Emily,
It's probably a small vacuum inlet that opens and closes under the antiroll plate, and it's likely adjustable so you can have a small amount of vacuum flowing while you're cutting to flatten out the sections under the antiroll plate. This has been an optional feature on the Microm/Richard-Allan/Thermo/Fisher/Whoevertheyaretoday cryostats for a couple of years.
I don't know about the new Leica, but the Microm/etc. vacuum systems tend to clog up when they're used for waste removal (using the vacuum to remove all of the section debris that would normally collect in and around the microtome). Sooner or later the frozen sections reach an area in the vacuum tube where it's room temp, the OCT thaws, gets sticky and you have to go fishing with a long piece of wire to dig out the OCT gunk.
The answer to this is of course to keep the waste reservoir and the in-line filter in the cold area of the cryostat so the OCT doesn't thaw. Maybe Leica has done this? If so, it would be a great improvement!
My $2 worth...
Bob
Robert (Bob) Chiovetti, Ph.D.
Southwest Precision Instruments
www.swpinet.com
Arizona's Microscopy Resource
132 North Elster Drive
Tucson, AZ 85710-3212
Tel./Fax 520-546-4986
Member, Arizona Small Business Association
(www.asba.com)
----- Original Message ----
From: Emily Sours
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 3:09:11 PM
Subject: [Histonet] cryostat question
Any opinions on Leica's newest model, CM1950?
I can't figure out how one could keep a vacuum in a cryostat that's being used.
Emily
--
fortune smiles on the brave and spits on the coward
--aguirre, wrath of god
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