Patent ID: 7338199

Claim:
An apparatus for mixing of liquid substances or distribution of solid substances in liquid substances in a plurality of sample containers arranged in a microplate ( 7 ) that is supported on a horizontally displaceable support plate ( 2 ), incorporating a motor ( 3 ) provided with an unbalance and connected to said support plate, characterized in that the motor ( 3 ) is held via its stator ( 3 A) above a base ( 1 ) directly on the underside of the support plate ( 2 ), the rotational axis (D) of the rotor ( 3 B) being disposed perpendicular to the support plate ( 2 ), and that the support plate ( 2 ) with the motor ( 3 ) rests solely on at least three horizontally elastically movable bearing elements ( 6 ), whose points of attachment to the base ( 1 ) and to the support plate ( 2 ) are chosen such that the support plate ( 2 ) with the microplate ( 7 ) in the idle position assumes a specified position in the X-Y plane regardless of the position of the rotor ( 3 B) due to the reset force of the bearing elements ( 6 ), and in the shaking mode, as a result of the lateral, directionally identical deflection of the bearing elements ( 6 ) effected by the unbalance of the motor ( 3 ), performs a horizontal, non-torsional shaking movement against the reset force of the bearing elements, causing all sample containers of the microplate ( 7 ) to describe an identical orbit in the X-Y plane and an identical energy for mixing to be imparted to all sample containers.