Coulter Counter-Model A
date: label: date made
content: ca 1973
name: label: maker
content: Coulter Electronics, Inc.
label: inventor
content: Coulter, Wallace H.
notes: label: Description
content: In 1949, Wallace H. Coulter discovered a method for detecting and counting particles suspended in a fluid medium, later named the Coulter principle. Forcing a particle-filled fluid through a small aperture in an electrical current modulated the current, allowing Coulter to count the number of particles in the fluid. Coulter patented his Coulter Counter in patent number 2,656,508, a “Means for Counting Particles Suspended in a Fluid” on October 20, 1953, with an improvement filed in 1956 that added a manometer to move a precise volume of fluid through an aperture. In 1958, Wallace and Joseph Coulter established Coulter Electronics, Inc. to pursue commercial applications of their Coulter Counter. This Coulter Counter Model A was used during the 1970s and 1980s at the Animal Care Facility at the University of California, San Francisco. The Coulter Counter has a wide range of applications in medicine and science, most importantly in determining red and white blood cell counts.
label: Description
content: Ref: “Wallace Coulter, 85, Inventor of Medical Diagnostic Tools,” New York Times (Aug. 17, 1998), p. A13.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition
content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of University of California Medical Center, Animal Care Facility (through Joseph Spinelli, D.V.M.)
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0248.01
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0248.01
label: accession number
content: 1987.0248
objectType: label: Object Name
content: blood cell counter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: electronics (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 50.7 cm x 41 cm x 24.5 cm; 19 15/16 in x 16 1/8 in x 9 5/8 in