Microtome having specimen retraction means

Abstract

A microtome provided with a drive wheel mounted in a stand, to be actuated manually and/or by means of a drive motor for generating a vertical relative movement between a specimen holder and a cutting knife, has a specimen holder, having a specimen clamping mechanism, arranged so as to be horizontally displaceable in a vertically drivable guide mechanism by means of a cutting-thickness adjustment mechanismn. The adjustment mechanism can horizontally displace the specimen holder through a cutting thickness adjustment distance towards the cutting knife. A specimen retraction mechanism serves to displace horizontally the specimen holder from an unretracted position to a retracted position, the retracted position being further from the cutting knife than the unretracted position. The distance between the retracted position and the unretracted position is greater than the maximum cutting thickness adjustment distance.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.