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AssigneesNL Technologies, Ltd., University of Maryland at College Park
InventorsDouglas A. Newberg, Vjekoslav Pavlin
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for inoculating a sample to or withdrawing a sample from a vessel or conduit includes a body with an internal sample cavity, a valve operating rod movable to open and close an orifice to the sample cavity a coupler to attach the body to a port of the vessel or conduit. A manual and/or automatic device can be provided for moving the valve operating rod to open and close the orifice. The manual device includes a trigger actuator. A portion of the sample cavity is formed by an endcap which includes the orifice. The sample cavity has an inner wall and outer wall with a space therebetween. The space can thermally insulate the sample cavity from the ambient environment as well as the interior of the vessel or conduit. The valve operating rod has a diaphragm attached to one end. A blunt sealing tip of the diaphragm seals the orifice when the valve operating rod moves to close the orifice. The valve operating rod has a portion which extends into the diaphragm to support the diaphragm and to form a seal at an opening to the sample cavity through which the diaphragm extends.
An actuator for moving a forward valve operating rod in a sample cavity, the sample cavity having an orifice communicable with a port in a wall of a vessel or conduit, the forward valve operating rod having a sealing tip at one end thereof, the actuator moving the forward valve operating rod such that the sealing tip engages and disengages from the orifice to thereby seal and unseal the orifice, the actuator comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.