Abstract: A blood smear slide outloader including a platen for transferring a succession of slides from a dryer to a slide storage basket. The slides are sequentially discharged from one end of the dryer onto a platen and held firmly in place by a gripper. A single stepper motor then rotates the platen to a vertical position as it lowers both into alignment above a slot in the storage basket. A linear actuator causes the gripper to release the slide and deposit it into the slot. The platen then returns to the discharge end of the dryer to receive the next slide.

Abstract: A self-adjusting pick-up tube assembly for aspirating liquid from containers of varying heights. Such assembly comprises (a) a platform member adapted to be positioned in contact with the bottom of a container when the pick-up tube is being used to aspirate liquid from such container; (b) a disk-shaped member adapted to be retained in a position proximate the container's liquid filling aperture when the pick-up tube is in use; (c) a flexible conduit interconnecting respective liquid passageways in the platform and disk-shaped members, and (d) a telescopic mount for enabling relative movement between the platform and disk-shaped members to accommodate containers of different height.