Patent ID: 7578383

Claim:
A specimen transport system for transporting a specimen, comprising: a preceding section; a succeeding section located apart from the preceding section; a conveyor-type rack transport mechanism attached to each of the preceding section and the succeeding section and configured to transport a rack capable of holding a plurality of specimen containers which contain the specimen; and a car configured to travel between the preceding section and the succeeding section and provided with a conveyor-type rack transport mechanism configured to transport the rack capable of holding a plurality of specimen containers, wherein the rack is configured to be moved from the preceding section to the car by feed motions of the preceding section and the rack transport mechanism of the car in a preceding mode such that the rack is located on the rack transport mechanism of the preceding section and such that the car adjoins the preceding section, and wherein the rack is configured to be moved from the car to the succeeding section by feed motions of the rack transport mechanism of the car and the rack transport mechanism of the succeeding section in a succeeding mode such that the rack is located on the rack transport mechanism of the car and such that the car adjoins the succeeding section.