Stacking device for microtiter plates

A device (11) configured for receiving, stacking, and removing microtiter plates (15) comprising a container (43) or a container (43) with a lid (41), the device comprising:

• a tower (13) for stacking a plurality of microtiter plates (15) on top of each other in a stack, the tower having a cross section suitable to hold the microtiter plates and restrict lateral movement of the stack of microtiter plates,
• a retaining device (27) at the lower end of the tower, which has an upper retaining tool (33) and a lower retaining tool (35), wherein the upper retaining tool (33) is located above the lower retaining tool (35) and configured to selectively hold a microtiter plate (15) in a form-fitting manner to prevent downward movement of the microtiter plate and support the weight of all the microtiter plates stacked on the microtiter plate, and the lower retaining tool (35) is configured to fix the lowest microtiter plate in place in the lower retaining tool (35) by frictionally engaging sidewalls of the lowest microtiter plate;
• and
• a slide bar (45) attached to the retaining device (27) which triggers the movements of the two retaining tools (33, 35), wherein the slide bar (45) is placed on the retaining device (27) and is connected to the two retaining tools (33, 35) such that the slide bar (45) triggers the movement of the upper retaining tool (33) in a first step, and triggers the movement of the lower retaining tool (35) in a second step.