Method and apparatus for equilibrating gas and liquid in a transportable vessel--syringe tonometer
 Method and apparatus for gas-liquid equilibration (tonometry) in a transportable vessel. Specifically the method and device is concerned with tonometry of blood or buffer solution in a syringe. The compartment formed when a syringe plunger is partially inserted into a syringe barrel serves as a tonometer chamber where gas of known composition is bubbled through a liquid sample. Gas enters the chamber through small holes in the tip of the syringe plunger and bubbles upward through the sample. The syringe plunger itself is a second chamber which is used for heating and humidifying the gas prior to entering the tonometer chamber. The entire syringe is housed in a temperature controlled environment during equilibration. This environment allows observation of the entire tonometry process. After equilibration the syringe tonometer is easily removed from the heat controlled environment and is used as the sample's transport vessel. The syringe configuration allows easy entry of the sample into the target sytem, e.g. a blood gas analyzer. 
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Y10T G01N G01N
additional inventional additional
Justin S. Frederick L. Christopher A. William D.
Clark Farr Cutler Wallace