An article for performing a reaction includes a reagent well having a side wall, a bottom wall and an open upper end. A lyophilized reagent is retained within the well by a non-integral retention feature that is inserted into the open upper end of the well and fixed to a side wall above the reagent. An opening in the retention feature is smaller than the diameter of the reagent, but is sized to permit a pipette tip to be inserted into the well. The retention feature may be a collar fixed to the side wall and may include fingers extending axially into the well. The well and the retention feature may be correspondingly tapered. A method for reconstituting a lyophilized reagent includes the steps of drawing into a pipette tip attached to an automated pipettor an amount of a diluent and dispensing the diluent into the reagent well to thereby reconstitute the lyophilized reagent.

A sealing system for food applications that provides a housing element with two or more bolts and respective holes for clamping. A flanged element is clamped to a frame of a machine, and a rubber seal placed along the base perimeter of the housing element. The seal includes a first portion of the rubber profile placed in the areas distant from the holes and a second portion of the rubber profile adjacent to the holes. The rubber profile of the second portion has a larger cross section than that of the first portion, such that the deformations of the rubber profile are made virtually uniform to prevent the formation of fractures, and therefore of bacteria traps, in the rubber.

Systems and methods for preserving oxidizable substances such as liquids or foodstuffs are disclosed. These systems incorporate a sealing device and an oxygen scavenging chemical or agent coupleable to or contained within the system. The oxygen scavenging agent can remove the oxygen from the headspace of a container such as a bottle of wine without reducing the pressure in the headspace to the extent that the flavor of the wine is adversely affected.

Drinking bottle closures include a sealing portion, an upper side that may bear indicia, and a retained magnet. The magnet may be retained in a cavity of the closure separated from the sealing portion by a seamless barrier. The sealing portion may include a frictionally retained male tapered plug or a radially compressible, gripping female cap liner to fit one or multiple bottle opening sizes. In a method of use, the cap may be retained on a magnetically attracted surface until used to close and identify a drinking bottle. The magnetically attracted surface may be a plate connected to a mount for connecting the magnetic surface to a non-magnetic surface.

Reusable drinking bottle closures, and methods and systems for storing and using the same, are provided. The drinking bottle closures include a sealing portion, an upper side that may bear indicia, and a magnet retained in fixed relation to the sealing portion and the upper side. The magnet may be retained in a cavity of the closure separated from the sealing portion by a seamless barrier, such as a unitary body comprised at least partially in the sealing portion. The sealing portion may fit one or multiple bottle opening sizes. Multiple opening sizes may be accommodated by a frictionally retained tapered plug feature for sealing insertion into a bottle opening, or an end sealing feature operating in conjunction with a separate retention feature, such as a radially compressible cap liner configured to grip bottle threads in an interference fit. The end sealing feature may be a downward-facing compressible ring or disc on a lower side of the closure. In a method of use, the cap may be retained on a magnetically attracted surface until used to close and identify a drinking bottle. The magnetically attracted surface may be part of an existing wall, fixture, or movable article, or it may be a component of a closure storage system according to the invention, such as a plate connected to a mount for connecting the magnetic surface to a non-magnetic surface, such as a pushpin, suction cup, hook-and-loop fastener patch, snap, button, fabric with a button-hole, adhesive, or hole in the surface itself.

Reusable drinking bottle closures, and methods and systems for storing and using the same, are provided. The drinking bottle closures include a sealing portion, an upper side that may bear indicia, and a magnet retained in fixed relation to the sealing portion and the upper side. The magnet may be retained in a cavity of the closure separated from the sealing portion by a seamless barrier, such as a unitary body comprised at least partially in the sealing portion. The sealing portion may fit one or multiple bottle opening sizes. Multiple opening sizes may be accommodated by a frictionally retained tapered plug feature for sealing insertion into a bottle opening, or an end sealing feature operating in conjunction with a separate retention feature, such as a radially compressible cap liner configured to grip bottle threads in an interference fit. The end sealing feature may be a downward-facing compressible ring or disc on a lower side of the closure. In a method of use, the cap may be retained on a magnetically attracted surface until used to close and identify a drinking bottle. The magnetically attracted surface may be part of an existing wall, fixture, or movable article, or it may be a component of a closure storage system according to the invention, such as a plate connected to a mount for connecting the magnetic surface to a non-magnetic surface, such as a pushpin, suction cup, hook-and-loop fastener patch, snap, button, fabric with a button-hole, adhesive, or hole in the surface itself.

A stopper has a head part and a stopper part. The stopper part extends from the head part to a lower end and has flanges, between the head part and the lower end, that have different diameters that increase from the head part to the lower end of the stopper part. A container has a mouth and neck and shoulder inner surfaces. The stopper part is inserted into the container through the mouth, the head part remains outside the mouth, at least one of the flanges proximate neck sealingly engages the neck inner surface, and at least one of the flanges proximate to the shoulder sealing engages the shoulder inner surface. A fluid tube is retained by the stopper. The fluid tube extends from an inlet within the container outwardly through the mouth to an outlet outside the container.

A receptacle includes an upper portion having a cylindrical portion and an open end and a lower portion depending from the upper portion, where the lower portion is tapered and has a closed bottom end. The receptacle may include a radially-extending annular ring with a flat or sloped bottom surface and disposed on an outer surface of the receptacle at a transition between the upper portion and the lower portion and/or a radially-projecting lip circumscribing the open end, which may be configured for inter-locking engagement with a mated cap inserted into the open end of the upper portion. Embodiments may include one or more longitudinally-oriented grooves formed in an inner surface of the upper portion. The receptacle may be a unitary plastic structure.

A lid for an open top beverage container such as a paper cup with a is formed as a generally disk shaped body with curved slot opening in the body and an air inlet hole in the body. The peripheral edge of the disk has a plurality of annular abutment sealing rings at axially spaced locations along the axis with all of the things including an uppermost ring and typically two lower rings all lying on an imaginary generally conical surface surrounding the axis so that the rings in use engage the generally conical inside surface of the beverage container at a position thereon spaced downwardly from an upper edge of the beverage container for sealing against the inside surface so that the lid slides down into the container and creates a seal inside the container allowing the beverage container to be taken mobile.