A Technician Loading or Replacing a Sample Vial or Reagent Line (Updated last month)

You can view this bundle in the SFSU Over the Years collection area.

A technician loading or replacing a sample vial or reagent line—he's holding a vial/tube and inserting it into the fluid pathway. The machine in the photo is most likely a continuous flow analyzer, also known as an autoanalyzer—a device used widely in chemistry and biology labs during the mid-to-late 20th century for automated chemical analysis of fluids, especially in clinical and environmental applications.

Tags: faculty, staff, and administration , historic technology

Added to SFSU Over the Years on September 1, 2026.

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Information

  • Identifier: TP-ATA-1928
  • Date: Nov 1971
  • Context: <p><strong>What's in the image:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Main Device: </strong>This modular system features vertical columns of interchangeable analysis modules&mdash;each designed to perform a part of the testing sequence.</li> <li><strong>Dual Circular Displays (Top Center): </strong>These are<strong> recording chart meters </strong>or<strong> analog readouts </strong>used to track measurements like absorbance or electrical conductivity over time.</li> <li><strong>Tubing System (Lower Section): </strong>The technician is working with a network of <strong>glassware and flexible tubing, </strong>likely adjusting sample vials or reagent lines<strong>. </strong>Fluids would be drawn in, mixed with reagents, and passed through a detector for analysis<strong>.</strong></li> <li><strong>Glass Components: </strong>Including <strong>mixing chambers, bubble separators, and colorimetric flow cells</strong>&mdash;all critical in precise chemical quantification<strong>.</strong></li> <li><strong>Rotary Pump Module (Center): </strong>Likely used to keep the fluids flowing continuously through the system.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p style="caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none;"><strong>Credits:</strong>&nbsp;</p> <p style="caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none;">Some technical descriptions and historical interpretations were developed with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model by OpenAI.</p>
  • Geographic Coverage: San Francisco, CA
  • Temporal Coverage: 1970s
  • Type: Still Image
  • Format: Negative
  • Source: San Francisco State University Archives
  • Rights: Public

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