Remotely operated microtome

摘要

A miniature microtome assembly with a bellows-operated blade on an arm swingably mounted on a flexible hinge. The specimen is secured in a chuck on a support arm pivoted on a flexible hinge. The specimen is fed toward the cutting path of the blade by a suitably supported feed screw operatively driven by a nut gear actuated by a bellows for coarse advancement steps, and has a fine advance provided by a piezoelectric crystal mounted between the specimen stage and the top end of the feed screw, thereby providing coarse and fine feed of the specimen. The assembly may be contained in a vacuum chamber and the active parts are operated by remote control.