Maintenance-free syringe drive for the insemination of honey bee queens

Abstract

Syringe drive for the insemination of honey bee queens, characterized in that a commercially available disposable syringe made of glass or plastic can be used as the syringe, in that the piston and cylinder of the same can be moved against each other by the mechanism of the drive with the precision required for the insemination of queen bees.

Description

[0001] To collect honeybee sperm from a drone, the ejaculated sperm is collected from the reproductive organ using a manually operated syringe. This syringe is then also used to inseminate the queen bees. According to the current state of the art, this syringe essentially consists of a plastic or glass cylinder, a sleeve / housing surrounding the cylinder, and a piston, which is usually a threaded rod. The thread of the piston rod usually runs in a threaded hole in the sleeve. Rotating the piston moves it back and forth within the cylinder. The cylinder is completely filled with liquid (usually buffered saline solution), as air in the cylinder would compress or expand under applied pressure, resulting in an elastically delayed transfer of pressure, which would make sperm uptake or insemination more difficult.

[0002] This device brings with it several problems: 1. The seal on the cylinder head is subject to severe wear (especially due to cleaning agents / thermal sterilization), which often leads to leaks. 2. The cylinder is either made of high-precision processed laboratory glass and is therefore expensive, or it is made of plastic and is therefore usually not thermally sterilizable or deforms upon repeated autoclaving. 3. To ensure the tightness of the piston in the cylinder, a lubricant is required, the application of which represents an additional work step and a potential risk of contamination. 4. Since the pistons and cylinders come into contact with the saline solution and often with traces of semen, they must be cleaned and sterilized regularly, which is labor-intensive and time-consuming.

[0003] According to the state of the art, there are two types of syringes (referred to here as “a” and “b”), which differ in the positioning of the syringe in the state of use: a. The entire syringe is attached directly to the insemination device, the apparatus used to hold and anesthetize the queen bee and to position the syringe for insemination. b. Only the insemination cannula (F in Fig. The syringe is attached to the insemination device using a simple case / adapter. The syringe itself, however, is mounted in a holder at tabletop height and connected to the cannula by a tube. This allows the syringe to be operated without lifting the arm from the tabletop.

[0004] According to the current state of technology, there is no syringe that would be suitable for both operation on the insemination device and storage on the table.

[0005] Problems 1 - 4 are solved according to claim 1. The previous precision-mechanical syringe is replaced by a combination of a disposable syringe and a drive for it. The use of the disposable syringe eliminates the need for cleaning and prevents leaks due to wear or sterilization. The drive ensures, by means of a transmission (claim 2), that volume changes in the piston interior can be controlled with the precision of 0.1 - 0.3 µL relevant for working with drone sperm. In order to mount the combination of syringe and drive not only on a stand at table height (positioning type b, Fig. ) but also on the insemination device (positioning type a, Fig.), it is important that the overall length of the combination of drive and syringe remains short in the longitudinal direction of the syringe, since conventional insemination devices only have a limited adjustability of the distance between syringe and queen. In addition, if the assembly is too long, the user's elbow would have to be lifted from the table top during insemination, which would make working with low vibration more difficult. A short length of the combination of syringe and drive is ensured according to claim 3 by arranging the transmission of force from a rotational to a linear movement in the longitudinal direction above the syringe cylinder (and not behind it). List of reference symbols: A Base body of the syringe drive B Clamping pin, which fixes the disposable syringe in the base body C Spur gears for translating the rotation of the knurled handle to the rack D Clamp into which the end of the plunger (pusher) of the disposable syringe is inserted E Luer cone to ensure tightness between capillary and syringe F Insemination cannula G Knurled handle for driving the syringe H Wing screw for fixing the clamp (D) to the carriage (I) I Carriage with rack J Cylinder and piston of the disposable syringe (not part of the development; shown only to illustrate the functionality) K Holes for mounting on a tripod (when used on a table top) or on an insemination device L Insemination device (not part of the development; shown only for illustration of use) M tripod for use on table top N Hose for connection to the insemination cannula

Claims

[1] Syringe drive for the insemination of honey bee queens, Characterized by that a commercially available disposable syringe made of glass or plastic can be used as a syringe, as the piston and cylinder of the same can be moved against each other by the mechanism of the drive with the precision required for the insemination of queen bees. [2] Syringe drive according to claim 1, characterized by that the transfer of the user's muscle power to the syringe plunger is via a gear and a rack ((I) in Fig. ) or by the friction of a rough axle on a non-slip surface (e.g. rubber mat) attached tangentially to it. [3] Syringe drive according to claim 1, characterized by that the rack (I) necessary for the power transmission is in Fig.) / rubber mat is mounted lengthwise of the syringe not behind, but above or next to the syringe cylinder, so that the total length of the syringe and drive remains sufficiently small for use on insemination devices where the distance between the syringe holder and the queen bee is limited due to the design. [4] Syringe drive according to claim 1, characterized by that the user has the choice between two mounting options, namely a. Screw / plug onto the syringe holder of the insemination device. In this case, the insemination cannula ((F) in Fig. ) as in Fig. shown directly onto the syringe, e.g. using a Luer cone. b. Screwing / plugging onto a tripod, which is placed directly on the table top and allows use without lifting the arm from the table top.

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