U.S. patent number 3,660,242 [Application Number 05/016,681] was granted by the patent office on 1972-05-02 for incubator.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Julius Schmid, Inc.. Invention is credited to Gustav Fingado, Harry W. Gordon.
United States Patent |
3,660,242 |
Gordon , et al. |
May 2, 1972 |
INCUBATOR
Abstract
An incubator is described that comprises an insulated chamber in
which heating of a culture media takes place by conduction and the
incubator is designed to prevent overheating of the culture media
and provide uniform temperature control. The incubator has a broad
field of application and is particularly adapted because of its
compactness for use in a physician's office.
Inventors: |
Gordon; Harry W. (Bronx,
NY), Fingado; Gustav (Ho Ho Kus, NJ) |
Assignee: |
Julius Schmid, Inc. (New York,
NY)
|
Family
ID: |
21778371 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/016,681 |
Filed: |
March 5, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
435/303.1;
435/809 |
Current CPC
Class: |
C12M
23/48 (20130101); C12M 41/14 (20130101); Y10S
435/809 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
C12M
1/04 (20060101); C12M 1/00 (20060101); C12b
001/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;195/139,127,103.5 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
National Incubators Bulletin No. 6531-A, (1966) pub. by National
Appliance Co., Portland, Oregon, pp. 4 & 5.
|
Primary Examiner: Tanenholtz; Alvin E.
Claims
We claim:
1. An incubator for warming a culture container to a desired
temperature comprising an insulated housing defining a chamber,
culture container support means of a heat-conductive material
located within said chamber, said support means shaped to hold a
culture container thereon in a position inclined with respect to
the vertical so that a fluid culture medium in the container will
be disposed therein and said support means will contact both the
bottom wall and an inclined surface of the container resting on
said support to conduct heat to the container to heat the medium
contained therein, transparent material comprising a portion of
said chamber to permit viewing of a culture container within the
chamber, electrically operated heating means, heat conducting means
between said heating means and said support means and in physical
contact with both said heating means and said support means to
conduct heat from said heating means to said support means to heat
said support means, and heat regulating means electrically
connected to said heating means and in heat conductive relationship
with said support means for sensing the temperature of said support
means and for controlling the operation of said heating means to
maintain said predetermined temperature.
2. An incubator according to claim 1 wherein said heating means and
said container support means are in contact with said heat
conducting means at opposed ends of said heat conducting means.
3. An incubator according to claim 2 wherein said heat regulating
means is in contact with said support means at a position
intermediate the ends of said heat conducting means.
4. An incubator according to claim 3 wherein said heat regulating
means comprises a thermostat.
5. An incubator according to claim 1 which includes means for
holding a gas releasing agent within said insulated chamber.
6. An incubator according to claim 3 further comprising means for
retaining a heat measuring device in a substantially horizontal
position in said insulated chamber at a location viewable through
said transparent portion.
7. An incubator according to claim 1 further comprising means for
holding another culture media container in a substantially vertical
position.
Description
This invention relates to an incubator unit.
Incubators are in use today for a variety of purposes including
hatching eggs, growing bacteria in a suitable media, etc. Many of
the incubators now available have a variety of shortcomings
including: non-uniform temperatures throughout the incubator which
makes it difficult to determine accurately whether the culture is
being maintained at the critical temperature level; non-uniform
heating of the culture media; overheating of the culture media;
poor design and construction which makes it difficult to maintain a
specific gas atmosphere tension (e.g. CO.sub.2 tension) required
for the bacterial growth; and poor visibility of the culture media
from outside of the incubator thereby hindering the accurate
determination of the presence or absence of bacterial growth
without opening the incubator.
Accordingly, the present invention provides for an incubator that
overcomes the deficiencies of prior art incubators.
One object of the present invention is to provide an incubator in
which the culture media is heated by conduction rather than
convection.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an incubator
that provides substantially uniform heating of the culture
media.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an
incubator in which overheating of the culture media is avoided.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an
incubator that is particularly adapted for growth of bacteria
requiring a CO.sub.2 atmosphere such as used in testing for
gonorrhea.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be
apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying
drawings which set forth the principles of the invention in
which
FIG. 1 shows a front elevation in section of the incubator of the
present invention; and
FIG. 2 is a detailed cross-sectional view taken along the line 2--2
of FIG. 1.
Referring to the drawings for a more detailed description of the
structure and operation of the incubator of the present invention,
FIG. 1 shows an incubator 10 comprising flat vertical side walls
11, a flat bottom wall 12 and a flat removable cover 13 which is at
least partially transparent and forms with walls 11 and 12, chamber
14. Since it is essential that the incubator be insulated to
maintain a selected incubation temperature, side walls 11 and
bottom wall 12 are constructed of suitable insulation material such
as, for example, a foamed polyurethane. Transparent top cover 13
may be constructed of any suitable transparent material (e.g.
glass, a rigid plastic such as "Plexiglass" etc.) to permit clear
visibility of the culture media to determine the presence of any
bacterial growth without opening the incubator. Cover 13 has
secured to it, by adhesive or other suitable means, lip 15
constructed, for example, of a foamed polyurethane which seals the
chamber 14 when cover 13 is in place as shown in FIG. 1. This
provides a tight fit that will permit the maintenance of a specific
gas atmosphere tension (e.g. CO.sub.2 atmosphere) in the chamber 14
over the desired time period.
Referring now to FIG. 2, the insulated chamber 14 is provided with
a two piece platform 16 designed to permit rapid assembly of the
incubator and its heating unit and to fit firmly within the four
corners of chamber 14. Platform 16 comprises one section having
oppositely slanted surface portions 17 and 18, flat horizontal
surface area 19 joined with slanted surface 18 and vertical leg
members 20 and 21 extending to the inside face of bottom wall 12,
with leg member 21 contacting the inside face of one of vertical
side walls 11. Slanted surface portion 18 and flat surface area 19
form a bed for a thermometer 23 placed in a horizontal position in
insulated chamber 14, the thermometer being secured to flat surface
area 19 by conventional means such as a bracket 22 or the like.
Having thermometer 23 in a horizontal position permits easy
sighting of the incubator temperature through transparent cover 13.
The second section of platform 16 comprises a flat horizontal
surface area 24, a slanted surface portion 25 which forms with
adjacent slanted surface 17 a bed for receiving and retaining one
or more culture containers 26 in an inclined position from the
horizontal, and leg members 27 and 28 extending to the inside face
of bottom wall 12 with leg member 27 bearing against leg member 20
of the other section of platform 16. Horizontal surface area 24 is
provided with an opening for receiving and holding in a vertical
position container 29 (e.g. a glass vial) in which a gas releasing
agent 30, such as a CO.sub.2 tablet, is placed together with water
or other suitable liquid. Platform 16 is preferably constructed of
a light material that is a good heat conductor, such as aluminum,
so that heating of the culture in container 26 is by conduction
through slanted surface 17 as will be explained hereafter in
connection with the design of the heating unit for incubator
10.
As shown in FIG. 2, the heating unit comprises a heating element 31
such as a resistor, a thermostat 32 and a heat conducting plate 33
each of which is located within insulated chamber 14 and under
platform 16. A pilot light 34 is provided on horizontal surface
area 19 which goes on when the temperature is below the desired
level and cuts off when the incubator temperature reaches the
desired level and a heat control knob 35 is provided on the
exterior of incubator 10 for regulating the incubator temperature.
The control knob 35 is marked with an indicator to permit selection
of the desired temperature that is calibrated on a scale on the
outside face of the side wall 11 opposite the heat control knob.
Heat conducting plate 33 is designed so that at its one end it is
wrapped around and in contact with heating element 31 and at its
other end it is in contact with slanted surface 17 constructed of a
heat conductive material, as previously indicated. Intermediate its
ends, heating plate 33 has a vertical section 36 that is secured to
a face of thermostat 32 by conventional means such as bolt 37 which
also secures thermostat 32 to vertical leg 21. Therefore thermostat
32, heat conducting plate 33 and one section of platform 16 are
bolted together as a unit.
The design of platform 16 and the heating unit arrangement
described in the preceding paragraph permits for accurate and
uniform heating of container 26 in that a larger surface area of
the solid culture media in container 26 is exposed to heating by
conduction because such container is in an inclined position rather
than in the conventional vertical position. Overheating of the
culture media is avoided through a temperature control that will
maintain an accuracy of plus or minus one half a degree between
95.degree. to 105.degree. F. In operation the heat generated from
heating element 31 is conducted along heat conducting plate 33 and
transferred by conduction to slanted surface portions 17 and 18 and
horizontal surface 19 through the contact between heat conducting
plate 33 and slanted heat conductive surface 17. Overheating of the
culture media is avoided because heat from the heating element 31
must pass by thermostat 32 along heat conducting plate 33 before it
reaches slanted surface portion 17. This permits an accurate
control of the temperature at slanted surface 17 inasmuch as this
surface cannot become heated to a temperature above the preselected
level because thermostat 32 cuts out when the desired temperature
is reached at the thermostat thereby preventing excess heat
transfer along heat conducting plate 33 to slanted surface 17.
In operation the heating element can be plugged into any 110 volt
AC outlet and because of its compactness carried from one point to
another with no effort. It is ideal for use in a doctor's office, a
hospital, laboratory or research facility. Another advantage of the
incubator of the present invention is its flexibility of use. For
example, horizontal surface 24 may be provided with a plurality of
openings for receiving and retaining in a vertical position vials
containing a liquid culture media where such a culture media is
required for a particular test such as the detection of
trichomonas.
The incubator of the present invention has been found to be ideal
for use in detection of neisseria gonorrhea where careful
temperature control and uniform heating of a solid culture media is
important for accurate results.
Other modifications and variations will be apparent to those
skilled in the art and it is accordingly intended that the scope of
the invention not be limited to those embodiments particularly
illustrated or suggested but that the scope of the invention be
defined by reference to the appended claims.
* * * * *