JPH0317247Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Technical field to which the invention pertains] The present invention relates to a device for removing excess specimen storage solution.
Specifically, this is a device for removing excess specimen storage solution, which is suitable for use by being incorporated into an automatic specimen enclosing device, and which removes excess storage solution from the top of a slide glass pulled up from a storage solution tank and supplied onto a conveyance path. Regarding.

[Prior art and its problems]

In general, tissue specimens for microscopy used for pathology and cell tissue examination begin with a process in which specimen material is cut to an appropriate size, dehydrated with alcohol, etc., and then embedded in paraffin, etc. process,
After slicing, a thin section of the specimen is attached to a glass slide, subjected to treatment steps such as staining, and then placed in a basket and stored in a bath containing a storage solution such as a xylene bath. However,
After such processing steps, the specimens were taken out of the xylene bath en masse and glued to 0.09~
Enclosed with a cover glass of approximately 0.1 mm. When creating such specimens, it is necessary to prevent tissue destruction and the inclusion of air bubbles, which could lead to erroneous judgments, and to ensure that they are created quickly and accurately. However, in the past, most of the steps were done manually.

In recent years, each of these processing steps has become automated, but most of the coverslipping equipment, which encapsulates the specimen attached to a glass slide with a cover glass using adhesive, is fully automated. However, even those that have been developed still have various problems.

In particular, if a specimen attached to a glass slide is allowed to dry over time after it is pulled out of the xylene bath and before the specimen is mounted, fine air bubbles will form and remain on the specimen after the specimen has been mounted. This may prevent observation and may even lead to misdiagnosis.

Additionally, if excess xylene adheres to the top or bottom of the slide glass during specimen mounting, when the mounting adhesive is dropped, the xylene dissolves this adhesive and causes it to stick to the bottom of the slide glass. It wraps around and bonds with objects on the ground,
This will stain the cover glass.

Therefore, in the case of conventional manual work, such excess xylene liquid is blotted with suction paper just before the sealing operation to keep the xylene from drying out on the top side, and the bottom side is wiped off. However, there was no equipment that could do this automatically and obtain satisfactory specimens.

[Purpose of invention]

The purpose of this invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems by pulling up the slide glass from the xylene tank and feeding it to the conveyance path, and removing the excess during the pre-process of the encapsulation gluing process of the device that automatically performs the encapsulation gluing process. An object of the present invention is to provide a device for removing excess specimen storage solution, which removes xylene.

[Key points of the idea]

That is, the present invention provides an apparatus for transporting a slide glass taken out from a storage liquid tank to a first position via a transport path and enclosing a specimen, in which the slide glass is placed in a position in the transport path at a position preceding the first position. 2
a surplus liquid flow-down member that tilts the slide glass when the slide glass reaches the position to allow excess storage liquid to flow down and then returns the slide glass to its original position; and a surplus liquid flow-down member that is disposed at a position related to the surplus liquid flow-down member. ,
A member is provided that slides into contact with the lower surface of the slide glass and removes excess storage liquid from the lower surface while the slide glass is moved from the second position to the first position. be.

[Example of idea]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and in an automatic specimen slipping device to which the present invention can be applied, a slide glass 1
The slide glass 1 is moved by a chain conveyor 2 from the right to the left in the figure using a tact system, and the slide glass 1 is moved a predetermined distance at predetermined time intervals, and then stopped. It is moved again after a predetermined time.

Further, in this example, the slide glass 1 pulled up from a liquid tank (not shown) filled with xylene is supplied onto this chain conveyor 2, and the slide glass 1 supplied to the conveyor 2 is It is stopped by the feed claw 2A and fed in tact.

Therefore, the slide glass 1 transported in this manner has the specimen 1A attached to the upper surface and xylene is abundantly attached to both the upper and lower surfaces, and is first coated with adhesive (not shown) at a predetermined position 3B by being fed. Adhesive is dripped onto the specimen 1A from the dripping device, and the specimen is further encapsulated at the next predetermined position 3C.

The device 4 for enclosing the specimen is located below the chain conveyor 2, and the slide glass 1 is placed at position 3.
It has a vertically movable holding table 4A and an elevating shaft 4B, which rises when reaching C to carry the slide glass 1 on the conveyor 2 and lift it upward.The holding table 4A lifts the slide glass 1 upward. A cover glass 20 is supplied onto the slide glass 1 from a cover glass supply device (not shown) to carry out the encapsulation, and the slide glass 1 that has been encapsulated is moved again to the chain conveyor 2 by the downward movement of the elevating shaft 4B. It is returned to the predetermined position 3C.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a storage liquid removing device according to the present invention, and in this example, this device 10 is placed at the adhesive dripping position 3B.
It is provided below the conveyor 2 between the predetermined position 3A at the earlier stage and the predetermined position 3C for sealing.

That is, reference numeral 11 is a beam installed between the conveyor 2 for swingably holding the removing device 10, and the device 10 and the beam 11 are connected by a leaf spring 12. The apparatus 10 further includes a frame member 13 and a slide glass receiving member 14 mounted on the frame member 13.
The glass receiving member 14 has a blade-shaped portion 1 whose upper end knife edge can come into contact with the lower surface of the slide glass 1 when the apparatus 10 is in a horizontal state.
4A, a fulcrum plate 14B, and a liquid discharge groove 14C.

Note that 15 is a support pin protruding from the lift shaft 4B of the specimen enclosure device 4 mentioned above, and by bringing this support pin 15 into contact with the lower side of the frame member 13, the frame member 13 is supported.

Next, the operation of automatically removing excess xylene using the slide glass xylene removal apparatus configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2A to 2C.

FIG. 2A shows the slide glass 1 supplied on the chain conveyor 2 being conveyed to step positions 3A, 3B and 3C, of which surplus xylene is removed at position 3A. Meanwhile, conveyor 2 is stopped and position 3
Adhesive is dropped at position B, and an enclosing operation is performed at position 3C.

That is, when the conveyor 2 stops in the state shown in FIG. 2A, the lift shaft 4B starts to rise at position 3C, and the slide glass 1 on the conveyor 2 is lifted up by the holding table 4A, and the slide glass 1 on the conveyor 2 is lifted up until it reaches the waiting position above. When the cover glass 20 held in position is supplied onto the slide glass 1, encapsulation is performed via the dropped adhesive, but as the lifting shaft 4B rises, the frame of the liquid removing device 10 The member 13 is lifted against the spring force of the spring 12.

Therefore, at position 3A, a position eccentric from the width center on the back side of the slide glass 1 is supported by the fulcrum plate 14B of the glass receiving member 14, and due to the lifting operation, the slide glass 1 is tilted, as shown in FIG. 2B. It is held in an inclined position as shown in the figure.

Therefore, the excess xylene 1B adhering to the top and bottom surfaces of the slide glass 1 flows down along the slope into the discharge groove 3C and is appropriately discharged from the groove 3C.
An amount of xylene remains on the upper surface to provide a suitable condition during bonding.

Next, when the work is completed in the division of labor for each step, the chain conveyor 2 is
The slide 1 is moved an interval to move it to the next step position, but in position 3 the slide 1 is returned to the state shown in FIG. 2A before this movement.

Therefore, by the subsequent moving operation of the conveyor 2, the lower surface of the slide glass 1 is moved while touching the knife edge of the blade-shaped portion 14A.
As shown in FIG. 2C, residual xylene dripping onto the lower surface of the slide glass 1 can be wiped off by wiping it off with a knife edge.

In the above explanation, the xylene removal device 10 is linked to the vertical movement of the lifting shaft 4B of the specimen enclosure device 4, but the mechanism for operating the xylene removal device 10 in the tilted and horizontal states is based on such an interlocking mechanism. The invention is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be operated in conjunction with other operating mechanisms of the automatic specimen enclosing device, or an independent operating mechanism may be provided.

Furthermore, in the above explanation, the slide glass is tilted while the transport device is stopped by the tact system, but it is not necessarily necessary to tilt the slide glass while the transport device is stopped, but it may be performed while the slide glass is being moved. Of course, it is possible to configure the structure, and it is only necessary to provide a device for tilting the slide glass before dropping the adhesive liquid. Further, in this example, the slide glass is lifted upward and tilted, but it goes without saying that the slide glass may be tilted on the conveyance path.

[Effect of idea]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an apparatus for transporting a slide glass taken out from a storage liquid tank to a first position via a transport path and enclosing a specimen, the slide glass is a surplus liquid flow down member that tilts the slide glass to allow excess storage liquid to flow down when the slide glass reaches a second position preceding the first position, and then returns the slide glass to its original position; from the second position to the first position relative to the member;
Since a member is provided that slides into contact with the lower surface of the slide glass and removes excess storage solution from the lower surface while the slide glass is moved to the position, the excess storage solution adhering to the slide glass can be removed by enclosing the slide glass. It can be sufficiently removed twice, at the second position prior to the operation and during movement from the second position to the first position, to avoid deterioration of the quality of the mounted specimen due to excess storage solution or during the mounting operation. It is possible to prevent problems from occurring.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of the apparatus for removing surplus specimen storage liquid of the present invention, and Fig. 2 A, B, and C are model diagrams showing three aspects of the storage liquid removal operation step by step. It is. 1...Slide glass, 1A...Specimen, 1B...
...Storage liquid, 2...Chain conveyor, 2A...Feeding claw, 3A, 3B, 3C...Position, 4...Specimen enclosure device, 4A...Holding table, 4B...Elevating axis, 10...
...Liquid removal device, 11... Beam, 12... Leaf spring, 1
3... Frame member, 14... Glass receiving member, 14A
...blade shape part, 14B...fulcrum plate, 14C...groove,
15...Support pin, 20...Cover glass.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In an apparatus for transporting a slide glass taken out from a storage liquid tank to a first position via a transport path and enclosing a specimen, when the slide glass comes to the transport path at a second position preceding the first position. a surplus liquid flow-down member that tilts the slide glass to allow surplus storage liquid to flow down and then returns the slide glass to its original position; and a surplus liquid flow-down member disposed at a position related to the surplus liquid flow-down member, and the second position. and a member that slides into contact with the lower surface of the slide glass and removes the excess storage solution from the lower surface while the slide glass is moved from the slide glass to the first position. removal device.