JPH06117974A - Sampling tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a sampling tool which can sample safely and easily while preventing various kinds of contamination from being mixed into the sample to be sampled. CONSTITUTION:This tool is provided with a container main body 10 with an opening at an upper-edge part, a lid body 12 which can be engaged to the opening of the container main body 10 detachably and has a through hole 16 in up and down directions, and a sample sampling member 14 whose upper-edge part is inserted into the through hole 16 detachably and which can be housed in the container main body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sample-collecting device capable of safely and simply collecting a sample while preventing various contaminations in the sample.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Components present in a sample (especially trace components)
In the collection of samples for which it is necessary to accurately analyze and measure, for example, analytical samples such as various biological samples,
Various operations such as collecting, dispensing or diluting samples using various containers and instruments such as pipettes and droppers are performed. In such sampling operations, it was decided to avoid mixing various biological or abiotic contaminants (contamination, mold, microorganisms, drugs, etc.) originating from the air, fingers, and the surface of the laboratory table into the sample. Importantly. This is because contamination by such contamination may possibly make the entire experiment or measurement meaningless in some cases.

In the sampling operation, it is important to prevent the contamination as described above and to ensure the safety in the work. In particular, in collecting a sample such as a biological sample (blood, stool, etc.) that may have some adverse effects on an operator, ensuring this safety is an extremely important factor.

Further, in the sampling operation, it is desired that the sampling operation be performed in a large amount as much as possible in order to perform the subsequent analysis / measurement quickly and easily.

As shown in FIG. 2, a device widely used in the past for, for example, a stool test (stool test) comprises a toothpick-like stool collection stick 20 and a container 22 for containing the stool collection stick. Become. This container 22 has a length of about 6
Made of transparent plastic with a diameter of 0 mm and an outer diameter of about 8 mm,
The container main body 24 and the lid 26 integrally formed with the container main body 24 are provided, and the container main body 24 and the lid 26 are connected by a flexible connecting portion 28 integrally formed with them.
When collecting stool, hold the stool collection stick 20 in the container 24 by holding the stool collection stick 20 with a finger and attaching the stool to the tip of the stick. And cover. When the stool is visible from the outside, it may cause discomfort or shame to the subject, so put it together with an identification label in a green transparent plastic bag, for example, to make the color of the stool invisible. Will be transported to the inspection facility.

In the inspection facility, the container 24 is taken out from the vinyl bag, the lid 26 is opened by hand, and a buffer solution or the like is injected into the container 24 with a dropper or the like to extract feces and the inspection is performed.

[0007] However, the conventional stool inspection device has a drawback that not only there is a possibility of contamination originating from fingers and / or infection from a sample passing through fingers, but also large-scale processing of samples is difficult. .

Further, the conventional instrument 22 shown in FIG. 2 has a problem that the stool collecting stick 20 has a toothpick-like shape, so that it is difficult to pinch it with a finger. In particular, stool collection
Since the stool on the bottom of the toilet bowl is collected, it is performed in a crouched and crouched posture, and the stool collection stick may be dropped on the toilet bowl or the toilet bowl, which may be very uncomfortable. In addition, a separate green transparent plastic bag is required for storage and transportation, which is inconvenient. further,
Since the containers widely used for stool examination have the above dimensions, it is too small to attach the identification label directly to the container, which is inconvenient to handle, and the samples may be confused. There is also.

Further, the conventional instrument 22 shown in FIG. 2 cannot be placed on a so-called sample rack (sample stand) widely used in the field of clinical examination because of the small size of the container, and therefore automatic analysis is performed. Is difficult to carry out, and the fact is that all tests are done manually.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a sample-collecting device capable of collecting a sample safely and simply while preventing various contaminations in the sample to be collected. is there.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sampling device suitable for automation of measurement / analysis and capable of easily processing a large amount of sample.

[0012]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of intensive studies, the present inventor has established a through hole in the up-down direction of a lid fitted in a container body and at the bottom of the through hole (on the container body side of the lid body). Removable housing of a part (upper end) of the sampling member only minimizes contact of fingers with the sampling unit to prevent contamination and enables safe and simple sampling operation. However, they have found that they are extremely suitable for automation of measurement / analysis or large-scale processing of measurement samples.

The sampling device of the present invention is based on the above-mentioned findings. More specifically, it is a container body having an opening at the upper end and a lid body detachably fitted into the opening of the container body. And a sample-collecting member that has an upper end portion removably inserted into the through-hole and is housed in the container body.
Further, according to the present invention, a cavity having an open upper end is provided inside the lid, the through hole is provided at a bottom portion of the cavity, and the upper end of the sampling member is inserted partway into the through hole. Further, there is provided the above-described sample collecting instrument further including a pushpin-shaped sample collecting portion pushing member in which the head portion is inscribed in the cavity and the foot portion is inserted partway into the through hole.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a stool inspection instrument, which is one embodiment of the sample collection instrument of the present invention, includes a container body 10, a lid body 12,
And a stool collection stick (one aspect of the sample collection unit). The lid 12 is preferably made of an elastic body such as plastic or rubber, and is fitted into the opening at the upper end of the container body 10 to seal the container body.

A through hole 16 is provided in the vertical direction at a substantially central portion of the lid body 12. The inner diameter of the through hole 16 is substantially the same as or slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the fecal sampling stick 14. The stool collection stick 14 is detachably inserted and held in the through hole 16.

In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the lid 12 is provided with a cavity 17 having an open upper end inside, and a stool sticking extruded member (sample). (One aspect of the extruding member of the sampling portion) 18 is inserted. The pushing member 18 includes a head portion 18a and a foot portion 18
It has a thumbtack-like shape with b, the head portion 18a is inscribed in the upper portion of the cavity 17, and the foot portion 18b is inserted partway through the through hole 16. In this aspect, the stool collection stick 1
As shown in FIG. 1, the upper end of 4 is inserted partway through the through hole 16.

Also, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lid 1
2 has a shoulder 12a, and the lid 12 is a container 1
The shoulder portion 12a has such a size as to come into contact with the upper end portion of the container 10 when the shoulder portion 12a is fitted into the container 0. The container body 10 is preferably made of a colored transparent material. In such an aspect, the color of the container body 10 is preferably green.

By constructing the container body 10 with such a colored and transparent material, the conventionally used plastic bag of green or the like becomes unnecessary.

The outer diameter of the container body is about 10 m.
m to 15 mm, especially about 13 mm, and a height of about 50 mm to 100 mm, more preferably about 80 mm to 95 mm. This is significantly larger than the conventional stool test container. With such dimensions, the sample identification label (name of collection facility, name, etc.) can be directly attached to the container, it is possible to prevent confusion of samples and stand on the sample rack. And facilitate automation of analysis.

Next, an aspect of a method of using the above-mentioned stool collecting device will be described. At the time of stool collection, the stool collection stick 14 is inserted into the through hole 16 in the lid body 12, and the lid body 12 is pinched by a finger to attach stool to the tip of the stool collection stick 14.
Since the lid 12 functions as a knob, it is much easier to pinch than in the case where the conventional stool collection stick 20 (FIG. 2) is directly pinched, and the possibility of dropping the stool collection stick 14 is extremely small. After collecting stool, the lid 12 is fitted into the opening of the container body 10 with the stool stick 14 attached, and the lid is closed. As shown in FIG. 1, when the lid 12 has a stool collection stick extruding member 18, the extruding member 18 is also inserted into the cavity 17 of the lid 12 as shown in FIG. It is preferable to perform a stool operation.
When the lid 12 has a shoulder 12a as shown in FIG. 1, the shoulder 12a serves as a stopper,
Does not enter the container body 10 any more. The stool collection stick 14 is accommodated in the container body 10 while floating in the air, and is transported in this state.

In an inspection facility, first, another stick-shaped body such as a stick is inserted into the through hole 16 from above and pushed downward to separate the stool collection stick 14 from the lid body 12 and drop it into the container body 10. . Stool extruding member 18
If a pusher member 18 is provided,
This can be easily performed by pushing the head portion 18a of the head downward with the rod-shaped body or the like.

Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a stick punch having a plurality of rod-shaped bodies 30 (a plurality of rod-shaped bodies 30
It is more preferable to use the pressing device) 32, which allows the above-mentioned stool collection stick detaching operation to be performed on a large number of containers at the same time.

Next, the lid 12 is removed from the container body 10. Needless to say, this can be performed by picking up the lid body 12 with a finger, but when the lid body 12 has the shoulder portion 12a, the shoulder portion 12a functions as a stopper. The upper end of 12 is the container 1
It is quite far from the 0 opening. Therefore, according to the lever principle, the lid 12 can be easily removed from the container body 10 by applying a force with the belly of the thumb or the like in the direction of arrow A in FIG. This is easier than opening the conventional container lid 26 shown in FIG.

After opening the lid 12 as described above,
As in the conventional case, a buffer solution or the like may be injected into the container body 10 and analyzed. When the container main body 10 has the above-described preferable size, the plurality of containers 10 are erected in the sample rack to perform the processing, which facilitates automatic dispensing to the analysis tray and large-scale processing by mechanization.

In the stool collection container according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention described in detail above, since the lid 12 functions as a knob during stool collection, stool collection becomes easier than ever before. Further, by forming the container 10 with a colored transparent material,
It eliminates the need for conventional plastic bags such as green.
Furthermore, by making the container body a size significantly larger than the conventional one, the sample identification label can be directly attached to the container, and it is also extremely easy to stand on the sample rack and perform automatic analysis.

Next, the structure of each part constituting the sampling device of the present invention will be described.

(Container Main Body) As described above, the container main body 1
0 is preferably composed of a transparent or colored transparent material. More specifically, the container body 10 includes an inorganic material such as glass or a plastic (for example, polystyrene,
Although it can be formed using an organic material such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), acrylic resin, polyolefin resin), the container body 10 is made of plastic considering the weight and the possibility of damage during transportation. It is preferable that Particularly, when the sample needs to be frozen, it is extremely preferable to use plastic from the viewpoint of preventing damage.

The thickness of the wall of the container body 10 can be appropriately determined in consideration of the size, strength and the like of the container body, but when plastic is used, it is usually 0.5 to 1.2 m.
It is preferably about m, and more preferably about 0.7 to 1.0 mm.

The shape of the container body 10 is not particularly limited as long as it has an opening at the upper end and the lid 12 can be removably attached to the opening. More specifically,
For example, in addition to the test tube shown in the figure, it may be in the shape of a container such as a flask or a bottle.

(Lid) The material forming the lid 12 is not particularly limited, but from the viewpoint of reducing the possibility of breakage of the container body 10 and enhancing the adhesion to the container body 10, 12 is preferably made of a material softer than the container body 10. More specifically, the container body 10
Is made of a hard plastic or hard resin such as polystyrene or PET, the lid 12 is preferably made of a soft plastic or soft resin such as polyolefin (used to include an elastic body or an elastomer). .

In the present invention, the lid 12 has a through hole 16 in the vertical direction, and the sampling portion 14 is removably inserted into the through hole 16. The shape of the through-hole 16 (cross-sectional shape and three-dimensional shape) or the sampling portion 14
The shape of the fitting part of the fitting part into the through hole 16 is not particularly limited as long as the fitting part can be held in the through hole 16 by friction and / or elasticity of both members.

The degree of insertion of the sampling unit 14 into the lid 12 is
Assuming that the total length of the lid 12 in the vertical direction is 10, 1 to 10
It is more preferably about 2 to 7, and more preferably about 3 to 5. More specifically, the length of the insertion portion is about 1 mm or more (more preferably 2 mm or more, especially 4 mm).
It is preferably at least about the level.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic sectional view (longitudinal direction) of another embodiment of the lid 12. As shown in FIG. 4, by providing a cylindrical portion 122 on the bottom portion 121 of the lid body 12 and providing a tapered portion 123 (a stepped portion having a large diameter on the upper side may be provided) at the upper end portion of the cylindrical portion 122, Not only the holding of the sampling portion 14 by the elasticity of the body 12 becomes easier, but also when the pushpin-shaped push-out member 18 described in FIG. It is preferable because it acts as a guide for the portion 18b and the insertion is quick and smooth.

Further, as shown in the plan view of FIG.
In order to reduce friction between the pushing member 18 and the pushing member 18, a protrusion 124 extending in the vertical direction may be provided inside the lid portion 12. The relationship between the height a of the protrusion and the thickness b of the lid 12 is
As shown in the enlarged sectional view of FIG. 6, a / b = 1/10 to 4
It is about / 5 (more about 1/5 to 3/5),
It is preferable in terms of the balance between the strength of the protrusions 124 and the frictional force between the lid 12 and the pushing member 18.

The cross-sectional shape (horizontal direction) of the protrusion 124 is preferably a circle or a partial circle (for example, a semicircle). The number of protrusions 124 (four in FIG. 5) is preferably three or more (further, 3 to 8).

(Sampling Portion Extruding Member) The extruding member 18 is a member provided as necessary in the present invention, and has a function of pushing the sampling portion 14 downward during analysis / measurement or the like.

As shown in the schematic side sectional view of FIG. 7, the pushing member 18 preferably has a thumbtack shape as a whole. In terms of the balance of strength of the entire extruding member 18, the ratio d / c of the diameters of the head portion 18a and the foot portion 18b of the extruding member 18 is about 1/10 to 2/5, and further 1/1.
It is preferably about 0 to 3/10. Head 18
It is preferable that the height ratio f / e between a and the foot portion 18b is about 1 to 5, more preferably about 2 to 4.

Further, another embodiment of the extruding member 18 in the present invention is shown in the schematic side sectional view of FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, in terms of strength of the head portion 18a, it is preferable to provide a "flange portion" 18c on the head portion 18a. Further, in consideration of the extrusion of the extruding member 18 by the rod-shaped body 30 and the like as shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable to provide the tapered portion 18d at the substantially central portion of the head portion 18a (the position corresponding to the foot portion 18b). . The smaller diameter of the tapered portion 18d is the foot portion 18b.
It is preferable that the diameter is approximately equal to.

(Sample Sampling Section) In the sample sampling container (stool test container) of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the sample sampling section 14 is a "stool collection stick", that is, "at least the tip thereof (the insertion section into the lid 12 and The part on the opposite side) is composed of a rod-shaped member made of a porous material having water absorbability. In the present invention, as long as a desired sample can be collected, the collection member 14
The embodiment is not limited to the above. Further, the entire shape of the member 14 is not particularly limited as long as it can be inserted into the lid portion 12 as described above, and is variously changed according to the state of the sample (for example, liquid or solid) or the mode of sampling. It is possible to More specifically, as shown in the schematic side (cross-sectional) views of FIGS. 9 to 11, a swab shape having a cotton portion 14a (FIG. 9), a stick shape or a rod shape having at least one recess 14b (FIG. 10), Alternatively, a capillary (capillary) shape having a hole portion 14c (FIG. 11) or the like is also possible.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, by avoiding the contact of fingers with the sample as much as possible during the sampling operation, it is possible to prevent various contaminations in the sample to be collected. Provided is a sampling device which is capable of collecting a sample safely and easily and is particularly suitable for automation of measurement / analysis or treatment of many samples.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing one embodiment (stool test instrument) of the sample collecting instrument of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a conventional fecal test device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view for explaining a device and a method for simultaneously separating the sample collecting members of a plurality of sample collecting devices into the container body.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another aspect of the lid body.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing another aspect of the lid body.

6 is a partially enlarged view of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing one aspect of an extruded member.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another aspect of the extruding member.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing another aspect of the sampling member.

FIG. 10 is a schematic side sectional view showing another aspect of the sample collecting member.

FIG. 11 is a schematic side sectional view showing another aspect of the sample collecting member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Container body 12 Lid body 14 Sampling member 16 Through hole 18 Sampling part pushing member

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A container body having an opening at an upper end thereof, a lid body detachably fitted in the opening portion of the container body, the lid body having a through hole in the vertical direction, and the through hole having the through hole. A sample-collecting instrument having a sample-collecting member, the upper end of which is detachably inserted and which is housed in the container body. 2. The sampling device according to claim 1, wherein the container body is made of a colored and transparent material. 3. The sampling device according to claim 1, wherein the container body has an outer diameter of about 10 mm to 15 mm and a length of about 50 mm to 100 mm. 4. A cavity having an open upper end is provided inside the lid, and the through hole is provided at the bottom of the cavity.
The upper end of the sampling member is inserted partway into the through hole, the head part is inscribed in the cavity, and the foot part further includes a pushpin-shaped sampling part pushing member inserted into the through hole. The sampling device according to any one of 1 to 3.