Patent ID: 7587952

Claim:
An automated sampling system comprising: a conveyor; a sample carrier positioned on the conveyor and comprising: a top wall having two sets of generally parallel openings formed therein, each of the openings being dimensioned to receive a sample tube therethrough; a base defining two sets of generally parallel sample tube holding areas, each of the sample tube holding areas corresponding to one of the openings in the top wall and adapted to hold a sample tube in a substantially fixed, vertical orientation therebelow; a support wall joining the top wall and the base, wherein the two sets of sample tube holding areas are located on opposite sides of the support wall; and a plurality of sample tubes, wherein each of the two sets of sample tube holding areas holds a subset of the plurality of sample tubes; a drip shield in fixed position above the conveyor and comprising: a cover plate; a fin depending from the cover plate and constructed and arranged to limit vertical movement of the sample carrier when it is positioned beneath the drip shield; and one or more through-holes formed in the cover plate on each side of the fin, the through-holes being operatively aligned with the plurality of sample tubes held on opposite sides of the support wall as the sample carrier is indexed by the conveyor under the cover plate, each of the through-holes being sized to provide vertical passage by a robotic pipettor; and a robotic pipettor operatively positioned for accessing the contents of sample tubes located beneath the through-holes.