Medical test tube processing apparatus
Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of medical instrument processing equipment, in particular to a medical test tube processing instrument.
Background
In order to carry out the medicine experiment, medical test tube often can be used to the hospital, and after the test tube used, need wash the test tube. Most of various tubular containers such as medical test tubes and the like are made of glass, the inner cavities of the containers are deep, and the cleaning equipment part adopting the boiling and water flushing principles is easy to clean. It is often necessary to manually brush the test tube with a test tube brush after the machine is cleaned. The artifical inefficiency of scrubbing, only can clear up a test tube at every turn, and medical test tube bottom is hemispherical structure, uses ordinary brush to be difficult to clear up test tube bottom spot, and the clearance effect is unsatisfactory, if scrub the dynamics too big, still causes the cracked condition of test tube easily, and the staff is cut easily to the piece that the test tube produced after breaking, and the security in the working process is not high. In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a medical tube handling instrument.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to make up for the defects of the prior art, the invention provides a medical test tube processing instrument which can solve the problems of high manual dependence, low working efficiency, potential safety hazard and incomplete cleaning in the existing medical test tube cleaning process, can realize the function of automatically cleaning a medical test tube, and has the advantages of automatic cleaning, high working efficiency, good safety, good cleaning effect and the like.
The technical scheme adopted by the invention to solve the technical problem is as follows: a medical test tube processing instrument comprises a bottom plate, a mounting frame, a placing device, an auxiliary device, a cleaning device and a sewage tank, wherein the placing device, the mounting frame and the auxiliary device are sequentially installed on the bottom plate from left to right; wherein:
the placing device comprises a linear guide rail, an electric slider, a mounting plate and a placing mechanism, wherein the linear guide rail is arranged on the bottom plate, the electric slider is arranged on the linear guide rail in a sliding fit mode, the mounting plate is arranged at the upper end of the electric slider, and the placing mechanism is arranged on the side wall of the mounting plate; the placing mechanism on the mounting plate is driven to move to a proper position through the electric sliding block, so that follow-up operation is carried out, the position is not required to be moved manually, and the working efficiency is improved.
The auxiliary device comprises a rotating mechanism and an auxiliary mechanism, and the rotating mechanism and the auxiliary mechanism are sequentially arranged on the bottom plate from left to right; the auxiliary mechanism is driven by the rotating mechanism to intermittently rotate so as to leave enough time for cleaning the test tube to be processed, the operation is continuous and orderly, and the normal operation is ensured.
The cleaning device comprises a water pipe, a power mechanism and a cleaning mechanism, the water pipe is symmetrically arranged at the left end and the right end of the mounting frame, the power mechanism is arranged in the middle of the mounting frame, and the cleaning mechanism is arranged at the lower end of the power mechanism; the washing liquid is sprayed to the test tube department of waiting to handle through the water pipe, drives wiper mechanism through power unit and washs the test tube, has eliminated washing that exists when the manual work washs the test tube thoroughly, fragile test tube and work efficiency low grade problem, has improved work efficiency.
The placing mechanism comprises a mounting column, a connecting block, a mounting ring frame, a placing cylinder and a limiting branched chain, wherein one end of the mounting column is mounted on the side wall of the mounting plate through a bearing, the other end of the mounting column is provided with the connecting block, the middle part of the mounting column is provided with the mounting ring frame, the outer wall of the mounting ring frame is uniformly provided with round holes along the circumferential direction of the mounting ring frame, the placing cylinder is mounted in the round holes, the limiting branched chain is arranged on the outer side of the placing cylinder, and the limiting branched chain is; the staff places the test tube of pending in placing a section of thick bamboo, carries on spacingly through spacing branch chain to the test tube to the condition that the test tube dropped in the course of the work takes place, has avoided the unnecessary loss, has improved the stability in the course of the work.
The limiting branched chain comprises a linear slide rail, a sliding plate, an annular frame, limiting blocks, a bidirectional cylinder and a mounting seat, wherein the linear slide rail is arranged between adjacent placing cylinders, the linear slide rail is arranged on the outer wall of the mounting annular frame, the sliding plate is symmetrically arranged at the left end and the right end of the linear slide rail in a sliding fit mode, the top end of the sliding plate is connected with the annular frame, the limiting blocks are uniformly arranged on the inner side of the annular frame along the axial direction of the annular frame, the positions of the limiting blocks correspond to the positions of the placing cylinders one by one, the bidirectional cylinder is connected between the annular frames; the sliding plate is driven to move on the linear sliding rail through the bidirectional cylinder until the limiting block arranged on the ring-shaped frame can be tightly attached to the side wall of the test tube, so that the test tube is prevented from falling off in the working process, the test tube can be limited according to the size of the test tube, and the application range and the stability in the working process of the test tube are improved.
The rotating mechanism comprises a fixed frame, a rotating motor, a rotating plate, an auxiliary plate, a rotating frame and a rotating wheel, the fixed frame is installed on the bottom plate, the rotating motor is installed on the fixed frame through a motor base, an output shaft of the rotating motor is connected with the rotating plate, a sliding groove is formed in the lower end of the rotating plate, the auxiliary plate is installed in the sliding groove in a sliding fit mode, the lower end of the auxiliary plate is installed on the fixed frame, the rotating frame is installed at the upper end of the rotating plate, the rotating wheel is installed on the rotating frame, a curve groove is formed in the side wall of the rotating wheel; drive the rotor plate through rotating the motor and carry out synchronous rotation, when rotating to a locating position, the curve slot that sets up on the rotation wheel drives the projection and rotates to make the rolling disc carry out intermittent type and rotate, both for wasing the sufficient time that the test tube left, can uninterruptedly again wash different test tubes, accelerated the progress of work, improved work efficiency.
The auxiliary mechanism comprises an auxiliary support, a rotating disc, a driven rotating wheel, a protruding column and a limiting frame, the auxiliary support is installed on the bottom plate, a through hole is formed in the side wall of the auxiliary support, the rotating disc is installed in the through hole through a bearing, a square groove is formed in the side wall of the left end of the rotating disc, the shape and the size of the square groove are the same as those of the connecting block, the driven rotating wheel is installed on the side wall of the right end of the rotating disc, the protruding column is evenly installed on the side wall of the right end of the driven rotating wheel along the axial direction of the driven rotating wheel, the limiting frame is arranged on the outer side of the rotating disc, the right end of the limiting frame is connected with the side wall of the auxiliary support, the limiting frame is of a hollow cylindrical structure, sieve; when the connecting block in placing the mechanism hugs closely in the square groove, drive the projection through slewing mechanism and rotate, thereby make the rolling disc carry out intermittent type and rotate, the rolling disc drives the erection column and carries out synchronous motion, when the test tube of placing in the section of thick bamboo rotates under to the cleaning hole, erection column stall, wiper mechanism alright wash this test tube inner wall of placing in the section of thick bamboo, the back finishes to wash, the erection column begins to rotate, wiper mechanism washs next test tube, in the cleaning process, under spacing bearing effect, the test tube can not take place to drop, the stability of course of work has been improved, the normal clear of work has been guaranteed, the sewage that produces among the cleaning process sees through the sieve mesh and flows in the sewage case, can not cause the pollution to operational environment, the cleanliness factor in the course of work has been guaranteed.
The power mechanism comprises a connecting plate, a first rotating shaft, a second rotating shaft, a rotating motor, a first rotating frame, a second rotating frame, an installation shaft, a working frame, a lifting block and a guide frame, the number of the connecting plate is two, the two connecting plates are symmetrically arranged at the left end and the right end of the mounting frame, the rotating motor is arranged on the side wall of the connecting plate at the right end of the mounting frame through a motor base, an output shaft of the rotating motor is connected with one end of the first rotating shaft through a coupler, the first rotating frame is arranged at the other end of the first rotating shaft, the side wall of the connecting plate at the left end of the mounting frame is connected with one end of the second rotating shaft through a bearing, the second rotating frame is arranged at the other end of the second rotating shaft, the first rotating frame and the second rotating frame are in the same shape and size and are of a T-shaped structure, the side wall of the lifting block is connected with a guide frame in a sliding fit mode, and the guide frame is arranged at the lower end of the mounting frame; drive a rotation axis through rotating electrical machines and carry out synchronous rotation to the lifter block that drives the lower extreme of the work frame of installing between a swivel mount and No. two swivel mounts through the installation axle carries out reciprocal linear motion in the leading truck, and then the wiper mechanism of lifter block lower extreme can carry out reciprocal linear motion from top to bottom in rotatory, makes the washing cleaner, and clean effect is more ideal.
The cleaning mechanism comprises a working motor, a rotary brush and a sponge block, the working motor is arranged at the lower end of the lifting block through a motor base, an output shaft of the working motor is connected with the upper end of the rotary brush, the sponge block is arranged at the lower end of the rotary brush, and the sponge block is hemispherical; drive rotatory brush through work motor and rotate, simultaneously under power unit's effect, reciprocal linear motion about the rotatory brush goes on, thereby can wash the test tube inner wall, the sponge piece of rotatory brush below installation plays the cushioning effect in the cleaning process, so that the rotatory brush damages the test tube, hemispherical sponge piece coincide with test tube bottom shape simultaneously, can wash the test tube bottom, the shortcoming of carrying out the cleaning to the test tube bottom that the test tube brush commonly used can not be fine has been eliminated, the cleaning performance is improved.
When the test tube cleaning machine works, a worker places a test tube to be treated in a placing cylinder in a placing mechanism and limits the test tube through a limiting branched chain, then the placing mechanism is driven to move to a proper position through an electric slider, so that a connecting block can be tightly attached to a square groove on the side wall of a rotating disc, then a convex column is driven to rotate through a rotating mechanism, so that the rotating disc can rotate intermittently, the rotating disc drives an installation column to move synchronously, meanwhile, cleaning fluid is sprayed to the placing mechanism through a water pipe, when the test tube in the placing cylinder rotates to a position right below a cleaning hole, the installation column stops rotating, the cleaning mechanism can clean the inner wall of the test tube in the placing cylinder, a first rotating shaft is driven to rotate synchronously through a rotating motor, so that a lifting block arranged at the lower end of a working frame between the first rotating frame and a second rotating frame through the installation shaft is driven to perform reciprocating linear motion in a guide frame, the cleaning mechanism at the lower end of the lifting block can perform reciprocating linear motion up and down while rotating, so that the inner wall of a test tube can be cleaned, the sponge block arranged below the rotary brush plays a role in buffering in the cleaning process to prevent the rotary brush from damaging the test tube, meanwhile, the hemispherical sponge block is matched with the bottom of the test tube in shape and can clean the bottom of the test tube, after the cleaning is finished, the mounting column starts to rotate, the cleaning mechanism cleans the next test tube, the test tube cannot fall down under the bearing action of the limiting frame in the cleaning process, the stability of the working process is improved, the normal operation of the working process is ensured, sewage generated in the cleaning process flows into a sewage tank through a sieve mesh, the working environment cannot be polluted, and the cleanness in the working process is ensured The automatic cleaning device has the advantages of low working efficiency, potential safety hazard, incomplete cleaning and the like, and can realize the function of automatically cleaning the medical test tube.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following advantages:
1. the automatic cleaning device can solve the problems of high manual dependence, low working efficiency, potential safety hazard, incomplete cleaning and the like in the existing medical test tube cleaning process, can realize the function of automatically cleaning the medical test tube, and has the advantages of automatic cleaning, high working efficiency, good safety, good cleaning effect and the like;
2. the cleaning device is arranged, cleaning fluid is sprayed to the test tube to be treated through the water pipe, and the cleaning mechanism is driven by the power mechanism to clean the test tube, so that the problems of incomplete cleaning, easy damage to the test tube, low working efficiency and the like existing in the process of manually cleaning the test tube are solved;
3. the test tube placing device is provided with the placing mechanism, a worker places a test tube to be processed in the placing cylinder and limits the test tube through the limiting branched chain, so that the test tube is prevented from falling off in the working process, the condition that the test tube is broken to cause injury to the worker is avoided, and the stability and the safety in the working process are improved;
4. the invention is provided with the power mechanism, so that the cleaning mechanism can perform reciprocating linear motion up and down while rotating, the inner wall of the test tube can be cleaned more cleanly, and the cleaning effect is more ideal.
Drawings
The invention is further illustrated with reference to the following figures and examples.
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the engagement between the base plate and the placement device of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the bottom plate and the auxiliary device of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the mounting bracket and the cleaning device of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2 according to the present invention.
Detailed Description
In order to make the technical means, the creation characteristics, the achievement purposes and the effects of the invention easy to understand, the invention is further explained below by combining the specific drawings.
As shown in fig. 1 to 5, a medical test tube treatment instrument comprises a bottom plate 1, a mounting frame 2, a placing device 3, an auxiliary device 4, a cleaning device 5 and a sewage tank 6, wherein the placing device 3, the mounting frame 2 and the auxiliary device 4 are sequentially installed on the bottom plate 1 from left to right, the cleaning device 5 is installed at the lower end of the mounting frame 2, the sewage tank 6 is arranged at the lower end of the cleaning device 5, and the sewage tank 6 is installed on the side wall of the mounting frame 2; wherein:
the placing device 3 comprises a linear guide rail 31, an electric slider 32, a mounting plate 33 and a placing mechanism 34, wherein the linear guide rail 31 is mounted on the bottom plate 1, the electric slider 32 is mounted on the linear guide rail 31 in a sliding fit manner, the mounting plate 33 is mounted at the upper end of the electric slider 32, and the placing mechanism 34 is mounted on the side wall of the mounting plate 33; the placing mechanism 34 on the mounting plate 33 is driven by the electric slide block 32 to move to a proper position so as to carry out subsequent operation, the position does not need to be moved manually, and the working efficiency is improved.
The auxiliary device 4 comprises a rotating mechanism 41 and an auxiliary mechanism 42, and the rotating mechanism 41 and the auxiliary mechanism 42 are sequentially arranged on the bottom plate 1 from left to right; the rotating mechanism 41 drives the auxiliary mechanism 42 to intermittently rotate so as to leave enough time for cleaning the test tube to be processed, and the operation is continuous and orderly, so that the normal operation is ensured.
The cleaning device 5 comprises a water pipe 51, a power mechanism 52 and a cleaning mechanism 53, the water pipe 51 is symmetrically arranged at the left end and the right end of the mounting frame 2, the power mechanism 52 is arranged in the middle of the mounting frame 2, and the cleaning mechanism 53 is arranged at the lower end of the power mechanism 52; the cleaning liquid is sprayed to the test tube to be treated through the water pipe 51, the cleaning mechanism 53 is driven to clean the test tube through the power mechanism 52, the problems that the cleaning is not thorough, the test tube is easy to damage, the working efficiency is low and the like when the test tube is manually cleaned are solved, and the working efficiency is improved.
The placing mechanism 34 comprises a mounting column 341, a connecting block 342, a mounting ring frame 343, a placing cylinder 344 and a limiting branched chain 345, one end of the mounting column 341 is mounted on the side wall of the mounting plate 33 through a bearing, the other end of the mounting column 341 is provided with the connecting block 342, the mounting ring frame 343 is mounted in the middle of the mounting column 341, round holes are uniformly formed in the outer wall of the mounting ring frame 343 along the circumferential direction of the mounting ring frame 343, the placing cylinder 344 is mounted in the round holes, the limiting branched chain 345 is arranged on the outer side of the placing cylinder 344, and the limiting branched chain 345 is; the staff places the test tube of treating in placing a section of thick bamboo 344, carries on spacingly through spacing branch chain 345 to the test tube to the condition that the test tube dropped in the course of the work takes place, has avoided unnecessary loss, has improved the stability in the course of the work.
The limiting branched chain 345 comprises linear slide rails 3451, sliding plates 3452, annular frames 3453, limiting blocks 3454, bidirectional cylinders 3455 and mounting seats 3456, the linear slide rails 3451 are arranged between the adjacent placing cylinders 344, the linear slide rails 3451 are mounted on the outer wall of the mounting ring frame 343, the sliding plates 3452 are symmetrically mounted at the left and right ends of the linear slide rails 3451 in a sliding fit manner, the top end of the sliding plate 3452 is connected with the annular frames 3453, the limiting blocks 3454 are uniformly mounted on the inner side of the annular frames 3453 along the axial direction of the annular frames 3453, the positions of the limiting blocks 3454 correspond to the positions of the placing cylinders 344 one by one, the bidirectional cylinders 3455 are connected between the annular frames 3453, and the bidirectional cylinders 3455 are mounted; the bidirectional cylinder 3455 drives the sliding plate 3452 to move on the linear sliding rail 3451 until the limiting block 3454 arranged on the annular frame 3453 can be tightly attached to the side wall of the test tube, so that the test tube is prevented from falling off in the working process, the test tube can be limited according to the size of the test tube, and the application range and the stability in the working process of the test tube device are improved.
The rotating mechanism 41 comprises a fixed frame 411, a rotating motor 412, a rotating plate 413, an auxiliary plate 414, a rotating frame 415 and a rotating wheel 416, the fixed frame 411 is installed on the bottom plate 1, the rotating motor 412 is installed on the fixed frame 411 through a motor base, an output shaft of the rotating motor 412 is connected with the rotating plate 413, a sliding groove is formed in the lower end of the rotating plate 413, the auxiliary plate 414 is installed in the sliding groove in a sliding fit mode, the lower end of the auxiliary plate 414 is installed on the fixed frame 411, the rotating frame 415 is installed at the upper end of the rotating plate 413, the rotating wheel 416 is installed on the rotating frame 415, a curved groove is formed in the side wall of the rotating wheel 416; drive rotor plate 413 through rotating motor 412 and carry out synchronous rotation, when rotating to a locating position, the curve slot of seting up on the rotation wheel 416 drives projection 424 and rotates to make rolling disc 422 carry out intermittent type and rotate, both for wasing the sufficient time that the test tube left, can wash different test tubes uninterruptedly again, accelerated the progress of work, improved work efficiency.
The auxiliary mechanism 42 comprises an auxiliary support 421, a rotating disc 422, a driven rotating wheel 423, a convex column 424 and a limiting frame 425, the auxiliary support 421 is installed on the bottom plate 1, a through hole is formed in the side wall of the auxiliary support 421, the rotating disc 422 is installed in the through hole through a bearing, a square groove is formed in the side wall of the left end of the rotating disc 422, the shape, the size and the size of the square groove are the same as those of the connecting block 342, the driven rotating wheel 423 is installed on the side wall of the right end of the rotating disc 422, the convex column 424 is evenly installed on the side wall of the right end of the driven rotating wheel 423 along the axial direction of the driven rotating wheel 423, the limiting frame 425 is arranged on the outer side of the rotating disc 422, the right end of the limiting frame 425 is connected with the side wall of the auxiliary support 421, the limiting frame 425 is of a hollow cylindrical structure; when connecting block 342 when placing in the mechanism 34 hugs closely in the square groove, drive projection 424 through slewing mechanism 41 and rotate, thereby make carousel 422 carry out intermittent type and rotate, carousel 422 drives erection column 341 and carries out synchronous motion, when placing the test tube in a section of thick bamboo 344 and rotate to the cleaning hole under, erection column 341 stall, wiper mechanism 53 alright wash this test tube inner wall of placing in a section of thick bamboo 344, the back that finishes washs, erection column 341 begins to rotate, wiper mechanism 53 washs next test tube, in the cleaning process, under spacing frame 425's supporting effect, the test tube can not take place to drop, the stability of working process has been improved, the normal clear of work has been guaranteed, the sewage that produces in the cleaning process sees through the sieve mesh and flows into in sewage case 6, can not cause the pollution to the operational environment, the cleanliness factor in the working process has been guaranteed.
The power mechanism 52 comprises connecting plates 521, a first rotating shaft 522, a second rotating shaft 523, a rotating motor 524, a first rotating frame 525, a second rotating frame 526, a mounting shaft 527, a working frame 528, a lifting block 529 and a guide frame 530, wherein the number of the connecting plates 521 is two, the two connecting plates 521 are symmetrically arranged at the left end and the right end of the mounting frame 2, the rotating motor 524 is arranged on the side wall of the connecting plate 521 at the right end of the mounting frame 2 through a motor base, the output shaft of the rotating motor 524 is connected with one end of the first rotating shaft 522 through a coupler, the first rotating frame 525 is arranged at the other end of the first rotating shaft 522, the side wall of the connecting plate 521 at the left end of the mounting frame 2 is connected with one end of the second rotating shaft 523 through a bearing, the second rotating frame 526 is arranged at the other end of the second rotating shaft 523, the first rotating frame 525 and the second rotating frame 526 have the same shape and size, a working frame 528 is arranged on the mounting shaft 527, a lifting block 529 is arranged at the lower end of the working frame 528, the side wall of the lifting block 529 is connected with a guide frame 530 in a sliding fit mode, and the guide frame 530 is arranged at the lower end of the mounting frame 2; the rotary motor 524 drives the first rotary shaft 522 to synchronously rotate, so that the lifting block 529 which is arranged at the lower end of the working frame 528 between the first rotary frame 525 and the second rotary frame 526 through the mounting shaft 527 is driven to do reciprocating linear motion in the guide frame 530, and the cleaning mechanism 53 at the lower end of the lifting block 529 can do reciprocating linear motion up and down while rotating, so that the cleaning is cleaner, and the cleaning effect is more ideal.
The cleaning mechanism 53 comprises a working motor 531, a rotary brush 532 and a sponge block 533, the working motor 531 is arranged at the lower end of the lifting block 529 through a motor base, an output shaft of the working motor 531 is connected with the upper end of the rotary brush 532, the sponge block 533 is arranged at the lower end of the rotary brush 532, and the sponge block 533 is hemispherical; drive rotatory brush 532 through work motor 531 and rotate, simultaneously under power unit 52's effect, reciprocal linear motion about rotatory brush 532 carries out, thereby can wash the test tube inner wall, sponge piece 533 of installation below rotatory brush 532 plays the cushioning effect in the cleaning process, in order to avoid rotatory brush 532 to damage the test tube, hemispherical sponge piece 533 coincides with test tube bottom shape simultaneously, can wash the test tube bottom, the shortcoming of carrying out the cleanness to the test tube bottom that the common test tube brush can not be fine has been eliminated, the cleaning performance is improved.
During operation, the staff places the test tube of pending in placing the section of thick bamboo 344 of placing mechanism 34, and carry on spacingly through spacing branch chain 345 to it, later drive placing mechanism 34 through electronic slider 32 and remove to suitable position, make connecting block 342 can hug closely in the square groove on rolling disc 422 lateral wall, then drive projection 424 through slewing mechanism 41 and rotate, thereby make rolling disc 422 carry out intermittent type and rotate, rolling disc 422 drives erection column 341 and carries out synchronous motion, simultaneously, through water pipe 51 to placing mechanism 34 department spray washing liquid, when the test tube that places in section of thick bamboo 344 rotates to the washing hole under, erection column 341 stall, washing mechanism 53 alright with can wash this test tube inner wall that places in section of thick bamboo 344, drive a rotation axis 522 through rotating electrical machines 524 and carry out synchronous rotation, thereby drive the lift piece 529 of the lower extreme of work frame 528 that installs between a rotary frame 525 and a rotary frame 526 through installation axle 527 and a second rotary frame 530 carries out in leading truck 530 Reciprocating linear motion, so that the cleaning mechanism 53 at the lower end of the lifting block 529 can perform vertical reciprocating linear motion while rotating, thereby cleaning the inner wall of the test tube, the sponge block 533 arranged below the rotating brush 532 plays a role in buffering in the cleaning process so as to prevent the rotating brush 532 from damaging the test tube, meanwhile, the hemispherical sponge block 533 is matched with the bottom of the test tube in shape and can clean the bottom of the test tube, after the cleaning is finished, the mounting column 341 starts to rotate, the cleaning mechanism 53 cleans the next test tube, in the cleaning process, the test tube cannot fall under the bearing action of the limiting frame 425, the stability of the working process is improved, the normal operation of the working process is ensured, the sewage generated in the cleaning process flows into the sewage tank 6 through the sieve mesh, the pollution to the working environment is avoided, and the cleanability in the working process is ensured The automatic cleaning device has the advantages of being low in working efficiency, having potential safety hazards, being not thorough in cleaning and the like, achieving the function of automatically cleaning the medical test tube and achieving the purpose.
The foregoing illustrates and describes the principles, general features, and advantages of the present invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, which are given by way of illustration of the principles of the present invention, and that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.