Abstract: An evaporation apparatus including a vessel defining an opening at the top thereof and forming an evaporation chamber to hold a liquid composition; a condenser assembly disposed above and hermetically sealed to the vessel and having a wall defining a condensation chamber communicating with the evaporation chamber through the opening, an accumulator for receiving liquid condensed on the wall, and a drain for removing liquid received by the accumulator; a fluid drive disposed above the condenser assembly and adapted to produce fluid flow downwardly through the condensation chamber and into contact with the liquid composition in the evaporation chamber and then upwardly into the condensation chamber; a heating mechanism for heating the liquid composition in the evaporation chamber so as to cause evaporation thereof; and a cooling means for cooling the wall so as to produce condensation thereon of vapor included in the fluid flowing upwardly from the evaporation chamber.

Abstract: A robot system having various work stations and control means which allows recognition of the identity, position and geometry of a plurality of the work stations and assures movement of a robot manipulator among the work stations without its colliding with them even if new work stations are substituted for original work stations or if work stations of substantially different geometry are moved from one position to another. In a particularly advantageous aspect of the invention, the control means of the robot system derives its operating and clearing procedures from information fed to it from intelligence, or code, that is specifically associated with each of the work stations. This arrangement allows rapid set up of a laboratory robot to perform any of a large number of combinations of events.

Abstract: Apparatus for measuring changes in a physical property of a flowing fluid, including a cell through which the fluid flows, the cell having an inlet and an outlet, an inlet tube connected to the inlet of the cell, for delivering the flowing fluid to the cell, and an outlet tube connected to the outlet of the cell, for transporting the flowing fluid away from the cell, the inlet and outlet tubes being mounted in heat-exchanging relationship with each other, so as to transfer heat between the incoming and outgoing fluid and thereby reduce any temperature difference between the incoming fluid and the cell.