The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 01, 1977
Filed:
Apr. 02, 1976
John E Horne, Hyattsville, MD (US);
Tousimis Research Corporation, Rockville, MD (US);
Abstract
A critical point drying apparatus for sample preparation in electron microscopy is automated to proceed in order through multiple operational modes in drying the specimen. These modes are: precooling, in which a specimen chamber is cooled; starting, in which the specimen chamber is filled with liquid CO.sub.2 : purging, in which a limited amount of CO.sub.2 passes through the specimen chamber; heating, in which the specimen chamber is heated to elevate pressure to the critical pressure and heat the specimen to the critical temperature; bleeding, in which the specimen chamber is depressurized to atmospheric pressure at a very slow rate; and finishing, in which the chamber is vented and an indicator signals the end of the drying operation. These steps are automatically activated in sequence when desired mode conditions are met or can be selectively controlled in a manual mode.