It is known that in specialized centers, hospitals or production centers of blood components, a large number of hematic sacs are processed daily to satisfy the needs of transfusion and of the pharmaceutical industry of blood derivatives. It is also known that the sacs that contain or will contain hematic material are of different shapes and characteristics depending on the producer.
Each of these sacs has one or more cannulas, or breakable valves, which, at determinate moments, must be opened during the working process.
It is known that breaking these cannulas, or breakable valves, of the sacs, an operation carried out many times if not hundreds, during the day, causes tiredness in the staff involved, and leads to the formation of skin thickening on the fingers used, and sometimes even causes more serious situations.
A method is also known for breaking cannulas, or breakable valves, hereafter called only cannulas, which is partly automatic, on the basis of which the upper part of a cannula is subjected to repeated bending, toward the right and/or toward the left, using the elements of automated equipment, or breaking head, while the part physically connected to the sac is held stationary.
This method is by itself satisfactory, but it is not such as to solve all the problems which there are in a room where the hematic sacs are processed. Indeed, as we said above, sacs of different producers can be worked in this process, so that it is not possible that a single breaking head can satisfy all the different needs which arise, as the type and size of the sac or cannula vary.
To overcome all these disadvantages, the Applicant set himself the purpose of making a device suitable to embody an automatic method for breaking cannulas of hematic sacs even as the type and size thereof vary.
Moreover, the Applicant set himself the purpose of making said device with suitable stratagems so that substantially all the cannulas of the various types of sacs in existence can be broken.
Furthermore, Applicant set himself the purpose of making a machine which can easily be adapted to the requirements of new sacs.
Another purpose is to be able to adapt the machine in a very short time when a new sac arrives, also providing the producer or user of said sac the means to prevent laboratories encountering difficulties when new sacs or cannulas arrive.
These and other purposes and the connected advantages will be evident hereafter in the description.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds