Patent ID: 8703054

Claim:
A mechanism for selecting a direction of an analytical tool, the mechanism comprising: a passage along which a plate-shaped analytical tool is moved, the passage having downwardly open outlet, the analytical tool being, discharged from the outlet of the passage with a leading edge of the analytical tool directed downward and with a trailing edge of the analytical tool directed upward; a support providing a horizontal movement path below the outlet of the passage; a horizontally movable block disposed on the support below the outlet of the passage and mounted for reciprocal movement along the horizontal movement path in a first horizontal direction and a second horizontal direction opposite to the first horizontal direction, the horizontally movable block being arranged to move the analytical tool in the first horizontal direction; and a sensor that is utilised to determine whether the drop face of the analytical tool onto which a drop sample is dispensed will be facing in the first horizontal direction or the second horizontal direction when the analytical tool is in the erect posture on the horizontally movable block; wherein, when the horizontally movable block is directly below an outlet of the passage, the analytical tool from the passage is discharged onto the horizontally movable block with an erect posture in which the leading edge of the analytical tool engages the horizontally movable block while the trailing edge of the analytical tool engages the outlet of the passage, the horizontally movable block with the analytical tool in the erect posture thereon is moved in the first horizontal direction or moved in the second horizontal direction and then in the first horizontal direction in accordance with the determination result obtained b the sensor so as to cause the analytical tool to he placed in a horizontal condition on the horizontally movable block.