Patent GB-780793-A (GB)
Title: Automatic immersion apparatus
IPC: G01N1/31
Filed: 1955-11-30
Abstract: 780,793. Preparing microscope specimens. TECHNICON INTERNATIONAL, Ltd. Nov. 30, 1955 [Dec. 9, 1954; Dec. 9, 1954], No. 34347/55. Class 97(1) [Also in Group XXX] In automatic immersion apparatus, e.g. for processing tissue, having a rotary conveyer which is movable up and down for transferring a tissue holder from one receptacle to another, the means for raising and lowering the conveyer includes a member, which is actuated intermittently during the transfer of the material holder, for holding the conveyer in raised position for a predetermin e d period of time over the receptacle from which the holder has been removed before the holder is moved laterally for transfer to the next receptacle. The receptacles. 32 stand on a ring 30 of the material known under the Registered Trade Mark " Bakelite " which is supported by a fixed disc 20, Fig. 6. Each receptacle, Fig. 2, has a front wall 34, a rear wall 36 and converging side walls 3b. The rear walls 36 abut against a casing 14. The receptacles are held in side-byside relation and prevented from moving vertically by the engagement of fingers 46, Fig. 3, which are secured to the casing, with narrower grooves 42 formed in the side walls 38. They are prevented from moving horizontally by spring stops which engage the outer walls. The receptacles, with the exception of the one (40) for the impregnating agent, are made of nylon, polytetrafluorethylene or polytrinuorochlorethylene. The receptacles are removed or inserted by gripping inset portions 58 in the side walls by the fingers. The material holders 60 have perforated side walls and are of substantially square cross-section. They are made of the same materials as the receptacles and are releasably connected by pins 71, Fig. 4, to brackets 62 depending from the conveyer part 26. These brackets pass through apertures 74 in a cover 72 for the receptacles which is carried by the conveyer. The receptacle 49 for the infiltrating agent, paraffin, is made of cast aluminium and is provided with electrical heating apparatus. The part 26 is connected to a vertically movable member 24 which is slidably, but non-rotatably, connected to an inner tubular member 112. This member 112 is mounted rotatably on a shaft 142 which is fixed to the plate 20. A collar 110 fixed to the tube 108 is engaged by a member 102 which is pivoted to a bracket 104. The part 102 is connected by a link 100 to a cramk which is driven by an electric motor. The output shaft 94 of the motor is connected through bevel gearing and a shaft 124 to a cam 128. This cam engages a follower 130 mounted on a pivoted member 132 carrying a roller 140 which is releasably engageable with the collar 110 for holding the member 24 in its raised position. When in its lowered position a continuously rotating cam 145 imparts a small vertical reciprocating movement to the conveyer to increase the action of the liauid agents on the tissues. The part 112 has a driving member 148 secured to it. This member is formed with spaced radial slots 152, Fig. 14, which are engaged in turn by a roller 160 mounted on a rotatable arm 154. When the roller is out of the slots, the member 148 is prevented from rotating by the engagement of a roller 166 with a slot. This roller is mounted on a pivoted member 162 which is moved clockwise to withdraw it by the part 158. Specifications 570,430 and 697,162 are referred to.