Apparatus wherein a body includes a passageway having one end adapted to receive the neck of a container and the other end in communication with a closure magazine, and a roller mounted in the body generally tangential to the passageway for rolling engagement with a closure, the roller being configured with a reduced region for passing a closure into generally tangential relation, roller rotation in opposite directions serving to tangentially rotate a closure to closed and opened relation upon opposite directional roller rotation, respectively.

A method and device for opening and closing vials includes a rack for supporting a plurality of vials, a first arrangement for sequentially lifting a cap from each of the supported vials, an upwardly sloping bar for raising each cap from its respective vial, a downwardly sloping bar for lowering each cap onto its respective vial, and a second arrangement for closing each cap onto its respective vial.

A hermetically sealed vial for liquids is provided by the present invention. The liquid can be a calibrant or a reference fluid for gas analysis where the liquid has dissolved gas or medication or medicaments. The vial is a glass container means with at least one opening. The dimensions of the opening range from that which is just effective for the addition and removal of fluids to that which is the smallest side of the container. A flange circumferentially extends about the opening. The vial has the liquid that does not fill the vial to leave room for a head space. The head space is present in an amount of the volume percent of the vial ranging from 1 to 99 compared to the amount of the liquid. The vial is sealed with an air impermeable bilaminate seal comprised of an adhesive polymer contacting the vial and a metal surface facing externally from the vial. Before the vial is sealed by heat or induction sealing a securing means like a cap or chemical coupling agents are used to hold the seal on the vial. When the cap is a snap cap a gasket can be present between the cap and the seal. The vials can be sterilized and processed as a plurality of vials during heat and induction sealing and optionally sterilization depending on the application.

An automatic decapper removes caps from capped test tubes by gripping the cap on a test tube with the upper grippers and holding the cap stationary while the test tube is rotated and translated downward with lower grippers. In a preferred embodiment, the upper grippers comprise three jaws coupled to a cam to be moved, as appropriate, from a first position in which a test tube cap may be inserted between the jaws to a second position in which the jaws grip the inserted cap. The upper grippers are mounted to a decapping arm that is pivotable between a first position above the lower grippers, in which the decapping takes place, to a second position above the exterior of the decapper, where it remains while the test tube is inserted into or removed from the lower grippers and where a removed cap may be released into a container for disposal or reuse. The lower grippers comprise a pair of lever arms for holding the test tube. The lower grippers form part of a rotatable assembly that moves up towards the upper grippers and down away from the upper grippers along a lead screw. A pair of half-gears mounted at a fixed vertical position are used to separate the lever arms for insertion and removal of the test tube when the rotatable assembly is vertically positioned with the lever arms adjacent the half-gears. An ultrasonic sensor may be positioned on the decapping arm above the upper grippers to detect the liquid level of the sample in the test tube after the cap has been removed and the decapping arm is returned to its first position. A liquid sensor comprising a prism and two fiber optic cables is mounted in a reservoir under lower grippers and is used to detect if there has been spillage from a test tube in the lower grippers.