Container holding rotatable body with adjustable balancing feature

Claim 1

The combination of a rotatable centrifuge wheel adapted for receiving loaded tubes of liquid along its periphery and in spaced uninterrupted sequential order, which liquid is to be spaced by centrifugation said wheel having a central axle portion at the axis of rotation thereof and includIng balancing means comprising two semi-circular sector balancing weights, each of said balancing weights being connected to said body with the sector center positioned at said axis of rotation and arranged for rotation with said body, at least one of said weights being rotatably and independently adjustable about said axis with respect to said body and in overlapping relationship with the other one of said balancing weights to provide a net increase in rotational inertial weight at the sector defined by the overlapped portions of said balancing weights, said overlapping portions of said balancing weights being positioned diametrically opposite to said tubes of liquid received on said wheel, the rotational inertial weight of the angular sector of each of said balancing weights corresponding to the sector occupied by each tube of liquid corresponding to one-half of the rotational inertial weight of a loaded tube of liquid to be received on said centrifuge wheel, whereby the rotational adjustment of said adjustable balancing weight through a sector angle corresponding to the peripheral angle occupied by all of said tubes of liquid received on said centrifuge wheel provides for a counterbalancing of the weight added to the centrifuge wheel by said received tubes of liquid by the overlapped portions of said counterbalancing weights diametrically opposite to said received tubes of liquid.