Back to results
US 2004/0166556 A1Published application
Analytic device for the detection and quantification of fermentative cultured activities
OwnerDennis Roy Cullimoreinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
OwnerDennis Roy Cullimoreinventor
Estimating the term…
A test device provides an enclosed gas entrapment system for the safe determination of both the presence and rate of occurrence of fermentation gases where the targeted microorganisms were both present and active. The gas entrapment device has a density greater than the liquid culture medium within the chamber and therefore settles to the base of the chamber and includes slots in the vertical walls of the device which allow the passage of fermentative microorganisms into and out of the device during the period of culture and examination. When there has been the generation of gases entrapped within the device, the density of the device becomes compromised forcing the device to elevate in the liquid fermenting medium to form an indication that gases have been produced in the sample by the microorganisms and that organisms are present.
A test apparatus, for use in the determination of fermentative activities of a targeted microorganism within a given sample, in which said test apparatus comprises a vertical test device sealed on the top side and open at the bottom with open slots up the sides to allow a free exchange of microorganisms and chemicals between the said the test device and the culture chamber within which the test device is sunken by the nature of the heavier designed density of the test device in comparison to the culturing fluids within the culture chamber and in addition that the test device would cause the collection of some of the gases resulting from any subsequent fermentative activity in a manner that would lead to a fall in the overall density of the test device causing said device to develop a density equal to, and then less than, the density of the fluids in the culture chamber thus causing the device to rise up to the surface whereupon the relocation of the said device would be interpreted as indicating the production of fermentation gases within the culture chamber.
A method for testing a sample for the presence of targeted microorganisms capable of causing the fermentation upon incubation involving the use of specific and diagnostic chemicals considered to have the potential for the production of gaseous end products to be achieved by placing a test device within a culture chamber, said test device having been inverted so that the closed end is uppermost and the open end is lowermost to assure that the device through having a density greater than the fluid culture allows through various openings in the base and in the lower parts of the vertical walls such microorganisms as may be within the culturing fluid to move throughout the fluids and to potentially ferment these specific chemicals to gaseous end products thereby causing movement in the test device involving a gas-induced relocation that can then be used for diagnostic purposes in quantitative and qualitative manners presently commonly achieved using the Durham's tube.
A method as claimed in 8, and further including the use of vanes to the outside of the test device in a manner that would allow the test device to remain vertical where there is a significantly larger total fluid volume in the culture chamber than void fluid volume in the test device.
A method as claimed in 9, and further including that the vanes may be removable and constructed of a different density of material such that the final density of the test device to which the vanes are attached becomes adjusted to a degree significantly greater than that of the defined inoculated culture medium including any liquid samples added so the, when voided of any entrapped air or gases, the test device will sink within the culturable fluids of the culture chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.