Centrifuge apparatus
AssigneeBeckman Instruments, Inc.
InventorHerschel E. Wright
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a centrifuge including a centrifuge rotor and a drive shaft for spinning the rotor at selected rotational speeds, a safety device adapted to prevent the rotor from attaining a rotational speed likely to cause the rotor to explode with a force that could not be contained within the centrifuge housing. The device includes a safety link handle assembly supported on the top of the rotor on the rotation axis thereof having an arm designed to rupture and depart from the handle assembly at a predetermined speed thereby creating an imbalance condition of such a magnitude that the rotor separates from the drive shaft and is thereby prevented from attaining a hazardous rotational speed.
Claims7
A high speed centrifuge apparatus comprising:
- a rotor adapted to carry samples to be centrifuged;
- a vertical drive shaft having an end thereof adapted for coupling to said rotor for rotating said rotor on the rotational axis of said shaft;
- a handle assembly attached to said rotor, said handle assembly including,
- a centerpiece positioned on the rotational axis of said rotor and extending outwardly from said rotor on the opposite side thereof from said drive shaft, said centerpiece having a hole therethrough normal to the axis of rotation,
- a safety link handle having a central portion fitting snugly in said hole in said centerpiece and two arms extending outwardly from opposite sides of said central portion through the openings in said hole in said centerpiece, said safety link handle being proportioned so that it is balanced when rotated with said rotor,
- means for retaining said safety link handle within said hole in said centerpiece, and
- one of said arms of said safety link having a section thereof close to said central portion designed and constructed of reduced tensile strength so as to withstand a rotational force less than the other arm and to rupture at a predetermined rotational velocity of said rotor whereby the outwardly extending portion of said one arm departs through said hole in said centerpiece thereby creating an imbalance condition causing said rotor and shaft to oscillate about the rotational axis thereby causing said rotor to depart from said vertical drive shaft.
A high speed centrifuge apparatus comprising:
- a rotor adapted to carry samples to be centrifuged,
- a drive shaft having an end thereof adapted for coupling to said rotor for rotating said rotor about the rotational axis of said shaft,
- a lid member having a central hole formed therethrough,
- a threaded stud extending upwardly from said rotor and adapted to receive said hole in said lid to position said lid on said rotor,
- a centerpiece having a threaded central cavity adapted to be threaded onto said stud of said rotor to tighten said lid onto said rotor, said centerpiece being positioned on the rotational axis of said rotor and extending outwardly from said rotor on the opposite side thereof from said drive shaft, said centerpiece having a hole therethrough normal to the axis of rotation;
- a safety link handle having a central portion fitting snugly in said hole in said centerpiece and two arms extending outwardly from opposite sides of said central portion through the openings in said hole in said centerpiece, said safety link handle being proportioned so that it is balanced when rotated with said rotor,
- means for retaining said safety link handle within said hole in said centerpiece, and
- one of said arms of said safety link having a section thereof close to said central portion designed and constructed of reduced tensile strength so as to withstand a rotational force less than the other arm and to rupture at a predetermined rotational velocity of said rotor whereby the outwardly extending portion of said one arm departs through said hole in said centerpiece thereby creating an imbalance condition causing said rotor and shaft to oscillate about the rotational axis thereby causing said rotor to depart from said vertical drive shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.