Abstract: A decanting centrifuge for processing liquid material in cylindrical open-topped sample tubes supported on the rotor and movable from a first position with the open ends directed towards the rotor axis and a second position for decanting supernatant from the sample tubes under the influence of the centrifugal force. In the second position the sample tubes are horizontal or include a relatively small angle with the horizontal, and the radially outermost generatrix of the inner surface of the sample tubes is tangent to an imaginary circular cylindrical surface concentric with the rotor, the tangent point being spaced by a predetermined distance from the closed bottom end of the sample tubes, so that a predetermined volume is retained between the tangent point and the bottom end.

Abstract: An apparatus for continuously transmitting electrical energy or a fluid stream between a fixed terminal and a continuously rotating terminal through a flexible continuous transmission element, such as an electric cable or a tube, comprises three rotors having a common axis of rotation, namely an outer rotor, an intermediate rotor and an inner rotor. The outer and intermediate rotors are rotated at approximately equal speeds in opposite directions, and the inner rotor is driven by the torsionally rigid, filiform transmission element in the same direction as the intermediate rotor at a speed equal to twice the sum of the speeds of the outer and intermediate rotors. The transmission element extends between the fixed and rotating terminals in an outer bight supported by the outer rotor and an inner bight supported by the intermediate rotor and is rotatable about its own curvilinear axis relative to the rotors.