequentially takes out empty petri dishes one by one from the rotary stocker. Automatic microbial test equipment. 4. A diluter of an automatic dilution and dispensing device includes a dilution nozzle, a syringe for measuring a liquid to be diluted connected to the dilution nozzle in a flow path, and a liquid container containing a dilution liquid.
a dilution liquid measuring syringe connected to the liquid container through a flow path; a flow path switching means for selectively connecting the dilution liquid measuring syringe to the dilution measuring syringe or the liquid container; A dilution nozzle holding device that holds the dilution nozzle in a vertically movable manner, and a mounting table on which a rack in which the dilution nozzle holding device and a large number of sample containers are housed in parallel in the X and Y directions are placed are placed on a horizontal surface. a dilution nozzle horizontal movement means for moving the dilution nozzle relatively in the X direction and Y direction within the interior, driving each of the measuring syringes and flow path switching means for the liquid to be diluted and the dilution liquid, and driving the dilution nozzle by the dilution nozzle holding device. The dispensing device includes control means for controlling the upward and downward movements, the relative movement and positioning stop between the dilution nozzle holding device and the mounting table by the dilution nozzle horizontal movement means, and the dispensing device a dispensing nozzle, a nozzle for measuring the prepared diluted liquid connected to the dispensing nozzle, an agar container containing agar for pouring in a fluid state, and agar for pouring the agar connected to the agar container for pouring. A measuring syringe, a flow path switching means for selectively connecting the syringe for measuring agar for mixing and pouring to the syringe for measuring the prepared diluted liquid or the agar container, and holding the dispensing nozzle so as to be vertically movable. A dispensing nozzle holding device, this dispensing nozzle holding device and the placement table are arranged in the X direction and the Y direction in a horizontal plane.
a dispensing nozzle horizontal moving means for relatively moving the dispensing nozzle in the direction;
Driving of the measuring syringes and flow path switching means for the prepared diluted solution and agar for mixing, up and down movement of the dispensing nozzle by the dispensing nozzle holding device, and dispensing by the dispensing nozzle horizontal movement means. 4. The automatic microbial testing device according to claim 1, further comprising a control means for controlling relative movement and positioning and stopping operations between the nozzle holding device and the mounting table.