Device for examining biological specimens

Abstract

A device for reading and recording the sensitivity of a series of specimens wherein a test plate is inoculated with a series of specimen organisms at predetermined spaced sites thereon, incubated, and the clone at each site examined to determine whether the organism is sensitive or resistant to the test antibiotic or positive or negative with respect to a test biochemical having a frame, a mount for a plurality of test plates arranged in a predetermined pattern, mounting means for mounting said mount in said frame for movement along an X axis and Y axis, control means for moving said mount in said mounting means along the X axis and the Y axis, a viewing plate on said frame above said mount, a viewing system for each plate on said mount terminating in a viewing opening at said viewing plate for viewing the specimens one at a time on its respective plate in said mount, said control means being adapted to move said mount in said mounting means as aforesaid with preset sequential incremental movements to move each of the series of specimens and each plate into the field of its respective viewing system in turn for viewing through said lens system which incorporates the improvement of a positive signal terminal on said plate adjacent each viewing opening of said viewing means, a negative signal terminal on said plate adjacent each viewing opening of said viewing means, manually operable means for actuating said positive and said negative signal terminals, means for transmitting signals from said positive signal terminal and from said negative signal terminal to signal recording means, and means on said viewing plate for indicating when a signal from said positive or said negative signal terminal has been transmitted to said recording means by said means for transmitting signals.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.