Patent ID: 7132293

Claim:
An apparatus for processing samples under a reduced pressure, comprising: plural processing chambers for processing said samples under a reduced pressure; a buffer chamber also under a reduced pressure; sample support structure for receiving samples from the atmosphere while the buffer chamber is maintained under reduced pressure; barrier structure movable to permit said buffer chamber and said processing chambers to be in communication with, and be cut off from, each other; a first sample scooping member arranged in said buffer chamber which can perform rotary motion such that, after the processing of a sample in one processing chamber of the plural processing chambers, the first sample scooping member can rotationally move to said one processing chamber and take out the processed sample from said one processing chamber, and can also rotationally move from said one processing chamber to another processing chamber to transfer said processed sample to said another processing chamber of the plural processing chambers; a second sample scooping member, in addition to the first sample scooping member also arranged in said buffer chamber, and which can perform rotary motion to take out another sample from said sample support structure and transfer said another sample which has already been brought into said buffer chamber to said one processing chamber from which said processed sample has already been taken out; and a sample table in said one processing chamber, said sample table including a sample delivery member, and wherein said first sample scooping member and said sample delivery member are movable relative to each other such that a processed sample can be delivered from said sample delivery member to said first sample scooping member.