Knife holder for a microtome
AssigneeMicrom International GmbH
InventorHans Heid
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A knife holder for a microtome has a plate arranged pivotably on its base member, which, in its functional position, covers the cutting edge of the knife and is spaced apart from the cutting plane towards the side of the knife holder remote from the specimen. The plate is also spaced apart from the knife holder on the side of the cutting edge of the knife. The plate precludes gripping of the cutting edge of the knife and a pivoting mechanism for the plate is coupled to a switch. When the plate is pivoted out of the functional position, the motor drive of the cutting movement is locked, or a brake precludes any movement of the knife slide or specimen slide. The plate preferably consists of a transparent material to permit observation of section removal in the functional position.
Claims11
A microtome knife device for use by an operator to slice-off a thin section from a specimen, the thin section having a substantially uniform thickness on the order of microns, the device comprising:
- a support base;
- a knife-cooperating with-said support base, said knife having a cutting edge defining a cutting plane;
- a specimen holder on which the specimen is mounted;
- means, mounted to said support base, for moving said specimen holder parallel to said cutting plane and towards said cutting edge to slice-off the section from the specimen;
- and
- a guard plate cooperating with said support base and having a front face disposed parallel to and at a separation of not more than 2 mm from said cutting plane during slicing of the specimen, said guard plate having a front edge spaced apart from and extending substantially parallel to said cutting edge, wherein said guard plate, said knife, said support base, and said specimen holder are disposed, structured and dimensioned to prevent a finger of the operator from coming into contact with said knife edge during slicing of the thin section while avoiding any contact between said plate and the specimen and between said plate and the thin section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.