Patent ID: 7824613

Claim:
A system for transporting samples to and operating a bank of analytical instruments at least some of which include an automatic injector for delivering a liquid sample from a vial into the instrument, comprising a pneumatic conveyor using a gas as a propulsion fluid and including an inlet at a station, an outlet at selected ones of the automatic injectors and at least one conduit between the inlet and the outlets, an autoloader at the station including a removable tray having a large number of recesses for holding sample vials, a venturi having a low pressure inlet adjacent the tray for receiving a selected vial from one of the recesses, a power gas inlet and a high pressure outlet delivering the selected vial to the conveyor inlet for delivery to a selected one of the automatic injectors, and at least one computer communicating with at least some of the instruments and using information from the instrument as an input for controlling operation of the autoloader and conveyor.