JPS6356949B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a blood smear device, and more particularly to a wedge-type smear device that uses a smear blade to smear blood onto a slide.

To classify white blood cells, red blood cells, reticulocytes, etc. in blood, a thin layer of blood is smeared on a glass slide to create a smear, and this smear is stained with a staining solution to create a stained specimen. A method of observing with an optical microscope and classifying automatically or by a laboratory technician is used.

Methods for preparing blood smears using equipment include a spinner method and a wedge method.
The spinner method is a method in which blood is placed on a slide and the slide is rotated, using centrifugal force to spread the blood onto the slide surface and smear it. However, it uses a large amount of blood and the blood scatters during smearing, making it unhygienic. There are problems such as the above measures being required.

On the other hand, the wedge method is a method in which blood placed on the slide is smeared onto the slide surface by moving a smear blade that has a surface that comes into contact with the blood along the length of the slide. It was necessary to attach a new smear blade each time a smear was performed, or, if not replaced, it was necessary to wipe off the pre-sample blood from the smear blade each time a smear was performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a blood smearing device that can automatically supply a new smear blade when preparing each smear specimen, and can efficiently smear a large number of blood samples.

The present invention is a wedge-type smear device that uses a smear blade to smear blood onto a slide held in a movable slide holder. an arm that rotates upward so that the used smear blade separates from the smear surface of the slide; a plurality of smear blades are provided around the outer periphery; the arm is rotatably attached near the tip; a replaceable smear blade support that rotates in steps to position a new smear blade in position with said arm in the upper position, and a warning when all smear blades on said smear blade support are used; A device for emitting light.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each time the smear blade smears blood, the support is rotated one step at a time, and at the same time the blade change counter is incremented by one. Replace and replace the support when all smear blades have been used. When classifying blood cells mechanically, the parameter of blood cell size is included as one of the characteristic parameters for classification, but if the drying conditions of the smeared blood are not constant, the blood may become distorted or shrink, resulting in misclassification. It causes.
In a preferred embodiment, the blood smear can be dried immediately after being smeared.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side cutaway sectional view of a wedge type blood smearing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are views for explaining the state of smearing on a slide. 4 is a schematic plan view with a part of the cover of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 cut away, and FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the vicinity of the drying chamber shown in FIG. 4.

First, explanation will be given with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
A slide holder 1, which is reciprocated by a moving mechanism to be described later, holds a glass slide 2 in an inclined state. This slope is formed so that the sliding surface becomes lower as the smearing operation progresses. The slide 2 placed on the holder 1 is moved in a direction (parallel) along the length of the slide itself. The smearing operation of the blood 10 is performed when the holder 1 is moved horizontally to the left as indicated by the arrow in FIG.

A rotating shaft 1 is attached to the side plate fixed to the main body base 30.
3 is fixed, and an arm 12 is rotatably attached to this rotating shaft 13. The multi-blade support 9 is fixedly attached to a shaft 24, and this shaft 24 is rotated by a predetermined angle by a pulse motor (not shown). The shaft 24 is supported by the arm 12, and the multi-blade support 9 is locked against movement relative to the arm 12 when in the smearing operation. Twelve glass smearing blades 22 are attached to the multi-blade support 9. The tip angle of the smearing blade 22 is about 110 degrees. The width of the cutting edge is approximately 22 mm, and the two parts that form the cutting edge are
One of the two surfaces becomes the contact surface with the smear liquid during smearing.

In the smearing state, the rotating shaft 13 is always positioned higher than the supporting shaft 24. As a result, when the smear blade 22, which is in contact with the slide during smearing, descends as the slide 2 inclines, it remains fixed to the arm 12 and uses the rotating shaft 13 as a fulcrum, as shown in FIG. 3B. Since the slide 2 is rotated counterclockwise as shown in FIG. That is, as the amount of liquid decreases with the smearing operation, the angle formed between the slide surface and the liquid contact surface becomes smaller.

A smearing blade 22 that contributes to smearing is located at the lowermost part of the support 9. When in the smearing start position (state A in FIG. 3), the cutting edge of the smearing blade 22 that contributes to smearing is positioned vertically below the shaft 24, but in the smearing end position (state B in FIG. 3). Sometimes the cutting edge is directed to the right in FIG. 2 (in the opposite direction of the arrow) rather than vertically below the shaft 24. The angle between the slide and the liquid contact surface narrowed from the start of smearing to the end of smearing varies depending on the distance the smear moves during smearing and the amount of blood added, but an appropriate range is 2 to 10 degrees. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the smear distance is 40 mm and the slide size is 76 mm long and 26 mm wide. blood drop volume
When the volume is 3 μl, the appropriate narrowing angle between the slide and the liquid contact surface is 4 to 6 degrees. Generally, the smear distance is 30 mm or more.

A mark 11 indicating a blood droplet addition position is provided at a predetermined position on the slide holder 1. Place the slide 2 on the slide holder 1 as shown in Fig. 3,
Drop 3 μl of blood onto the location corresponding to mark 11.
At the time of blood dripping, the slide holder 1 is pulled out, the multi-blade support 9 is positioned upward, and the smear blade 22 is raised so as not to contact the slide 2.

When the switch 16 shown in FIG. 4 is pressed, the first
As shown in the figure, a motor 4 fixed to a stand 3 rotates, and an arm 5 attached to the rotating shaft of this motor 4 rotates a rotating plate 6 via a pin 7, and this rotational movement is transmitted by a link 8. Change it to linear motion. That is, one end of the link 8 is loosely attached to the rotating plate 6, and the other end is loosely attached to the pin 26 fixed below the slide holder 1. pin 2
6 is slid within the sliding groove 28. Through such an operation, the slide holder 1 is drawn into the apparatus, and when the mark 11 reaches a predetermined position, the slide holder 1 is stopped.

Next, when the multi-blade support 9 is lowered and a predetermined smear blade 22 is brought into contact with the slide 2, the blood 10 on the slide is retained between the slide surface and the liquid contact surface of the smear blade as shown in FIG. Ru. Blood 10 is
It spreads all over the blade in a short amount of time. At this time, the angle between the surface of the slide 2 and the liquid contact surface of the smearing blade 22 is 30 degrees.

When the switch 16 is then pressed, the motor 4 rotates, the slide holder 1 moves linearly in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2, the slide 2 is pulled out, and smearing is performed along the length of the slide. Slide holder 1
When the slide holder 1 is pulled out to the state shown in FIG. 3B, the slide holder 1 is stopped and the smearing operation on the slide is completed. At this time, the angle between the surface of the slide 2 and the liquid contact surface of the smearing blade 22 is 25 degrees. In this way, the contact angle between the smearing blade 22 and the slide 2, which rotate around the rotating shaft 13, is large at the top of the slope and small at the bottom. When the smearing blade 22 reaches the smearing end position, the multi-blade support 9 is lifted and the used smearing blade is separated from the slide surface.

The concentration of blood smeared varies depending on the smear speed. In this embodiment, the rotational speed of the motor 4 can be changed by turning the variable speed knob. In the above description, the switch 16 is pressed twice, once when the slide holder 1 is pulled in and once when it is pulled out, but the series of operations can also be accomplished by pressing the switch 16 only once.

When the multi-blade support 9 is lifted from the sliding surface, the feed mechanism advances the support 9 one step clockwise in FIG. 3 to position a new smearing blade at a predetermined position. Thereafter, as the smearing operation is repeated, the 12 smearing blades are sequentially used, and when all the smearing blades are used, the indicator lamp 17 in FIG. 4 lights up. When the lamp 17 lights up, replace the multi-blade support 9 with a new one, press the reset switch 18 to turn off the lamp 17, and prepare for the next smearing operation.

Next, a description will be given with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

Since it is necessary to dry the smeared specimen within a certain period of time, a drying chamber 20 is provided in the apparatus of this embodiment. A large number of slides can be inserted into the cassette 19 within the drying chamber 20. The smeared slides are inserted into the cassette 19 in order from the front, and the smeared surfaces are dried by air from the blower 14. Grooves are cut into the side walls and bottom of the cassette 19, into which the smeared slides are inserted and secured.

Unlike when humans look at blood cells through a microscope, when blood cells are classified using an automatic classification device, shrinkage and expansion of blood cells due to the drying period and drying time causes classification errors. Having a dryer in the smear device is beneficial in obtaining a consistently prepared specimen. Since the drying time varies depending on the room temperature and humidity, the drying air volume can be adjusted using the air volume adjustment lever 15.

In the embodiment described above, since the contact angle between the liquid contact surface of the smear blade and the slide can be changed continuously, the thickness of the smear layer does not suddenly decrease as the smear liquid decreases. The appearance of smear spots is also reduced. Since a smear state of a predetermined thickness can be obtained over a wide range, a smear state suitable for observation can be obtained over a wide range. Therefore, even if the specimens are different, proper observation can be made at almost the same location on the slide.
Positioning with respect to the microscope field during observation becomes easy. In this embodiment, a suitable smear condition can be obtained by simply pulling the slide in one direction. In the embodiment described above, the force with which the smear blade contacts the slide relies solely on the weight of the multi-blade support 9 and the arm 12, but it may also be pressed by a spring or the like. Since there is no need to reattach the smear blade to another new blade when performing successive smear operations, continuous smear operations are extremely facilitated. Furthermore, since the smeared specimen can be immediately dried in a dryer, a specimen with a constant smear condition can be prepared.

As explained above, according to the present invention, there is no need to remove and replace the smear blade every time a smear specimen is prepared, and the smear work can be performed efficiently.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention;
Figures 2 and 3 are diagrams for explaining the state of smearing on slides, Figure 4 is a schematic plan view with the cover of the embodiment shown in Figure 1 partially cut away, and Figure 5 is the drying state of Figure 4. FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the chamber. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Slide holder, 2... Slide, 9... Multi-blade support body, 13... Rotating shaft, 20... Drying chamber, 22
...smearing blade, 24...shaft, 35...liquid contact surface.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a wedge-type smear device that uses a smear blade to smear blood onto a slide held in a movable slide holder, after the smearing operation on the previous slide is completed, the used smear is placed around a rotating shaft that does not move. an arm that rotates upward so that the blade moves away from the smearing surface of the slide; and a plurality of smearing blades around the outer periphery; the arm is rotatably attached near the tip; a replaceable smearing blade support which rotates and steps upwardly to position a new smearing blade into position; and a device for issuing a warning when all smearing blades on said smearing blade support have been used. A blood smear device comprising: