Patent ID: 8571177

Claim:
A goniometer-related assembly comprising: a goniometer base housing structured, sized, shaped and/or having material properties to make it suitable for use in X-ray crystallography, with the goniometer base housing including a stage attachment hardware set structured, located, sized and/or shaped to be detachably attached to a goniometer stage assembly, wherein the goniometer base housing is shaped to define a first axis, a first axial direction and a first angular direction; and a rod receiving hardware set that: is mechanically connected to the goniometer base housing, is sized, shaped, structured and/or located to releasably engage a sample-holding rod, and is further sized, shaped, structured and/or located so that when the sample-holding rod is engaged by the receiving hardware set, the receiving hardware set will positionally secure the engaged sample-holding rod to some degree such that the engaged sample-holding rod: (i) is secured against movement by forces and thermal affects normally encountered under standard x-ray crystallography operating conditions, and (ii) is freely positionally adjustable by a user, relative to the goniometer base housing, in at least the first axial direction.