Vibrating Microtome With Automated Measurement Of Vertical Runout

A measuring device for using with a vibrating microtome comprising a knife adapted to vibrate in a direction parallel to a section plane and substantially parallel to a cutting edge of the knife, the measuring device comprising:

• a light barrier into which the cutting edge is placeable, for measurement of a transverse offset of the cutting edge during its lateral vibratory motion as a consequence of a potentially present inclination of the cutting edge with respect to the section plane, the light barrier being oriented in a direction parallel to the section plane and the cutting edge partially covering a light beam of the light barrier, wherein a fluctuation over time of a measured signal (tpm) derived from the light barrier, said fluctuation occurring because of the vibration of the knife, is used to determine the transverse offset;
• and
• an electronic measurement system (C-3) configured to accept at least one control application signal (pklo, pkhi) that describes a time course of the vibration of the knife, and to perform a determination of the transverse offset of the cutting edge based on values of the measured signal (tpm) at points in time determined from said control application signal (pklo, pkhi).