JPH0322730Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the invention] a. Purpose of the invention (industrial application field) The microscope specimen enclosure device according to this invention is used when various specimens are sealed between a slide glass and a cover glass to form a microscope specimen. use.

(Prior Art) When observing various specimens using a microscope, the specimen must be sealed between a slide glass and a cover glass to form a microscope specimen. For this reason, various types of encapsulation devices have been used in the past, but when encapsulating, it is necessary to prevent air bubbles from entering between the slide glass and the cover glass. As an encapsulating device for encapsulating a microscopic specimen while preventing air bubbles from entering between the two glasses, there is a structure such as that shown in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 40519/1983.

This conventional enclosing device, as shown in FIG.
A suction pad 6 connected to a negative pressure source via a hose 2 is provided on the lower surface of one end of the movable holding piece 1, and a vertical hole 3 provided at the other end is given downward elasticity by a compression spring 4. A pressing rod 5 is provided so as to be movable up and down. When enclosing a microscopic specimen, the top surface of one end of the cover glass is adsorbed to the suction pad 6, and the top surface of the other end of the cover glass is pressed downward by the pressing rod 5 to hold the cover glass in an inclined state. Then, the holding piece 1 is moved above the slide glass onto which the filling liquid has been dropped in advance. Once the slide glass has moved to just above the cover glass, the holding piece 1 is lowered to press the cover glass onto the top surface of the slide glass. The cover glass held in an inclined state below the holding piece 1 is held by the pressing rod 5.
The holding piece 1 comes into contact with the top surface of the slide glass from the pushed down end side, and as the holding piece 1 further descends, it curves and gradually comes into contact with the entire surface. At this time, the air existing between the top surface of the slide glass and the bottom surface of the cover glass is pushed out by the cover glass which is curved and abuts against the top surface of the slide glass, so that air does not get mixed in between the two surfaces.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in the conventional encapsulation device configured and operated as described above, the operations of removing the cover glass and bringing the cover glass into contact with the top surface of the slide glass must be performed slowly. However, the time required for enclosing a large number of microscopic specimens becomes longer.

That is, when taking out a cover glass, the holding piece 1 is moved above a large number of laminated cover glasses and then lowered, and only the uppermost cover glass is sucked and taken out by the suction pad. At this time, in order to prevent the extremely thin cover glass from being broken by the pressing rod 5 which is pressed down by the compression spring 4, the holding piece 1 is
The rate of descent must be slow. Furthermore, the descending speed of the holding piece 1 when pressing the cover glass taken out in this way onto the upper surface of the slide glass must also be slow. If the elasticity of the compression spring 4 is weakened, the descending speed of the holding piece 1 can be increased, but the cover glass will not bend as much during enclosing, and the air will likely be pushed out poorly.

The present invention provides an enclosure device for microscopic specimens that is free from such inconveniences.

b. Structure of the invention (Means for solving the problem) The microscope specimen mounting device of the invention holds the topmost cover glass among a large number of laminated cover glasses by suction, and attaches a slide onto which a mounting medium has been dripped in advance. It consists of a suction pad that is moved above the glass and then lowered, and a locking piece that supports one edge of the fallen cover glass. This locking piece is provided on one side of a rotary arm that is rotatably supported by a horizontal axis or on one side of an arm made of a leaf spring, and when a downward force is applied to the cover glass that supports one edge , move in the direction of escaping from this cover glass. Further, after lowering the cover glass, the suction pad descends so as to press against the upper surface of the cover glass.

To explain in more detail with reference to the drawings, the enclosing device of the present invention, as shown in FIG. It is configured to be movable in the horizontal direction between the upper part of the cover glass storage part in which a large number of cover glasses are stacked and the upper part of the slide glass. It can be raised and lowered freely. A rotary arm 10 rotatably supported by a horizontal shaft 9 is provided above one end of a slide glass 8 that is installed in an enclosing device to perform an enclosing operation. The rotating arm 10 is given elasticity by a spring 11 to tend to rotate counterclockwise in FIG. 1, and a stopper 12 prevents it from rotating further in the counterclockwise direction than in the state shown in FIG.

At the lower end of such a rotary arm 10, the suction pad 6
A locking piece 13 whose end upper surface is inclined in a wedge shape is fixed to the side surface facing the . This locking piece 1
3 protrudes to a position where one end of the cover glass is caught by the locking piece 13 when the cover glass 14 that has been attracted by the suction pad 6 and moved above the slide glass 8 is lowered as it is.

(Function) The operation of bonding a cover glass to the upper surface of a slide glass and enclosing a microscope specimen between the two glasses is carried out as follows using the microscope specimen enclosure device of the present invention constructed as described above.

First, the movable piece 7 is moved above the cover glass storage section, and the uppermost cover glass is sucked and picked up by the suction pad 6. The cover glass 14 is placed in the position where the coverslipping operation is to be performed, and the cover glass 14 is moved above the slide glass 8 on which the mounting medium 15 has been dropped in advance to cut off the conduction between the suction pad 6 and the negative pressure source. let it fall. As shown in FIG. 1, the fallen cover glass 14 is
One end is supported by the locking piece 13 and the other end is in contact with the top surface of the slide glass 8, so that the cover glass 14 is placed on the top surface of the slide glass 8 in an inclined state, and the mounting medium 15 is caused by capillary action. The particles gather in the area where the distance between the bottom surface of the cover glass and the top surface of the slide glass is narrow.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the moving piece 7 is lowered to press the center portion of the cover glass 14 toward the top surface of the slide glass 8. At this time, communication between the suction pad 6 that directly contacts the top surface of the cover glass 14 and the negative pressure source is cut off. As the movable piece 7 descends, the cover glass 14, which is supported at both ends by the top surface of the slide glass and the locking piece 13, is curved so that the bottom surface of the center is convex, and the distance between the bottom surface of the cover glass and the top surface of the slide glass is reduced. becomes narrower, and the mounting medium 15 spreads between both surfaces. At this time, the air existing between the two surfaces is pushed out from between the two surfaces as the mounting medium 15 spreads. The rotating arm 10 rotates clockwise in the drawing as the cover glass 14 curves, but once the curve reaches a certain level and the specimen placed on the top surface of the slide glass 8 is completely covered with the mounting medium. For example, the edge of the cover glass 14 comes off from the locking piece 13, and the lower surface of the cover glass 14 comes into close contact with the upper surface of the slide glass 8 over the entire surface via the mounting medium 15, as shown in FIG. The suction pad 6 is
After the cover glass 14 is pushed down to the state shown in FIG. 3, it is raised to prepare for the next enclosing operation.

(Application example) The microscope specimen enclosure device of the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, but in order to more reliably prevent air bubbles from entering between the top surface of the slide glass and the bottom surface of the cover glass, the following steps are required: As shown in Figure 4, the cover glass 14 has fallen away from the suction pad 6.
The locking piece 13 may be used to support one corner of one end. When the center of the top surface of the cover glass 14, which is supported at one end and one corner, is pressed, the cover glass 14 is twisted and curved, and the portion A in FIG. 4 first comes into close contact with the top surface of the slide glass 8. Next, portion B and finally portion C come into close contact with the upper surface of the slide glass 8, respectively. Therefore, the air existing between the top surface of the slide glass and the bottom surface of the cover glass is pushed out from section A to section B and then to section C, and is completely pushed out when the encapsulation is completed.

Further, it is not necessary to provide the spring 11 as shown in FIG. 1 on the rotating arm 10 for supporting the locking piece 13, and the point is that the spring 11 is not provided in the rotating arm 10 for supporting the locking piece 13. It is sufficient if the locking piece 13 is positioned at the position and the locking piece 13 escapes as the cover glass is pressed downward. Therefore, the upper end of the rotary arm 10 with the locking piece 13 fixed to one side of the lower end is supported by the horizontal shaft 9 (FIG. 5),
Alternatively, the locking piece 13 may be fixed to one side of the lower end of the arm body 16 made of a leaf spring whose upper end is fixed (FIG. 6).

Furthermore, the movable piece 7 provided with the suction pad 6 is slightly rotated over the slide glass to tilt the cover glass 14 to the state shown in FIG. 1, and then the movable piece 7 is lowered while adsorbing the cover glass 14. Alternatively, both ends of the cover glass 14 may be brought into contact with the locking piece 13 and the slide glass 8 almost simultaneously. However, even in this case, the cover glass 14
Before lowering the moving piece 7 so as to curve the
Communication between the suction pad 6 and the negative pressure source is cut off. This is because if the enclosing operation is performed while suction by the suction pad 6 is continued, the suctioned portion of the cover glass will curve upward, and air will tend to remain in this portion.

c. Effects of the invention Since the microscopic specimen encapsulating device of the present invention is configured and operates as described above, it is possible to perform the encapsulation work of the microscopic specimen without introducing air bubbles between the slide glass and the cover glass. Since the upper surface of the cover glass has a large surface area and only comes into contact with the soft suction pad, the cover glass will not be damaged even if the moving speed of the suction pad is not particularly slow, making the coverslipping work efficient and quick. I can do it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figs. 1 to 3 are side views of essential parts showing the enclosing operation by the enclosing device of the present invention in the order of steps, Fig. 4 is a plan view of the slide glass and cover glass showing the position where the locking piece is provided, and Figs. 5 to 6 FIG. 7 is a side view showing two other examples of a portion provided with a locking piece, and FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing a conventional enclosing device. 1: Holding piece, 2: Hose, 3: Vertical hole, 4: Compression spring, 5: Pressing rod, 6: Suction pad, 7: Moving piece, 8: Slide glass, 9: Horizontal shaft, 10: Rotating arm, 11 : Spring, 12: Stopper, 13: Locking piece, 14: Cover glass, 15: Mounting medium, 16:
Arm body.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] It has a suction pad on one side that moves the cover glass above the slide glass onto which mounting medium has been dropped and lowers it onto the top surface of the slide glass, and a locking piece that supports one end edge of the lowered cover glass. It consists of an arm that is movable in the direction of removing the piece from the cover glass, and the suction pad moves downward from above the slide glass and presses the center of the top surface of the cover glass toward the top surface of the slide glass. A microscope specimen encapsulation device.