Sample transport with rotary air interlock charging and discharging means
AssigneeThe Perkin-Elmer Corporation
InventorJoseph Sibrava
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A compact, sealable sample transport apparatus for conveying material from a supply to a combustion chamber, includes an elongated ladle member longitudinally moved in a conduit to the combustion chamber and coacting rotary magazine and transfer plate members, sealed with respect to one another so as to enable discrete analytical specimens to be loaded into and, after analysis, discharged from the ladle member without substantial exposure of the interior of the apparatus to the ambient atmosphere.
Claims7
An automatic sampling apparatus for conveying a series of discrete sample quantities to and from an analysis chamber comprising:
- means defining a conduit having one end adapted to be sealingly coupled in flow communication with said chamber;
- a sample inlet passage extending transversely into said conduit at a point remote from said one end and a sample discharge passage on the opposite side of said conduit, aligned with the sample inlet passage;
- a first transfer plate disposed in normally-occluding relationship to said sample inlet passage, said transfer plate containing a sample-receiving aperture;
- means mounting said first transfer plate for displacement to a loading position in which said aperture registers with said sample inlet passage;
- a second transfer plate disposed in normally-occluding relationship to said sample discharge passage, said second transfer plate containing an aperture adapted to receive the residue of a sample quantity subsequent to analysis in said chamber;
- means mounting said second transfer plate for displacement to a sample discharge position in which the aperture in the second transfer plate registers with the sample discharge passage;
- means for sealing said first and second transfer plates around and with respect to the inlet and outlet sample passages respectively, said sealing means including a spring for each said transfer plate and said springs being compressed against said transfer plates respectively to exert the sealing forces in converging directions along the alignment axis of said sample passages;
- and
- means for displacing said transfer plates in timed relation to one another to bring the aperture of the first plate into registration with the sample inlet passage while the sample discharge passage is occluded by the second transfer plate and the aperture of the second transfer plate into registration with the sample discharge passage when the sample inlet passage is occluded by the first transfer plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.