Tweezers and embedded block manufacturing method

Abstract

To provide tweezers capable of tamping an object and less likely to damage the object during tamping, and an embedding block manufacturing method capable of efficiently manufacturing embedding blocks.SOLUTION: Tweezers 100 include a first arm 10 and a second arm 20 that are connected to each other so as to be openable and closable. A tip portion 10T of the first arm 10 and a tip portion 20T of the second arm 20 have a tapered shape. A protruding portion 15 that is thicker than the tip portion 20T of the second arm 20 and protrudes outward in a thickness direction is formed at the tip portion 10T of the first arm 10. A tip angle in a width direction of the protruding portion 15 at the tip portion 10T of the first arm 10 is larger than a tip angle in a width direction of the tip portion 20T of the second arm 20. An outer surface of the protruding portion 15 is used as a tamping surface 15a for tamping an object.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to tweezers and a method for manufacturing an embedded block. [Background technology]

[0002] A known method for preparing a thin tissue specimen for microscopic observation involves first embedding the tissue in paraffin to create an embedded block, and then thinly slicing the embedded block.

[0003] As disclosed in Patent Document 1, an embedded block is obtained by transferring a tissue piece that has been previously impregnated with paraffin into an embedding dish, pouring liquid paraffin into the embedding dish, and allowing the poured paraffin to solidify.

[0004] If the tissue pieces are embedded in paraffin in an uneven, wavy state, the cross sections of the tissue pieces may not appear continuous in the resulting specimen. Therefore, in the process of making an embedded block, the tissue pieces are pressed against the bottom of an embedding dish to make them flat, i.e., tamping. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Special Publication No. 2006-500584 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Tamping is performed by pressing a special tool called a tamper against the tissue piece. Specifically, the worker first holds the tissue piece with tweezers and transfers it to an embedding dish, then either holds a small tamper with the tweezers again or replaces the tweezers with the tamper to perform tamping.

[0007] However, the work of re-holding the tamper with the tweezers or the work of switching the tamper from the tweezers is time-consuming. This time-consuming work significantly reduces the work efficiency when a large number of embedded blocks are produced one after another. Therefore, an embedded block production method that can efficiently produce embedded blocks is desired.

[0008] If the tweezers used to transfer the tissue pieces to the embedding dish were also used for tamping, the above-mentioned work would be eliminated. However, the tips of conventional tweezers are too sharp, and tamping with tweezers is likely to damage the tissue pieces. Therefore, there is a need for tweezers that can tamp an object but do not damage the object during tamping.

[0009] An object of the present invention is to provide tweezers capable of tamping an object while minimizing damage to the object during tamping, and an embedded block manufacturing method capable of efficiently manufacturing embedded blocks. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] The tweezers according to the present invention include A pair of tweezers comprising a first arm and a second arm each having a tapered tip and connected to each other so as to be able to open and close, a protruding portion is formed at the tip end of the first arm, the protruding portion being thicker than the tip end of the second arm and protruding outward in a thickness direction, The present invention is characterized in that a widthwise tip angle of the raised portion at the tip of the first arm is larger than a widthwise tip angle of the tip of the second arm, and an outer surface of the raised portion is used as a tamping surface for tamping an object.

[0011] The protruding portion at the tip of the first arm may have a tip angle in the width direction of the protruding portion that is not less than 20° and not more than 60°.

[0012] A tip angle in the thickness direction of the raised portion of the first arm may be configured to be larger than a tip angle in the thickness direction of the tip portion of the second arm.

[0013] The protruding portion of the first arm may have a tip angle in a thickness direction of 10° or more and 40° or less.

[0014] The tamping surface may be configured as a curved surface that bulges outward in the thickness direction.

[0015] The method for manufacturing an embedded block according to the present invention comprises the steps of: a transfer step of holding a tissue piece as the object with the tweezers according to the present invention and transferring the tissue piece into an embedding dish; a tamping step of pressing the tissue piece against a bottom surface of the embedding dish with the tamping surface of the tweezers; The present invention is characterized by having the following. Effect of the Invention

[0016] According to the tweezers of the present invention, the raised portion has a tamping surface, so that the tamping surface can be used to tamp the object. Also, the tip angle of the raised portion in the width direction is larger than the tip angle of the tip of the second arm in the width direction, so that a wide tamping surface can be ensured. Therefore, the object is less likely to be damaged during tamping.

[0017] According to the method for producing an embedded block of the present invention, the transfer of the tissue piece to the embedding dish and the tamping of the transferred tissue piece can be performed continuously by using tweezers. In other words, the work of re-holding the tamper with the tweezers or changing the tweezers to the tamper, which was previously required, is no longer necessary. Therefore, the embedded block can be produced efficiently. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing tweezers according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1A is a conceptual diagram showing a state in which a piece of tissue is being held with tweezers according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 1B is a conceptual diagram showing a state in which the piece of tissue is being tamped with the same tweezers. [Diagram 3] 1A is a conceptual diagram showing an example of how to hold the tweezers during tamping according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 1B is a conceptual diagram showing another example of how to hold the tweezers during tamping. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing a tip portion of the tweezers according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged side view showing a tamping surface of a protruding portion according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing a tip portion of the tweezers according to the second embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged side view showing a tamping surface of a protruding portion according to a third embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Hereinafter, tweezers according to an embodiment will be described as a specific example of the tweezers described above with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0020] [First embodiment] 1, tweezers 100 according to this embodiment has plate-shaped first arm 10 and second arm 20 connected to each other so as to be openable and closable, and a connecting portion 30 connecting the first arm 10 and the second arm 20. The connecting portion 30 is disposed at the end of the first arm 10 and the second arm 20.

[0021] The tip portion 10T of the first arm 10, which is the end portion opposite the connecting portion 30, has a tapered shape. The tip portion 20T of the second arm 20, which is the end portion opposite the connecting portion 30, also has a tapered shape.

[0022] The greatest feature of the tweezers 100 according to this embodiment is that the tip 10T of the first arm 10 is provided with a raised portion 15 having a tamping surface 15a for tamping an object. As a specific example of the use of the tweezers 100, the main part of the embedded block manufacturing method according to the embodiment will be described below.

[0023] 2(A), a piece of tissue 200 from a living body is held as an object between the tip 10T of the first arm 10 and the tip 20T of the second arm 20. The piece of tissue 200 is assumed to be impregnated with a resin such as paraffin in advance. First, an operator holds the piece of tissue 200 with the tweezers 100 in this manner and transfers the piece of tissue 200 to an embedding dish (transfer process).

[0024] 2(B), after the tissue piece 200 is transferred to the embedding dish 300 by the tweezers 100, the operator performs tamping by pressing the tissue piece 200 against the bottom surface of the embedding dish 300 with the tamping surface 15a of the same tweezers 100 (tamping step). This causes the tissue piece 200 to be flattened along the bottom surface of the embedding dish 300.

[0025] Then, liquid resin such as paraffin is poured into the embedding dish 300. The liquid resin solidifies to obtain an embedded block in which the tissue piece 200 is embedded in the resin. The embedded block is thinly sliced ​​to obtain a specimen for observation under a microscope, etc. Since the tissue piece 200 has been tamped, the cross section of the tissue piece 200 appears neatly and continuously in the specimen.

[0026] 3(A) and (B) show examples of how the tweezers 100 are held by an operator when tamping in the tamping step.

[0027] As shown in Fig. 3(A), tamping can be performed in the same manner as when grasping an object with tweezers 100. Also, as shown in Fig. 3(B), tamping can be performed by holding the object with the index finger along the outer surface of the second arm 20 in the same manner as when holding a knife or scalpel.

[0028] 3(A) and (B), the continuity of the work of transferring the tissue piece 200 into the embedding dish 300 and tamping the transferred tissue piece 200 is unlikely to be lost, and thus the embedded block can be manufactured most efficiently. However, as long as the tamping surface 15a can be pressed against the object as shown in FIG. 2(B), the holding method is not limited to the holding method shown in FIG. 3(A) and (B).

[0029] As described above, according to the method for producing an embedded block according to this embodiment, the tissue piece 200 can be transferred to the embedding dish 300 and tamped using the tweezers 100 in succession. In other words, after the tissue piece 200 is transferred to the embedding dish 300, the conventionally required work of re-holding the tamper with the tweezers or changing the tamper from the tweezers is no longer necessary. Therefore, the embedded block can be produced efficiently.

[0030] Returning to FIG. 1, the configuration of the tweezers 100 according to this embodiment will now be described in detail.

[0031] To facilitate the following explanation, an opening / closing direction virtual plane VP1 is defined as a virtual plane that is parallel to the longitudinal direction D1 of the tweezers 100 and the opening / closing direction D2 in which the first arm 10 and the second arm 20 open and close, and passes through the tweezers 100.

[0032] Also, a virtual center line VL1 is defined that extends along the first arm 10 and represents the central axis of the first arm 10. Similarly, a virtual center line VL2 is defined that extends along the second arm 20 and represents the central axis of the second arm 20. An opening / closing direction virtual plane VP1 passes through the positions of the virtual center lines VL1 and VL2.

[0033] In this specification, the "width direction" of each of the first arm 10 and the second arm 20 refers to a direction perpendicular to the opening / closing direction imaginary plane VP1.

[0034] As described above, the tip 10T of the first arm 10 and the tip 20T of the second arm 20 have a tapered shape. In this embodiment, this "tapered shape" means that the width dimension of the tip 10T of the first arm 10 and the tip 20T of the second arm 20 gradually decreases toward the tip of each arm.

[0035] In this specification, the "thickness direction" of the first arm 10 refers to a direction perpendicular to the imaginary center line VL1 of the first arm and parallel to the opening / closing direction imaginary plane VP1. The "thickness direction" of the second arm 20 refers to a direction perpendicular to the imaginary center line VL2 of the second arm and parallel to the opening / closing direction imaginary plane VP1.

[0036] 4 shows an enlarged cross section parallel to the thickness direction of the tip 10T of the first arm 10 and the tip 20T of the second arm 20. As described above, the tip 10T of the first arm 10 is formed with the raised portion 15 for tamping an object.

[0037] An inner surface 11 of the tip portion 10T of the first arm 10 facing the tip portion 20T of the second arm 20 is formed flat. In addition, an inner surface 21 of the tip portion 20T of the second arm 20 facing the tip portion 10T of the first arm 10 is also formed flat. Therefore, when the tip portions 10T and 20T clamp the tissue piece 200 shown in FIG. 2(A), the raised portion 15 does not get in the way.

[0038] In addition, outer surface 22 of tip portion 20T of second arm 20 opposite inner surface 21 in the thickness direction is also formed flat. Outer surface 12 of tip portion 10T of first arm 10 excluding protrusion 15 opposite inner surface 11 in the thickness direction is also formed flat.

[0039] At the tip 10T of the first arm 10, the raised portion 15 is thicker than the tip 20T of the second arm 20 and protrudes outward in the thickness direction. Here, "outward in the thickness direction" refers to the direction away from the tip 20T of the second arm 20 in the opening and closing direction D2 shown in Fig. 1. The outer surface of the raised portion 15 opposite the inner surface 11 in the thickness direction is a tamping surface 15a for tamping an object.

[0040] The raised portion 15 is locally formed to be thicker than the portion excluding the raised portion 15 at the tip portion 10T of the first arm 10. That is, the raised portion 15 protrudes outward from the outer surface 12 of the portion excluding the raised portion 15 at the tip portion 10T of the first arm 10. Therefore, the raised portion 15 has a step surface 15b connecting the tamping surface 15a and the outer surface 12.

[0041] A tip angle α1 in the thickness direction of protrusion 15 is larger than a tip angle α2 in the thickness direction of tip 20T of second arm 20. Here, the "tip angle in the thickness direction" refers to the angle of the tip in a cross section taken along opening / closing direction imaginary plane VP1 shown in FIG.

[0042] In this way, by configuring α1>α2, when tamping with the tamping surface 15a facing horizontally or approximately horizontally as shown in Fig. 2(B), it is not necessary to tilt the tweezers 100 excessively. This makes it difficult for the tweezers 100 to come into contact with the edge of the embedding plate 300.

[0043] Specific values ​​of angles α1 and α2 will be described. Tip angle α2 in the thickness direction of tip portion 20T of second arm 20 exceeds 0° and is less than 10°, more specifically, is 7° or less, typically about 5°. In contrast, tip angle α1 in the thickness direction of protuberance 15 is preferably 10° or more so that tweezers 100 do not have to be excessively laid down during tamping.

[0044] On the other hand, if the tip angle α1 of the raised portion 15 in the thickness direction is too large, there is a concern that the ease of gripping a small object may be impaired. Therefore, even if the object is small, in order to prevent the ease of gripping the object from being impaired, the tip angle α1 of the raised portion 15 in the thickness direction is preferably 40° or less.

[0045] In one embodiment, as a result of examining the holding manner shown in FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B), the most suitable angle α1 was found to be 20°.

[0046] Fig. 5 is a partially enlarged side view of the tamping surface 15a as viewed from a line of sight parallel to the thickness direction. As shown in Fig. 5, the tip angle β1 in the width direction of the protrusion 15 at the tip 10T of the first arm 10 is larger than the tip angle β2 in the width direction of the tip 20T of the second arm 20.

[0047] Here, "widthwise tip angle β1 of raised portion 15" refers to the angle of the tip of the projection area of ​​raised portion 15 vertically projected onto widthwise imaginary plane VP2 perpendicular to opening / closing direction imaginary plane VP1. Also, "widthwise tip angle β2 of tip 20T of second arm 20" refers to the angle of the tip of the projection area of ​​tip 20T of second arm 20 vertically projected onto widthwise imaginary plane VP2.

[0048] In this manner, by configuring so that β1>β2, the tip 10T of the first arm 10 is wider than the tip 20T of the second arm 20, so that a wide area of ​​the tamping surface 15a can be secured. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2(B), when tamping is performed with the tamping surface 15a of the tip 10T of the first arm 10, the tissue piece 200 is less likely to be damaged than when tamping is performed with the tip 20T of the second arm 20.

[0049] Specific values ​​of angles β1 and β2 will be described. The tip angle β2 in the width direction of the tip 20T of the second arm 20 exceeds 0° and is not more than 10°, more specifically, is not more than 7°, and typically is about 5°. In contrast, the tip angle β1 in the width direction of the raised portion 15 is preferably 20° or more to ensure a wide tamping surface 15a.

[0050] On the other hand, if the tip angle β1 of the width direction of the raised portion 15 is too large, there is a concern that the ease of gripping a small object may be impaired. Therefore, even if the object is small, in order to prevent the ease of gripping the object from being impaired, the tip angle β1 of the width direction of the raised portion 15 is preferably 60° or less.

[0051] In one embodiment, as a result of examining the holding manner shown in FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B), the most suitable angle β1 was found to be 30°.

[0052] As described above, according to the tweezers 100 of this embodiment, the raised portion 15 has the tamping surface 15a, so that the object can be tamped by the tamping surface 15a. In addition, the tip angle β1 in the width direction of the raised portion 15 is larger than the tip angle β2 in the width direction of the tip portion 20T of the second arm 20, so that a wide tamping surface 15a can be ensured. Therefore, the object is less likely to be damaged during tamping.

[0053] In addition, since the tip angle α1 of the raised portion 15 in the thickness direction is larger than the tip angle α2 of the tip 20T of the second arm 20 in the thickness direction, there is no need to tilt the tweezers 100 excessively when performing tamping. This reduces strain on the wrist of the operator.

[0054] [Second embodiment] 4 illustrates an example in which the tamping surface 15a is flat, that is, formed in a planar shape, but the tamping surface 15a may be a curved surface. Specific examples of this will be described below.

[0055] As shown in Fig. 6, the tamping surface 15a according to this embodiment is configured as a curved surface that bulges outward. Therefore, the edge of the tamping surface 15a, specifically, the edge in the length direction and the edge in the width direction of the tip portion 10T, is unlikely to damage the target object. In addition, the operator can also tamp by rocking his / her wrist so that the tamping surface 15a rolls on the surface of the target object.

[0056] Moreover, the raised portion 15 according to this embodiment has a connecting surface 15c at the boundary between the tamping surface 15a and the step surface 15b. The connecting surface 15c is a curved surface that smoothly connects the tamping surface 15a and the step surface 15b. Therefore, the object is less likely to be damaged at the boundary between the tamping surface 15a and the step surface 15b.

[0057] [Third embodiment] 5 illustrates an example of a tamping surface 15a arranged symmetrically with respect to the opening / closing direction imaginary plane VP1. Since this tamping surface 15a is symmetrical with respect to the opening / closing direction imaginary plane VP1, it protrudes outward in the width direction from one end face 13 in the width direction of the portion of the tip portion 10T excluding the raised portion 15 (hereinafter referred to as the main body portion), and also protrudes outward in the width direction from the other end face 14 in the width direction of the main body portion.

[0058] Such tweezers 100 have an advantage that the configuration can be made common to both right-handed and left-handed users. However, the tamping surface 15a may be disposed asymmetrically with respect to the opening / closing direction imaginary plane VP1. A specific example of this will be described below.

[0059] As shown in FIG. 7, the tamping surface 15a in this embodiment protrudes outward in the width direction from one widthwise end face 13 of the main body portion of the tip portion 10T, but does not protrude outward in the width direction from the other widthwise end face 14 of the main body portion of the tip portion 10T.

[0060] According to such a configuration, when an object is clamped, the object can be easily viewed from the side of end surface 14. This contributes to improving the ease of the operation of gripping the object.

[0061] The first to third embodiments have been described above. In the first embodiment, the use of the tweezers 100 is exemplified as the production of embedded blocks, but the use of the tweezers 100 according to the present disclosure is not limited to the production of embedded blocks.

[0062] In this specification, the concept of "tamping" includes not only the operation of pressing the tissue piece 200 during the manufacturing process of the embedded block, but also the operation of pressing semiconductors, stamps, various parts, and other objects other than the tissue piece 200 against a base surface. The holding methods exemplified in Figures 3(A) and (B) can also be applied to the tamping of objects other than the tissue piece 200. Note that the concept of the tissue piece 200 does not necessarily include those taken from the human body. [Explanation of symbols]

[0063] 10…first arm, 10T...Tip, 11…Inner self, 12...External surface, 13...end face, 14...end face, 15...Protuberance, 15a…Tamping surface, 15b...step surface, 15c…Connection surface, 20…Second arm, 20T...Tip, 21…Inner self, 22...External surface, 30...Connection part, 100…tweezers, 200...tissue piece (object), 300...embedding dish, VL1: Virtual center line, VL2: Virtual center line, VP1: Virtual plane in opening and closing direction, VP2: Width direction virtual plane.

Claims

1. A pair of tweezers including a first arm and a second arm each having a tapered tip and connected to each other so as to be able to open and close, a protruding portion is formed at the tip end of the first arm, the protruding portion being thicker than the tip end of the second arm and protruding outward in a thickness direction, a tip angle in a width direction of the raised portion at the tip portion of the first arm is larger than a tip angle in a width direction of the tip portion of the second arm, and an outer surface of the raised portion is used as a tamping surface for tamping an object. tweezers.

2. The tip angle of the protruding portion at the tip of the first arm in the width direction is configured to be 20° or more and 60° or less.

2. The tweezers according to claim 1.

3. The tip angle of the protruding portion of the first arm in the thickness direction is configured to be larger than the tip angle of the tip portion of the second arm in the thickness direction. The tweezers according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The tip angle of the protruding portion of the first arm in the thickness direction is configured to be 10° or more and 40° or less. The tweezers according to claim 3.

5. The tamping surface is formed of a curved surface that bulges outward in the thickness direction. The tweezers according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. a transfer step of holding a tissue piece as the object with the tweezers according to any one of claims 1 to 5 and transferring the tissue piece into an embedding dish; a tamping step of pressing the tissue piece against a bottom surface of the embedding dish with the tamping surface of the tweezers; An embedded block manufacturing method comprising the steps of:

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