Knife holder having a blade changing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9304064-B2
Application number	US-201313948250-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2013
Priority date	Aug 3, 2012
Publication date	Apr 5, 2016
Grant date	Apr 5, 2016

Abstract

The invention relates to a knife holder ( 100 ) having a blade changing apparatus ( 102 ). The knife holder has a first blade receptacle ( 111 ) defining a cutting position, a securing device ( 130, 141, 142 ) for securing a blade ( 201 ) received in the first blade receptacle ( 111 ), a second blade receptacle ( 112 ) defining an output position, and an ejection device ( 141, 143, 144 a ) for ejecting a blade ( 201 ) received in the first blade receptacle ( 111 ) out of the first blade receptacle ( 111 ). The first and the second blade receptacles are arranged in the knife holder in such a way that a blade ejected from the first blade receptacle ( 111 ) can travel by gravity into the second blade receptacle ( 112 ).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A knife holder ( 100 ) having a blade changing apparatus ( 101 ), the knife holder comprising:
a first blade receptacle ( 111 ) defining a cutting position;
a securing means ( 130 , 141 , 142 ) for securing a blade ( 201 ) received in the first blade receptacle ( 111 ),
a second blade receptacle ( 112 ) defining an output position; and
an ejection means ( 141 , 143 , 144 a ) for ejecting the blade ( 201 ) received in the first blade receptacle ( 111 ) out of the first blade receptacle ( 111 );
the first blade receptacle and the second blade receptacle being arranged in the knife holder in such a way that the blade ejected from the first blade receptacle ( 111 ) travels by gravity into the second blade receptacle ( 112 ).

2. The knife holder ( 100 ) according to claim 1 , the first blade receptacle ( 111 ) and the second blade receptacle ( 112 ) being arranged vertically spaced apart in the knife holder ( 100 ).

3. The knife holder ( 100 ) according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first mounting location for a blade supply container; and
a first driver ( 301 ) for conveying a first blade ( 201 ) out of the blade supply container ( 410 ) into the first blade receptacle ( 111 ),
wherein the blade supply container is mounted at the first mounting location.

4. The knife holder ( 100 ) according to claim 3 , the first mounting location being arranged with a horizontal spacing from the first receptacle ( 111 ).

5. The knife holder ( 100 ) according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a second mounting location for a blade disposal container ( 420 ); and
a second driver ( 302 ) for conveying a second blade ( 200 ) out of the second blade receptacle ( 112 ) into the blade disposal container ( 420 );
wherein the blade disposal container ( 420 ) is mounted at the second mounting location.

6. The knife holder ( 100 ) according to claim 5 , the second mounting location being arranged with a horizontal spacing from the second receptacle ( 112 ).

7. The knife holder ( 100 ) according to claim 6 , the first mounting location being arranged with a vertical spacing from the second mounting location.

8. The knife holder ( 100 ) according to claim 7 , the first mounting location and the second mounting location being arranged on the same side of the first blade receptacle and next to the first blade receptacle ( 111 ).

9. The knife holder ( 100 ) according to claim 5 , wherein the first driver ( 301 ) and the second driver ( 302 ) are coupled to a common driving mechanism ( 300 ), the common driving mechanism ( 300 ) being operable so that simultaneously the first blade ( 201 ) is conveyed out of the blade supply container ( 410 ) mounted at the first mounting location and conveyed into the first blade receptacle ( 111 ), and the second blade ( 200 ) is conveyed out of the second blade receptacle ( 112 ) into the blade disposal container ( 420 ) mounted at the second mounting location.

10. The knife holder ( 100 ) according to claim 1 , further comprising an actuation means ( 140 ) coupled to the securing means and to the ejection means, wherein the actuation means is operable to actuate both the securing means and the ejection means.

11. The knife holder ( 100 ) according to claim 10 , the actuation means ( 140 ) being a lever to be actuated manually.

Assignees

• Leica Biosystems Nussloch Gmbh

Inventors

• Walter Roland

Classifications

• Y10T483/17

  including machine tool or component · CPC title

• Y10S83/954

  Knife changing · CPC title

• Y10T83/6492

  Plural passes of diminishing work piece through tool station · CPC title

• Y10T83/6499

  Work rectilinearly reciprocated through tool station · CPC title

• G01N1/06 Primary

  providing a thin slice, e.g. microtome · CPC title