Vacutainer

A vacutainer blood collection tube is a sterile glass or plastic test tube with a colored rubber stopper creating a vacuum seal inside of the tube, facilitating the drawing of a predetermined volume of liquid. Vacutainer tubes may contain additives designed to stabilize and preserve the specimen prior to analytical testing. Tubes are available with a safety-engineered stopper, with a variety of labeling options and draw volumes. The color of the top indicates the additives in the vial.

Vacutainer tubes were invented by Joseph Kleiner in 1949. Vacutainer is a registered trademark of Becton Dickinson, which manufactures and sells the tubes today.