Patent ID: 8408860
Filing Date: 2013-04-02
Classification: C12M

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for orientating a solid growth culture medium plate from an original orientation to a worked orientation, the plate having a lid and a bottom, the apparatus including: an orientation mechanism that includes opposed jaws able to receive and hold a plate therebetween in a held position that defines a notional tube above and below the plate, one of the jaws including a plate-bottom gripping device and being rotatably mounted on a jaw support member such that the plate bottom rotates about a generally horizontal axis that intersects the notional tube to orientate the plate bottom from the original orientation to the worked orientation, the other jaw including a lid-gripping device that retains the lid in its original orientation during rotation of the plate bottom; and a plate platform having a plate clamping member able to receive, from the orientation mechanism, the plate bottom in its worked orientation, wherein the original orientation of the plate is an inverted orientation with its lid lowermost and its bottom uppermost.