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:
Jul. 23, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 24, 1994
Paul E Bacchi, Novato, CA (US);
Manuel J Robalino, San Francisco, CA (US);
Kensington Laboratories, Inc., Richmond, CA (US);
Abstract
A tiltable specimen holder (48) in an apparatus (46) for performing an automated operation on a selected one of multiple specimens (12) contained in a specimen carrier (10) has a receiving member (60) that, when oriented in a load position (48C; FIG. 10), receives the carrier from, or presents the carrier to, the hand (108) of a human being (110) without substantial flexure of the human being's wrists (112). The holder also has a bottom member (62) that cooperates with the receiving member and a support member (32, 34) of the carrier to place and hold the carrier in a predetermined alignment relative to the receiving member. The receiving member has beveled edges (84, 86, 88) that cooperate with a guide member (28, 30) of the carrier to guide the carrier to self-align into grooves (90, 92) defined by the beveled edges. Rollers (94) in the grooves cooperate with the guide members to guide the carrier to the predetermined alignment. The holder with the carrier installed is tilted among the load position, a hold position, and an operating position (48A, 48B; FIGS. 6A-9). The holder is also useful in applications that use automated machinery to load the carrier into, or to remove it from, the holder.