Patent ID: 7666602

Claim:
A method for agitating the contents of a container, said method comprising: (a) rotating a turntable about an axis of rotation, said turntable having one or more container holders mounted thereon, at least one of said container holders having an open-ended container held therein; (b) simultaneously rotating each said container holder about an axis of rotation that is generally parallel to said axis of rotation of said turntable, whereby the rotational motion of said turntable about its axis of rotation combined with the rotational motion of said container holders about their respective axes of rotation is sufficient to agitate the fluid contents of a fluid-holding portion of said at least one open-ended container held thereby so that a solid support material present in the fluid contents is kept in suspension, wherein said fluid-holding portion of said at least one container consists of a cylindrical inner wall and a bottom wall, wherein the axes of rotation of said turntable and said at least one container holder have vertical orientations, and wherein the movement of said at least one container is limited to the rotations of said turntable and said at least one container holder about their respective axes of rotation; (c) selectively stopping the rotations of said at least one said container about said axes of rotation so as to position said at least one container in an operative location with respect to a fluid transfer probe; and (d) after stopping the rotations of said at least one container, withdrawing an amount of the fluid contents of said at least one container with the fluid transfer probe.