1) A stretching means for filiform elements which is intended to stretch elements such as wires, ropes, strings and any other filiform element, which comprises:
a main body on the ends of which there are, at least, two openings;
said openings comprise, at least, a connection opening and a rotating mounting opening;
on said rotating mounting opening a rotating part is mounted which, endowed with a command head, forms a winding reel for the filiform element to be stretched; and
on said main body there is, at least, a slide mobile cramp, which can be applied to said rotating part.
2) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, which comprises a main body, a rotating part and a mobile cramp.
3) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, in which the main body consists in a plate provided with, at least, an opening, the recessed inclination of which is oriented to the adjacent end so that it looks like a hook.
4) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, in which the main body consists in a plate provided with two openings, the recessed inclination of which is oriented to respective adjacent ends.
5) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1 in which, between the lateral edges of the main body and the mobile cramp part, a runner is formed for the sliding of said mobile cramp part.
6) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, in which the rotating part comprises a rotation axis which is rotatively mounted on one of the openings of the main body; to the opposing sides of said rotation axis there is, on the one hand, a winding reel and, on the other, a command head.
7) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, in which the main body has a bending which aligns the engagement opening end with the winding reel.
8) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, in which the mounting opening of the rotating part narrows down in the entrance area, as a retention means of the rotating part.
9) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, in which the mounting opening of the rotating part opens until the lateral edge of the main body, where it forms a narrowing as a retention means of the rotating part.
10) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, in which the rotating part consists of, at least, two parts joined to one another.
11) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, characterized in that the rotating part consists of two coupled parts which comprise a first component which forms the command head and a second reel complement; both components supplementing each other to form the gudgeon.
12) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, characterized in that the rotating part consists of a first component which forms the command head and the gudgeon and at least, a second component which forms the reel, with this said first component fixed on the rotating assembly opening by means of projections, with at least one of them having an engagement hole.
13) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, which comprises
a main body on the ends of which there are, at least, two rotating mounting openings;
on said rotating mounting there are two rotating parts which, endowed with respective command heads, form respective winding reels for respective filiform elements to be stretched;
on said main body there are slide mobile cramps, which can be applied to respective rotating parts; and
at least, an intermediate connection opening suitable for fixing means used to fix it to an application structure.
14) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 13, in which the fixing means comprise an opening and a tie bolt which fixes it to the application structure.
15) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises an electrically insulating element which, on the one hand, forms a throat insertable into the main body at the height of the connection opening whereas, on the other hand, it forms an admission slot for an electric conductor filiform element, said admission slot consisting of a false insulating bottom of said connection opening.
16) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises an electrically insulating element is provided with at least an admission slot for an electric conductor filiform element, forms a fitting throat insertable into the main body at the height of the connection opening; said throat being crossed by an anchor means of said electrically insulating means in the connection opening.
17) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 16, characterized in that the admission slot runs through the anchor means.
18) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claim 16, characterized in that from the openings of the admission slot in the electrically insulating means body originate some concurrent sliding guides for the arrangement of electric conductors.
19) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claims 15, characterized in that the insulating means is of a detachable type.
20) The stretching means for filiform elements according to claims 16, characterized in that the insulating means is of a detachable type.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of determining the concentration of an analyte in an unknown liquid sample comprising contacting the sample with a receptor molecule having binding sites for the analyte and labelled with a first marker, whereby a fraction of the binding sites on the receptor molecule become occupied by the analyte, back-titrating the receptor having fractionally occupied binding sites by means of a back-titration technique involving a system including a second marker different from the first, measuring the relative strengths of the two signals produced by the two markers to provide a value representative of the fractional occupancy of the binding sites on the receptor molecule by the analyte, and comparing that value with one or more corresponding values obtained in the same way using one or more standard liquid samples of known analyte concentration, characterised in that the unknown and standard liquid samples are each contacted with such a; small amount of the receptor, having regard to its affinity constant with the analyte, that only an insignificant fraction of the analyte becomes bound to the receptor.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the markers are fluorescent markers.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the back-titration technique involves a competitive system including a back-titration reagent selected from the analyte labelled with a marker and another material able to occupy only the unoccupied analyte binding sites on the receptor molecule and labelled with a marker.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the back-titration technique involves a non-competitive system including a back-titration reagent which is able to bind with the bound analyte or only with the receptor molecule binding sites occupied by the bound analyte and which is already labelled or is subsequently labelled with a marker.
5. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the insignificant fraction is less than 2% of the total amount of the analyte present.
6. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the receptor is an antibody for the analyte.
7. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the analyte is a hormone.
8. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the sample containing the analyte does not contain the analyte reversibly bound to a binding agent.
9. A method as claimed in any of claims 2 to 8, characterised in that the markers are different lanthanide chelate becoming fluorescent only on activation and the fluorescence is estimated by time-resolved pulse fluorescence involving scanning with a high-intensity light beam.
10. An analytical device comprising an extended solid substrate bearing at a plurality of spaced-apart locations a plurality of different receptors each having binding sites on their molecule for an analyte, the receptor at any one location having binding sites specific for an analyte different from the analyte for which the receptor at one or more other locations has specific binding sites, each of the receptors being optionally labelled with a marker.
11. A kit for use in a method determining the concentration of an analyte in a liquid sample, said kit comprising a solid substrate having attached thereto molecules of a receptor labelled with a first, preferably fluorescent marker and having binding sites for an analyte, the amount of receptor on the substrate being selected according to the size of the liquid sample so that only an insignificant fraction of the analyte in the sample becomes bound to the receptor, one or more standard solutions containing known concentrations of the analyte and a back-titration reagent labelled with a second, preferably fluorescent marker different from the first and able to bind directly or indirectly either with the bound analyte or with the binding sites occupied by the bound analyte or to bind with the binding sites not occupied by the bound analyte.
12. A kit as claimed in claim 11, characterised in that it includes an analytical device as claimed in claim 10.