Patent ID: 6827900
Filing Date: 2004-12-07
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
In an automatic stainer for staining specimens that are arranged on specimen slides and embedded in a medium, said stainer comprising a plurality of reagent containers arranged one after another to successively receive said specimen slides for treating said specimens, a plurality of transport baskets each carrying one or more of said specimen slides such that said plurality of transport baskets can be received simultaneously each in a different one of said plurality of reagent containers, a motorized transport mechanism having a lifting device for simultaneously lifting said plurality of transport baskets out of said reagent containers and transporting said plurality of transport baskets into successive reagent containers, the improvement comprising:a heating station arranged before said plurality of reagent containers for heating said specimen slides and melting said embedding medium, said heating station having at least two melting containers each for simultaneously receiving more than one of said plurality of transport baskets, said at least two melting containers arranged next to one another, and wherein said heating station further has a controller for adjusting the temperature in said at least two melting chambers, and the temperature in each of said two melting containers can be adjusted separately by way of said controller.