US 5,315,091 AGranted

Resistively heated sample preparation apparatus

AssigneeLeco Corporation

InventorsLarry S. O'Brien, Gordon C. Ford, Peter M. Willis, Robert S. Tate

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Abstract

An electrical resistance heated oven is used to heat a crucible to melt a sample and to simultaneously heat a casting dish into which the molten sample can be poured. The oven is cooled with the crucible and casting dish within the oven in order to prepare a sample bead for analysis. In another embodiment of the invention the sample is again melted in a crucible and after melting the crucible is moved out of the oven and turned to pour the molten sample into an acid solution positioned external to the oven. The crucible and sample can be moved while in the oven to mix the sample. The method of preparing an analytical sample using the electrical resistance heated oven is also disclosed.

Claims18

Dependent claims

An apparatus for the preparation for analytical samples comprising:

a frame member;
an oven on said frame member, said oven having a top member and a bottom member joined together by opposite side members and a back member to form an enclosed structure having an open front;
a door member pivotally attached to said oven member for reversibly opening and closing the front of said oven;
at least one resistive heating element in said oven;
a crucible holder slidably mounted through a wall of said oven;
a casting dish holder slidably mounted through a wall of said oven;
and
a movable support member for said crucible holder and said casting dish holder, said movable support member being adapted to hold a crucible and a casting dish in said oven during the melting of a sample in a crucible and the subsequent pouring of the molten sample into a casting dish.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.