Collection device and material
Inventors
Young, Terry • TEMPLET, Timothy • Dube, Paul • DIXON, Todd • Lewis, Armand F. • Kim, Yong K.
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-9279747-B2
Publication Date
2016-03-08
Expiration Date
Abstract
Swabs, and materials of the present disclosure, and methods of making same, include randomly arranged sea-island bicomponent fibers which have randomly splayed terminal ends.
Core Innovation
The invention relates to a swab constructed to collect and release a biological sample comprising a liquid. The swab includes an applicator and sea-island bicomponent fibers, and the sea-island bicomponent fibers have islands-in-sea morphology in which, for at least about 85% of the fibers, randomly splayed terminal ends of the islands are present along a length of about 50% or less from the ends.
The sea-island bicomponent fibers are described as randomly arranged fibers with randomly splayed terminal island ends, forming a flock-like morphology at the fiber ends. The document further specifies that the fibers include sea soluble polymer and island polymers, including examples such as alkali-soluble polyester sea and polyamide island polymers, with island parts per fiber ranging within broad limits.
The swab is described as being constructed with the sea-island bicomponent fibers attached to an applicator using an adhesive and/or a flocking-type attachment. A fabrication approach is described that includes removing at least part of the sea component from the bicomponent fibers using a heated alkaline solvent, followed by applying mechanical force to create the randomly splayed terminal island ends. Example embodiments and water pick-up results are described by comparing un-split versus split flocked swabs.
Claims Coverage
The independent claim is clm-00001. The inventive features center on the structural configuration of sea-island bicomponent fibers with randomly splayed island terminal ends within a specified length fraction from the fiber ends, combined with swab structure including an applicator. Dependent claims further refine fiber-material selection, quantitative island-part constraints, and attachment/forming details using adhesives and a heated alkaline removal and mechanical splaying approach.
Sea-island bicomponent fibers with randomly splayed island terminal ends within a limited end-length region
A swab including an applicator and sea-island bicomponent fibers, wherein at least about 85% of the fibers comprise randomly splayed terminal ends of the islands of said bicomponent fibers along a length of about 50% or less from said ends.
Sea/island polymer pairing
The swab wherein the bicomponent fibers comprise a polyethylene terephthalate sea material and a polyamide island material.
Islands-per-fiber range
The swab wherein the bicomponent fibers include 10–3000 island parts per fiber.
Adhering the fibers to an applicator end portion with an adhesive
A swab wherein the fibers on an end portion are adhered using an adhesive.
Adhesive selected from named adhesive types
The swab wherein the adhesive is selected from photocurable acrylic adhesive or polyurethane adhesive.
Forming the swab by heated alkaline sea removal and mechanically forcing randomly splayed ends
Forming the swab by adhering bicomponent fibers to an applicator, removing part of the sea component from the bicomponent fibers using a heated alkaline solvent, and then mechanically forcing the fiber ends to form randomly splayed fibers.
Coverage centers on configuring sea-island bicomponent fibers so that at least about 85% have randomly splayed island terminal ends located within about 50% or less of the fiber length from the ends, together with applicator-mounted swab construction. Dependent features further specify example sea/island polymer pairs, an island-parts-per-fiber range, adhesive attachment to an applicator end portion, and a swab-formation approach using heated alkaline sea removal followed by mechanical end splaying.
Stated Advantages
Documented Applications
Collecting and releasing a biological sample comprising a liquid.
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