A Technician Loading or Replacing a Sample Vial or Reagent Line
About This Item
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.
- Identifier
- TP-ATA-1928
- Date
- Nov 1971
- Context
What's in the image:
- Main Device: This modular system features vertical columns of interchangeable analysis modules—each designed to perform a part of the testing sequence.
- Dual Circular Displays (Top Center): These are recording chart meters or analog readouts used to track measurements like absorbance or electrical conductivity over time.
- Tubing System (Lower Section): The technician is working with a network of glassware and flexible tubing, likely adjusting sample vials or reagent lines. Fluids would be drawn in, mixed with reagents, and passed through a detector for analysis.
- Glass Components: Including mixing chambers, bubble separators, and colorimetric flow cells—all critical in precise chemical quantification.
- Rotary Pump Module (Center): Likely used to keep the fluids flowing continuously through the system.
Credits:
Some technical descriptions and historical interpretations were developed with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model by OpenAI.
- Geographic Coverage
- San Francisco, CA
- Temporal Coverage
- 1970s
- Type
- Still Image
- Format
- Negative
- Source
- San Francisco State University Archives
- Rights
- Public
- Views
- 333
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