KR100646225B1 - Device for processing samples of blood products - Google Patents

Abstract

The device for processing blood product samples received in the closed tube 18 and mounted on the cassette 12 by the closure means 20 is designed to move the cassette 12 individually on a predetermined route. ), Adopting at least one selected tube 18 from the cassette 12 secured on the path, moving the tube away from the cassette, and stirring the tube to drive means 88 to agitate and replace it in the cassette. Stirring means (30) with at least one pick-up mechanism that can be driven by means, and sampling means (34) designed to draw a given sample amount from a pre-stirred tube replaced in the cassette. Applied in hematological analyzers.

Description

Device for processing samples of blood products

In the following description, given for illustrative purposes only, reference numerals are given in the accompanying drawings, of which:

1 is a plan view of a processing apparatus according to the present invention;

2A and 2B are perspective views of a cassette suitable for use in the apparatus of FIG. 1;

3 is a perspective view of the delivery means and the manual mounting site;

4 is a perspective view of the stirring means;

5 is an enlarged perspective view of the stirring means of FIG. 4;

6A, 7A, and 8A are side views of agitation means in various operations;

6B, 7B, and 8B are plan views corresponding to FIGS. 6A, 7A, and 8A, respectively;

9 is a partial perspective view of the delivery means showing the manual mounting site in an inclined position for mounting;

10 is a view similar to FIG. 9 with the mounting means standing upright; And

11 is a plan view of the collecting means.

The present invention relates to a hematological analyzer designed to automatically analyze blood product samples.

More specifically, a means for processing a blood product sample contained in a closed tube and placed in a cassette by means of a closure means, and a means for agitating the tube and a collecting means for collecting at least one sample from a pre-stirred tube. It is about equipped device.

Such a device is designed to agitate a tube to mix the components of the blood product it receives and then take a sample representative of the blood product being analyzed and having a uniform composition.

In particular, according to US-A-3 231 244, an automatic device for mixing blood products is known which has a slot with a rotating drum designed to support a tube containing the blood product. The tubes are arranged radially about the axis of rotation of the drum such that each stopper faces outward. In fact, this is the only stirring device with the disadvantage that the tube must be mounted on the drum manually and once removed from the drum once the agitation process has been completed.

In addition, according to EP-A-0 061 317, a device for stirring and collecting blood product samples is known, in which a tube containing the product is sorted manually into a cassette mounted on a rotating drum. The latter aim is to mix the blood product by rotation and to fix the cassette in a substantially vertical position so that the tube that the cassette houses holds its stopper down. A collection site is provided to withdraw the sample from the tubes in the cassette after passing through the tube stopper. After analysis, the cassette is manually removed from the drum.

The main disadvantage of this known device is that it is not possible to rotate the drums during harvesting and thus not to stir a group of tubes.

According to FR-A-2 730 315, a device for collecting and stirring blood product samples from tubes sorted in cassettes is known. This known apparatus has a cassette supporter designed to support and stir at least one cassette mounted with at least one tube and at least one collection site designed to penetrate the tube and draw the sample. Due to the fact that the sample is taken from the tube and separated from the cassette, there is no need to provide a means for fixing the support to prevent rotation during the collection.

This known apparatus is mechanically very complicated and overly expensive to react with.

According to FR-A-2 692 358, delivery of blood product specimens having a mobile carriage designed to remove a cassette loaded from a sample tube from a storage vessel and deliver the cassette to a rotary carriage Devices for stirring and sampling are also known. The rotary carriage can be fixed to agitate the sample and allow the sample to be collected by the pick-up site from the cassette tube.

This apparatus has substantially the same disadvantages as described above.

It is pointed out that the object of the present invention disclosed herein is to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages.

In particular, the present invention proposes an apparatus for processing a blood product sample contained in a tube mounted in a cassette, whereby stirring of the tube is performed independently of the cassette, so that there is no need to stir the tube itself.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a processing apparatus that facilitates stirring the tube independently of the cassette and allows the sample to be collected from the tube after the sample of blood product is replaced in the cassette.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus as described above, wherein the cassette provides an option to make another choice of mounting or unloading the tube.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a device that can be easily integrated into a series of different blood assay devices.

To this end, the present invention proposes a processing device of the type defined in the introduction, which device has a delivery means designed to move individually on a predetermined path, the stirring means being at least selected from a cassette fixed on the path. Has at least one pick-up mechanism designed to adopt one tube, remove the tube from the cassette, stir the tube and replace it in the cassette, wherein the harvesting means is pre-agitated and in the cassette At least one needle is designed to draw a given sample amount from the replaced tube.

Thus, the device according to the invention stirs the tube after the tube is removed from the cassette, and after stirring pulls the sample from the replaced tube in the cassette.

As a result, this eliminates the need to stir the entire cassette as in most of the devices according to the prior art.

This has the further advantage that the cassette can move along a selected path, in particular a linear path, thus facilitating incorporation of the invention into a series of hematological analysis devices.

In addition, thanks to the fact that the mounting and dismounting of the tube is carried out by a cassette moving by a delivery means, this operation can be carried out in various ways, in particular through the top and side of the cassette.

Even more, thanks to the fact that the stirring means are applied to one or more tubes and not to a cassette, the overall size of the device is reduced, which makes it easy to integrate into a series of different devices.

In a preferred embodiment, the delivery means has a carriage that can be attached to the cassette via a retractable finger and can move the carriage between defined locations on the path.

According to another feature of the invention, the tubes are positioned perpendicular to the cassette and in the direction of movement, while the stirring means are arranged to draw at least one tube laterally from the cassette and laterally replace it into the cassette after stirring. do.

Advantageously, the cassette has a flexible U-clip which makes it possible to remove and replace the tube by lateral movement parallel to it or by radial movement of the tube along the axis of the tube.

The resultant advantage is that the tube can be mounted or detached through the side or top of the cassette.

According to another feature of the invention, the pick-up mechanism or each such mechanism is driven in a continuous rotation by a motor, whereby a continuous stirring effect can be obtained by rotating the tube through full idle.

In a preferred embodiment, the stirring means has a movable head carrying the pick-up mechanism, which is driven in translational and rotary motion by means of a coupling arrangement connected to a motor having two rotational directions. Can be.

Advantageously, this coupling arrangement is provided with a screw and a nut and is driven in rotation by a motor in an optional manner and moves the screw away from the cassette or closes the movable head close to the cassette. And the movable head can be suppressed from rotation by the locking means set in the locked position and fixed in the selected orientation.

Such fastening means are advantageously provided such that the coupling arrangement is in the additional release position when the screw reaches the stop position at the end of the winding movement, whereby the rotatable movement of the movable head may stir the tube or tubes. To be able.

Preferably, the rotary movement of the movable head is a continuous and complete rotation in the direction of movement of the screw of the coupling arrangement.

According to another feature of the invention, the movable head is operated in a translational motion by the coupling arrangement once the coupling arrangement reaches the stop position at the end of the loosening movement of the screw with the rotation inhibited by the fixing means. And an arrangement for opening and closing said pick-up mechanism.

Advantageously, the pickup mechanism connects the two clamp elements together with two clamp elements each having at least one jaw and defining a cam groove. An elastic restoring device is provided adjacent to each other, and the opening / closing mechanism has a cam finger which is moved by the coupling arrangement and cooperates with the cam groove, respectively.

According to another feature of the invention, the device is called an emergency mounting site and is located adjacent to the delivery means and supports and delivers at least one tube, in the absence of a cassette, to enable the collection of the sample by the collecting means. Manual mounting means designed to position this tube on the means and path of the sampling means.

This manual mounting means advantageously has a rotating and inclined head with slots which are numbered and designed to accommodate tubes of various sizes.

According to another feature of the invention, the collecting means comprises a carriage for supporting the penetrating device and the collecting needle, the carriage having a collecting position through which the penetrating device penetrates the tube stopper and the collecting needle draws out the entire amount of the specimen; The collection needle may be moved between at least one dispensing position that releases the entire amount or a portion of the sample to a receiver, such as a reagent vessel.

In addition it is advantageous for the apparatus to have a cassette loading station and a cassette separating station located upstream and downstream of the delivery means, respectively.

In the following description, given for illustrative purposes only, reference numerals are given in the accompanying drawings.

The apparatus illustrated entirely in FIG. 1 has a delivery means 10 which allows the cassette 12 to move individually along a predetermined path, in this case a straight path, between the mounting station 14 and the separation station 16. do. These stations 14 and 16 are located upstream and downstream of the delivery means 10, respectively.

The cassette 12, described in detail below, is equipped with a plurality of tubes 18, in this case ten tubes, each containing a blood sample and closed by a closure means 20 (FIG. 2).

The mounting station 14 has a mounting platen 22 which is arranged horizontally and designed to receive a tube holding a series of cassettes containing the product to be analyzed. The loading station 14 has a forward propulsion arrangement consisting of two pusher dogs 24 which can in this case be synchronously moved in the direction of arrow F1 to move the cassettes one by one to the delivery means 10. These pusher docks are moved synchronously by endless belts 26 which are driven simultaneously, each with fingers 28 cooperating with one end of the cassette. These pusher poisons thus act on the final cassette to form part of the batch being analyzed.

A stirring means is located between the mounting station 14 and the separation station 16, the entirety of which is indicated by the reference numeral 30. Such agitation means comprise two pick-up mechanisms 32 which in this embodiment can adopt two selected tubes from a cassette 12 fixed on the path of the delivery means.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the cassette 12 is fixed at a position on the path between the mounting station 14 and the separation station 16. In this embodiment, the stirring means 30 described in detail below allow two tubes to be taken out of the cassette and replaced in the cassette after being moved away from the cassette.

Between the stirring means 30 and the separation station 16 is a sampling means 34 schematically illustrated in FIG. 1 and described in detail below. This sampling means is designed to draw blood product samples from tubes that have been previously stirred and replaced in the cassette. This sample is then analyzed by the means described below.

Once all the tubes in the cassette are agitated and the sample is taken from each tube, the entire cassette is moved to the separation station 16 by the delivery means 10.

The latter comprises a separating platen 36 extending horizontally and is designed to receive the cassette 12 moved from the delivery means 10 by the release means 38 described in detail below.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 2A and 2B to describe in detail the cassette 12 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

This cassette 12, in the form of a tube-rack, has a base 40 that is generally rectangular in shape, and is also rectangular in shape, extending in the same length as the base 40. Side walls 42 are attached to the base.

Inside it, the side wall 42 is equipped with a plurality of U-shaped flexible clips 44 designed to vertically support the tubes 18 individually. Ten tubes can thus be arranged (in this embodiment) coincident with the longitudinal direction (DL direction) of the cassette. The tubes 18 each have ends 46 that fit snugly into the slots formed in the base 40 of the cassette.

The tube has an opening which in this embodiment is closed by a stopper 20 which can be penetrated by a piercer which faces up and forms part of the harvesting means 34.

As can be seen in FIG. 2A, the cassette is equipped with features for mounting and dismounting the tube through the sides, ie horizontally and vertically to the side wall 42. FIG. In other words, removal and replacement of the tube can be effected by lateral movement with the tube parallel to itself.

Equally, the clip 44 allows for axial movement on the tube axis, ie perpendicular movement perpendicular to the base 40.

According to the present invention, it is possible to produce various types of cassettes so that the essential factor is to accommodate the size of the tube as long as the pitch defined by the tubes is the same.

The base 40 of the cassette is equipped with four notches 50 (FIGS. 2A and 2B) designed to be located on two stretchable stop positions (not shown) in the mounting template 22. It is not possible to manually push the cassette into the delivery means.

In addition, five recesses 51 are provided under the cassette (FIG. 2B) to cooperate with the delivery means as shown below, thereby allowing the cassette to move on a predetermined path.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the delivery means 10 has two end brackets, between which the guide rails 56 and the horizontal guide rails 56 slide on which the base 40 of the cassette slides. Another horizontal guide rail 58 located above 56 extends, and the side wall 42 of the cassette rests horizontally against the bracket. The rails 56 and 58 consist of two parts. Thus, the cassette can be guided while moving with the base 40 and the side wall 42 supporting the rails 56 and 58 respectively.

The translational movement of the cassette is performed by a carriage 60 arranged to move along a rectangular guide element 62, such as a rod, extending parallel to the rail 56. The delivery means 10 has an endless belt 64 coupled to the carriage 60 and is designed to move the carriage in both directions between defined positions on the travel path.

The carriage 60 is provided with an elastic finger 66 connected to an L-shaped lever 68 arranged to rotate around the pin 70 and driven by an electromagnet 72. This elastic finger can be moved upwards in engagement with one or the other of the recesses under the cassette. It can also be retracted from the cassette and moved vertically downward, in particular allowing the latter to be released onto the separating platen 36.

The guide rail 58 also has two movable stop positions 74, at least one of which can be driven while the cassette is moving in the delivery means 10.

For this purpose, the side wall 42 of the cassette has a recessed edge 78 with a series of notches 80 spaced at the same pitch as the tube.

Each of the movable stop positions 74 may also drive a detector 76. In the stationary state, each movable stop position 74 is held in a low position by a spring, and the detector 76 is in a stationary state.

During the horizontal movement of the cassette, the stop position 74 is raised vertically upward by the indented edge 78 of the wall 42 of the cassette 12, which effect drives the sensor 76. Let's do it. The stop position 74 returns to the initial position when it falls into the slot 80, and the sensor no longer operates.

The combination of information received from the detector 76 actuated by the stop position provides a means for determining the position of the at least one cassette in the delivery means 10 and also by means of the carriage 60 It is also used to maintain the position of the cassette during harvesting, stirring and manipulation.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, a manual mounting means 82, also referred to as an emergency mounting station, is located next to the delivery means, which houses at least one tube 18 and removes the sampling means 34. It is designed to be placed in the path of the delivery means and the collection means when there is no cassette, for the purpose of collecting a sample for use. This method of mounting is described in detail below.

The translational movement of the endless belt 64 is driven in one direction or the other, in particular by a stepper-type motor 84, thereby positioning the carriage and thus the cassette at a selected position along the travel path.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5 together the stirring means 30 is described. The latter is a stepper-type electric with a shaft 90 which extends on the delivery means 10 in a horizontal axial direction XX perpendicular to the direction of movement of the cassette, ie perpendicular to the path described by the means of movement 10. A bracket 86 supporting the motor 88.

The shaft 90 is equipped with a screw 92 (threaded rod) which operates jointly with the nut 94 to form a screw / nut shaped mechanism 96 (FIGS. 4 and 5). The nut 94 is fixed to a sleeve 95 derived from a flange 98 and is connected to a movable head 100 supporting two pick-up elements 32.

The electric motor can be operated to rotate in both directions under defined conditions so that the linear movement of the movable head in the direction of the axis (X-X) or the rotational movement of the head about the axis can be selectively made.

The stirring means 30 also has a stop assembly 102 composed of a lever 104 arranged to rotate around the pin 106 and driven by an electromagnet 108. The lever 104 is arranged to cooperate with the movable head 100 and the integral disk 110 and has a notch 112. The stop assembly can be selectively set in a locked position that prevents the movable head 100 from moving on the shaft or in a release position that allows the movable head to freely move on the shaft and rotate around the nut.

The motor 88 can be driven to rotate in the V direction corresponding to the action of winding the screw, which causes the nut 94 (and thus the movable head 100) to move towards the motor 88 The rotation of the movable head is suppressed by the locking means. The latter consists of a bearing 132 and a groove 133, which will be described in detail with reference to FIG. This movement thus makes it possible to move the movable head away from the cassette located on the delivery means.

The motor 88 may also be driven in the D direction corresponding to the action of unscrewing, which causes the nut 94 (and the movable head 100) to move away from the motor 88, the movable head being The rotation is again inhibited by the locking means 132 and 133.

This movement has the opposite effect of moving the movable head 100 towards the cassette located on the delivery means.

In addition, when the motor 88 is operated in the direction of winding the screw, the nut 94 is close to the shaft 90 of the motor 88, and the locking means 132 and 133 are in the released position, Motor rotation in the direction of winding the screw causes the movable head 100 to rotate as the movable head retracts from the cassette as seen below.

As can be seen in more detail in FIG. 5, each pickup mechanism 32 includes two clamping assemblies 114 with two jaws 116 and rotates around the pins 118. It is arranged to. Each clamping assembly defines a cam groove 120 in a selected arrangement designed to cooperate with the cam finger 121. The device here comprises four cam fingers 121 carried by pins 122 on the H-bracket 124 installed at the end of the rod 128 installed at the end of the sleeve 95.

In addition, two sets of the same clamp are adjacent by the action of the elastic restoring spring 130 to suit different diameters of the tubes used. The rod 128 can slide linearly and linearly into the hole 129 in the disk 110, while the end 126 is directed to an aperture 134 in the movable head. Can slip. The rod 128 has two planes 131, one of which supports the base 135 on the movable head 100, wherein the rod 128 and the head 100 are on their mutual axes. It can be locked and rotated or released depending on the position.

Thus, when the rod 128 is moved axially relative to the movable head 100, it opens and closes each jaw 116 of the two pickup mechanisms.

The action of the stirring means is now described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. In the position shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the movable head 100 is in a retracted position from the cassette and thus the tube fixed to the cassette. The engagement arrangement is close to the stop position at the screw moving end. The aforementioned locking means consists of a bearing 132 integral with the sleeve 95 and works in coordination with the groove 133 of the bracket. Such means are used to block only moving or rotating movements.

When the motor 88 is driven in the direction of loosening the screw, the movable head 100 moves towards the cassette and thus towards the tube fixed to the cassette. The head comes in contact with a faceplate (not shown) that later serves when the tube is replaced in the cassette. Thus, the head occupies the position illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7B, in which the jaw 116 of the pickup mechanism is ready to open the tube from the cassette. Thereafter, the stop assembly 102 is driven so that the lever 104 is set to the locked position shown by the dotted line (reference numeral 104 '). This has the effect of locking the head in the axial direction. The motor 88 then operates in the direction of winding the screw, which first causes the pick-up element to rotate so that their corresponding jaws adopt a tube from the cassette and adjoin. Thereafter, the locking means returns to the unlocked position as illustrated in FIGS. 8A and 8B, and the operation of the motor in the direction of screwing is continued to cause the pickup mechanism to move the movable head from the cassette while supporting the tubes respectively. do. During this movement, the movable head is inhibited from rotation by the fact that the bearing 132 is engaged with the groove 133.

At the end of the screw winding motion, ie in the rest position between the nut 94 and the shaft 90, the bearing 132 exits from the groove 133 so that the rotation of the movable head is no longer locked.

The motor then allows the drive to continue to run in the direction of winding the screw that causes the movable head to rotate and thus agitates the two tubes it supports.

These two tubes are then stirred up to 360 ^° by continuous rotational motion, which provides better stirring than pendulum motion.

After stirring, the tube is replaced in the cassette.

Thus, thanks to the locking means comprising the motor 88, the coupling arrangement 96, the stop assembly 102 and the bearing 132 and the groove 133, the mobile unit is movable to provide a variety of movements, namely stirring the tube. Translational movement in one direction or the other on the axis of the head and rotational movement of the movable head can be achieved.

In the described embodiment, the stirring means remove two tubes from the cassette each time, indicating that they are replaced in the cassette after being stirred.

Since this cassette can all contain ten tubes, a minimum of five operations are required to complete all ten stirring. However, it is preferable to stir each tube twice: first only tube 1, then only tube 2, then tubes 1 and 3 together, then tubes 2 and 4 together, and so on.

Each time, the cassette is moved forward on the delivery means by a selected distance defined by a stepper motor 84 which drives the movement of the carriage 60.

The pre-stirred tubes are then placed one by one on the sampling means 32 as described below.

After taking samples from all ten tubes in the cassette, the cassette is sent to the separation station 16 where the carriage mechanically drives the ejection means 38. The release means comprise a ramp assembly 136 arranged to rotate about a pin extending parallel to the direction of the delivery means and have a ramp 138 supported by the carriage 60 to initiate a rotational movement of the tilt assembly. . The inclined assembly has two pushers 140 leaning against the cassette to move onto the platen 36 in the direction of the F2 arrow. Thus, after analysis, the cassette batch is received on the platen 36 of the separating means.

9 and 10, the manual mounting means 82, also called emergency mounting station, is described in more detail.

The manual mounting means may be located adjacent to the delivery means and receive at least one tube 18 in the absence of a cassette on the delivery means. It has a head 142 that can be rotated and tilted and can be positioned in various indent positions. The head has a slot 144 suitable to accommodate tubes of different sizes.

Head 142 may be placed in an inclined position as shown in FIG. 9, allowing at least one tube to be mounted in a suitable slot. This head is then inclined back to a vertical position as shown in FIG. 10, in which the tube 18 is vertical and thus facilitates the collection of blood product samples. As can be seen in FIGS. 9 and 10, the head can be rotated to various numbered positions in which the slots supporting the tubes to be analyzed are located opposite the harvesting means 34.

The general structure of the harvesting means will now be described with reference to FIG. The latter includes a carriage 146 made to be able to move horizontally in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the delivery means.

This carriage 146 may be positioned over the tube through which the stopper and associated sampling needle (denoted together by reference numeral 148) are supported and the stopper is penetrated. The peer and the needle then move vertically up and down to penetrate the stopper and draw the entire sample. For this purpose, the collecting needle is connected to a suitable suction pump (not shown). The needle and peer are then raised and the carriage is moved away to distribute the portion of the collected sample into various vessels where the portion of the sample is mixed with the appropriate reactant each time for analysis.

For example, the sampling means can be realized according to the example disclosed in document EP-A-0 634 660. In particular, it is advantageous that such collecting means is equipped with cleaning means for washing the needle before and after each sampling action.

Thus, a simple device is obtained, which can be easily integrated into a series of hematological instruments, in particular as the cassette is linearly moved by the transfer means between the mounting station and the separation station.

Due to the fact that the tube is stirred independently of the cassette, the stirring means provided for this purpose take up less space and can be easily integrated into the arrangement of the present invention.

The disclosed device also has the advantage that the tube can be mounted or detached laterally or vertically, in particular from above, into / from the cassette.

Moreover, thanks to the fact that the sampling takes place from tubes that have been pre-stirred and replaced in the cassette beforehand, there is no need to provide a means for holding the tubes in place for the sampling.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, for example, but may be applied to other variations.

The invention is particularly applicable to hematological analyzers such as those used in laboratories for analytical purposes.

The present invention processes a blood product sample contained in a tube mounted in a cassette, whereby stirring of the tube is performed independently of the cassette, providing an apparatus without the need to stir the tube itself, and stirring the tube independently of the cassette. Providing a processing device for facilitating the collection, allowing the sample to be collected from the tube after the sample of the blood product has been replaced in the cassette, providing the option for the cassette to make another choice to mount or dismount the tube, A device that can be easily integrated into a series of different blood assay devices is provided, eliminating the need to agitate the entire cassette for most of the devices according to the prior art.

Claims (15)

Apparatus for processing a blood product sample received in a closed tube by a closure means and mounted in a cassette, the apparatus comprising a sampling means capable of collecting at least one sample from a pre-stirred tube together with a stirring means capable of stirring the tube In the form of the device, The apparatus has a delivery means 10 designed to move the cassettes 12 individually on a predetermined route, The stirring means 30 is designed to adopt at least one selected tube 18 from the cassette 12 fixed on the path, remove the tube from the cassette, stir the tube and replace the tube in the cassette. A coupling having at least one pick-up mechanism 32, the stirring means 30 having a movable head 100 for carrying the pick-up mechanism 32, connected to a motor 88 having two directions of rotation. Can be driven in a linear or rotary motion by the arrangement 96, The sampling means (34) is characterized in that it comprises at least one needle (148) designed to draw a given sample amount from a tube that has been stirred beforehand and replaced in the cassette. 2. The delivery means according to claim 1, wherein the delivery means (10) carries the carriage between a carriage (60) that can be attached to the cassette (12) via a retractable finger (66) and a defined position on the path. An apparatus comprising movable transfer means (64, 68). 3. The tube (18) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tube (18) is located vertically in the cassette (12) and alongside the direction of movement, and the stirring means (30) pulls at least one tube (18) laterally from the cassette. Apparatus for drawing and replacing it laterally into the cassette after stirring. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the cassette (12) is equipped with a flexible U-clip (44) to allow removal and replacement of the tube by lateral movement parallel to it or by axial movement of the tube along the axis of the tube. . 2. The pickup mechanism 32 or each such mechanism can be driven by continuous rotation by the motor 88, thereby performing continuous stirring by fully revolving the tube. Device. delete 2. The coupling arrangement (96) according to claim 1, wherein the coupling arrangement (96) is provided with a screw (92) and a nut (94), driven in rotation by a motor (88) in an optional manner, and removable from the cassette (12). The screw is operated to move the head 100 away or to bring the movable head 100 close to the cassette 12, the movable head being inhibited from rotation by locking means 132 and 133 set in the locked position. And can be fixed in a selected orientation. 8. The locking means (132, 133) according to claim 7, wherein the locking means (132, 133) are set in the unlocked position when the coupling arrangement (96) reaches the stop position at the end of the screw winding motion, whereby the rotational movement of the movable head (100) is controlled. Apparatus characterized in that the tube (s) can be stirred. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the rotational movement of the movable head is continuous and complete rotation in the direction of winding the screw of the coupling arrangement. 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the coupling is such that, once the coupling arrangement reaches the stop position at the end of the unscrewing movement, the movable head 100 is inhibited from rotation by the locking means 132,133. And an arrangement for opening and closing said pick-up mechanism that can be driven in translational movement by an arrangement (96). The pickup mechanism 32 has two clamp elements 114, each of which has at least one jaw 116 and a cam groove 120. And an elastic restoring device 130 for connecting the two clamp elements to adjoin the two jaws towards each other, the opening and closing mechanism being moved by the coupling arrangement 96 and the cam groove 120 And a cam finger (122) which cooperates with each other. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is located adjacent to the delivery means 10 and supports and delivers at least one tube 18 when the cassette is absent, to enable collection of the sample by the collection means 34. And a passive mounting means (82) designed to position this tube in the path of the means and the collecting means. 13. Device according to claim 12, characterized in that the manual mounting means (82) has a rotating and inclined head (142) with slots (144) having a numbered position and designed to accommodate tubes of various sizes. . 2. A collecting device (34) according to claim 1, wherein the collecting means (34) has a carriage (146) for supporting the penetrating device and the collecting needle (148), the carriage having the penetrating device penetrating the tube stopper and the collecting needle being the total amount of the sample. And the collecting needle for drawing the sample may move between at least one dispensing position for releasing the entire amount or a portion of the sample into a container, such as a reagent vessel. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus additionally comprises a cassette loading station (14) and a cassette separating station (16) located upstream and downstream of the delivery means, respectively.

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