Patent ID: 8152906

Claim:
An apparatus for filtering sectioning wastes of a microtome that are present in an air stream, having an aspiration device with which sectioning waste can be aspirated from a blade region of the microtome with an air stream, the aspiration device comprising: a main filter in which the sectioning wastes can be filtered from the air; and a prefilter for prefiltering the sectioning wastes; wherein the prefilter is arranged between the blade region and the main filter; the prefilter comprises a filter insert or a filter region that has at least one of a mesh-, lattice- and hole-shaped structure, said structure being dimensioned so as to retain the typical sectioning wastes resulting during the microtome sectioning operation by the filter insert or filter region; the prefilter comprises a device for air stream reversal of the filter insert by means of which the filter insert is switched from a filtering mode in which sectioning wastes are filterable to an emptying mode in which the filter insert can be emptied to the main filter; the filter insert is rotatable or pivotable with regard to the air stream direction by means of the device for air reversal; and the filter insert is rotatable or pivotable by means of the device for air stream reversal about one of the rotational axes arranged substantially perpendicular and substantially parallel to the air stream direction in order to establish the air stream reversal of the filter insert.