Device for the insertion of samples into a chromatography column

Claim 1

In a device for the insertion of samples into a generally vertical chromatography column comprising: a sample holder comprising a plate mounted to rotate about an axis transverse to said column, said plate defining a plurality of cavities arranged in a ring about said axis, said chromatography column being located on one side of the sample holder, a syringe mounted on the other side of said sample holder in a position such that said cavities become successively aligned with said syringe as said plate rotates, said syringe comprising an elongated hollow body, a needle at one end of said body, and a piston mounted in said body, and both said piston and said body being mounted for translational movement parallel to said axis, and the improvement according to which at least some of said cavities are adapted to receive a sample cell while others are holes passing through said plate, the axis of rotation of the plate and the path of translational movement of said syringe lie in the same vertical plane, and the center line of a cavity aligned with said syringe, taken in a vertical plane containing said axis, is at an acute angle of at least 10° to the horizontal, and said device comprises control means for correlating the rotation of said plate to the translational movements of said syringe and piston in order to carry out a cycle of operations including the withdrawal of a sample from a cell in one of said cavities and the injection of said sample through one of said holes into said column.