| abstract |
This invention relates to an automatic staining apparatus for staining many slide specimens such as tissue specimens by dipping them sequentially into a large number of chemical solution containers while they are mounted in a slide holder basket. n Conventional automatic staining apparatuses have a problem in the staining efficiency because a basket is attached manually to a clamp member of the apparatus, and also have another problem that remaining chemical solution cannot be sufficiently removed from slide specimens. n In order to solve these problems, an automatic staining apparatus according to the first present invention has the clamp member which can automatically engage with, and disengage from a basket, so that the staining efficiency is much improved. Preferred embodiment of the invention has a tilting mechanism for the clamp member, so that chemical solution is sufficiently removed from slide specimens. n Another automatic staining apparatus according to the second invention has n (an integer of 2 or more) clamp members, each of which is characterized by the same as the first invention, and (n-1) relay stations inside the apparatus, so that a basket can be relayed automatically from one clamp member to another inside the apparatus and staining can be carried out for maximum n baskets at same time and independently from each other. Therefore, the rate of operation of staining apparatus is substantially maximum n-times. Preferred embodiments of the second invention also has a tilting mechanism for each clamp member, so that chemical solution is suffieciently removed. |