Patent ID: 8651045

Claim:
A device for orientating a plurality of laboratory sample cassettes each having a marking surface disposed on a main body of the cassette, the device comprising: an apparatus for both holding said cassette and marking the marking surface of said cassette; a mechanism configured to move one said cassette from the apparatus for both holding said cassette and marking the marking surface of said cassette; a rotatable structure having an opening for receiving said cassette from said mechanism and being rotatable so as to rotate the opening between a cassette receiving position and a cassette releasing position; at least one sensor to effect sensing and alignment of the cassette with the rotatable structure; a base; a guide for guiding said cassette to the rotatable structure so that the cassette can be received in the opening when the opening is in the cassette receiving position, the guide being arranged to guide said cassette so that the main body of the cassette is at an inclined angle to the base when the cassette reaches the rotatable structure; a storage member configured to receive a cassette from the rotatable structure opening when the opening is in its cassette releasing position, the storage member including a series of openings, each opening suitable for holding one said cassette; an indexer configured to move said storage member so that successive openings of the storage member are sequentially alignable with the opening of the rotatable structure when the opening is in its cassette releasing position; and a controller to effect control in movement of the cassette through the device.