Patent ID: 7373847

Claim:
An analytical apparatus arranged to carry out automatically a plurality of analytical steps during thermal desorption of a sample, which apparatus includes: a releasing device for releasing a sample from a sampling tube to provide a released sample; analyser for analysing a first portion of the released sample; a re-collection device for collecting a second portion of the released sample; a re-release device for re-releasing the collected said second portion of the released sample that has been collected to provide a re-released portion of the sample for archiving or further analysis, wherein the second portion of the sample released is re-collected in one of the following re-collection devices: a) either in the sampling tube or b) a single collecting tube or trap which is used to collect, in turn, the second portion of the sample released from each of a plurality of sampling tubes or c) respective collecting tubes are used to collect the second portion of each of the released samples, with each of said respective collecting tubes being selected automatically from a plurality of tubes stored either in the same autosampler as the sampling tubes or in a further autosampler.