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Centrifuge with pivot-out, easy-load processing chamber

  • US 5,551,942 A
  • Filed: 12/22/1993
  • Issued: 09/03/1996
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/22/1993
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A centrifuge comprisinga yoke element including a base, a pair of arms extending from the base defining a space between the arms, a cross member, a hinge coupling the cross member to one of the arms for pivoting the cross member about the hinge between an operating position, in which the cross member extends across the space between the arms, and an access position, in which the cross member is cantilevered from the hinge outside the space between the arms,a drive mechanism coupled to the base of the yoke element to rotate the yoke element about a rotational axis,a processing chamber carried by the cross member for rotation about an axis and for pivoting with the cross member about the hinge between the operating position and the access position, the processing chamber including a bowl element having a wall defining an interior area, a spool element having an exterior surface, and a mechanism joining the spool and bowl elements for movement between a mutually cooperating position, in which the spool element is enclosed within the interior area of the bowl element to define the processing chamber between the bowl element wall and the exterior spool surface, and a mutually separated position, in which the spool element is at least partially out of the interior area of the bowl element to expose the exterior spool surface for access, andthe cross member, when in the operating position, orienting the spool and bowl elements in the space between the arms with the processing chamber axis oriented generally coaxial with the rotational axis for rotation with the yoke element about the rotational axis, and the cross member, when in the access position, orienting the spool and bowl elements outside the space between the arms and outside the rotational axis for movement from the mutually cooperating position into the mutually separated position.

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