Akzo Nobel N.v.

Biomerieux, Inc.

William Adcox

Lanny V Grade

Gregory S Lee

A bottle retaining mechanism holds a culture bottle in place in a cell in an incubating apparatus which agitates the culture bottle and detects the growth of microorganisms in the culture bottle. When a bottle is not present in the cell of the apparatus, the retaining mechanism moves to a position which reflects light from the light emitter to the light detector in an amount greater than the amount of light reflected off of a bottle when present, so as to indicate when a bottle is not present in a cavity of the bottle holder. The retaining mechanism/reflectance flag also is capable of providing a reference signal for auto-calibration purposes. The amount of light reflected from the retaining mechanism/reflectance flag to the light detector in a cell when no bottle is present can be monitored in order to detect changes in the cell. By monitoring such changes in the empty cell, drift from the original cell calibration can be monitored. Based on the magnitude of the measured changes, small changes could be compensated for, whereas large changes could indicate that a cell must be replaced.

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Lexington, OK, United States of America

William Adcox