Abstract: A piercing station for piercing sample container caps or thick stoppers is provided. The cap piercing station utilizes a piercing blade having a generally Z-shape cross-section, a carriage assembly for moving the blade to pierce a cap on a container, an alignment block assembly for preventing the container from being lifted up by friction with the blade when the blade is being withdrawn from a pierced cap, and a latch assembly for latching the alignment block assembly when the blade is being withdrawn.

Abstract: A piercing station for piercing sample container caps or thick stoppers is provided. The cap piercing station utilizes a piercing blade having a generally Z-shaped cross-section, a carriage assembly for moving the blade to pierce a cap on a container, an alignment block assembly for preventing the container from being lifted up by friction with the blade when the blade is being withdrawn from a pierced cap, and a latch assembly for latching the alignment block assembly when the blade is being withdrawn.

Abstract: A piercing station for piercing sample container caps or thick stoppers is provided. The cap piercing station utilizes a piercing blade having a generally Z-shaped cross-section, a carriage assembly for moving the blade to pierce a cap on a container, an alignment block assembly for preventing the container from being lifted up by friction with the blade when the blade is being withdrawn from a pierced cap, and a latch assembly for latching the alignment block assembly when the blade is being withdrawn.

Abstract: A piercing station for piercing sample container caps or thick stoppers. The piercing station has a structural frame with two vertical guide rods. A carriage assembly is slidably mounted on the guide rods and is further driven to move up and down along the guide rods. The carriage assembly carries a blade holder, which in turn holds a piercing blade assembly. The blade assembly includes a center blade and two cross blades interlocked together, such that the blade assembly has a generally modified “H”-shaped cross section for piercing a cap on the sample container. Lubricant left in or on the sample container cap by the piercing station reduces the force required by the sample probe to penetrate thick stoppers for sample aspiration and level sensing. The “H”-shaped cut helps to equalize the pressure in the sample container during sampling, so that clot detection is more effective.

Abstract: A piercing station for piercing sample container caps or thick stoppers is provided. The cap piercing station utilizes a piercing blade having a generally Z-shaped cross-section, a carriage assembly for moving the blade to pierce a cap on a container, an alignment block assembly for preventing the container from being lifted up by friction with the blade when the blade is being withdrawn from a pierced cap, and a latch assembly for latching the alignment block assembly when the blade is being withdrawn.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for displaying capillary electrophoresis data wherein absorbance with respect to time is related to graphic values within a graphic range or scale of values and selected graphic values are displayed with respect to time. The selected graphic values may comprise a range hues, color saturation and/or brightness or may represent a monochromatic scale. The resulting representation may be horizontally aligned with the corresponding electrophoretogram absorbance values to provide both a quantitative value (electrophoretogram absorbance values) and qualitative (graphic stripe) display.