I am the scientific glassblower that made all the aperture tubes and the electrodes for the past 48 years. I noticed your tube had an old tube with the CC logo on it, the newer tubes have beckmans logo on it. I was on the original design team for all the glassware for all the machines. I worked for Coulter Electronics for 25 years and when Beckman bought out Coulter, I set up my own business and I continued to supply Beckman Coulter for over 23 years
Amazing. Well your glassware has been put to the test and I have never had an issue with the probe. Thanks for the great design and craftsmanship. I had no idea that the glass probes were creates by a glassblower. Any videos of the process. That would be cool to see. What other types of scientific glassware have you created?
Unfortunately I dont have the process on video due to restrictions over patent laws. But I can tell you that I used SBW glass so that the sapphire could seal to the glass, We used to use 8436 glass but that sometimes left a dark stain in the glass and I was the one that came up with using SBW. The platinum electrodes had to have a glass sleeve around the wire to stop contamination. I also used to make the round bottom beakers and the stirrers. The early (the first table top units) we used to make the faraday cage doors by sealing two pains of glass with a fine wire mesh between them. I used to make all the original mercury manometers and trap assemblys as well.
I did not know the electrodes were platinum. This is similar to the gel electrophoresis boxes. Very interesting. Faraday cages for the doors? That is surprising. Did the original models have electromagnetic interference issues?
@@ProfessorDrewCollop When the first "units" were made the KD factors were very high and gave some erroneous results, this was solved by having longer platinum electrodes inside the aperture tube and in the sample beaker, the units were a very basic configuration in electronics but gave very good results, bearing in mind the components in the early seventies... as the electronics improved over the years and went over to solid state parts, the KD factor line was a lot lower on the CRT (cathode ray tube) however this meant other issues came to light with outside interferance from electronics nearby. by placing the sample vessle and aperture tube inside a Faraday cage, almost overnight the improvent of the results became apparent. I suppose being a radio amateur helped as well as the fact of being the scientific glassblower making the glassware and being allowed to suggest how the projects should go helped
@@ProfessorDrewCollop We have a 4e multisizer here in the laboratory, and I found it very similar to the equipment in the video. Recently I had a blocking problem due to low flow rate. I don't know how to solve it, could you help me with this? Even analyzing just the isoflow, the low flow rate error appears and the analysis does not continue.
Unfortunately I do not have any experience servicing the Coulter Counter. We always hire qualified technicians for our service needs. My advice would be to contact the manufacturer, Beckman Coulter, for more information.
Thanks for this very accessible and informative video. Why did you keep the counter on even when not in use? And why is the probe submerged in the isoflow at all times?
Thanks for the question. The machine is left on and the probe is keep submerged as it is used almost exclusively by students in a teaching lab. In the past, students would press too many buttons and change the setup. We tell the students to only press the "Start/Stop" button to avoid this issue. Also, we use the machine all the time, so leaving it on is helpful. If the probe was to dry out, it could affect the machines operation. The system is run with isoflow at the end of every usage, to ensure cells do not remain in the probe. Many years ago we did not monitor this and the probe become completely blocked. It took several hours of a hot bleach wash to clear the issue. There is now a log on the Coulter Counter. Readings must be below 50, or more washing needs to be done. Since implementing this system, we have never had a blockage again. Hope this helps.
I am the scientific glassblower that made all the aperture tubes and the electrodes for the past 48 years. I noticed your tube had an old tube with the CC logo on it, the newer tubes have beckmans logo on it. I was on the original design team for all the glassware for all the machines. I worked for Coulter Electronics for 25 years and when Beckman bought out Coulter, I set up my own business and I continued to supply Beckman Coulter for over 23 years
Amazing. Well your glassware has been put to the test and I have never had an issue with the probe. Thanks for the great design and craftsmanship. I had no idea that the glass probes were creates by a glassblower. Any videos of the process. That would be cool to see. What other types of scientific glassware have you created?
Unfortunately I dont have the process on video due to restrictions over patent laws. But I can tell you that I used SBW glass so that the sapphire could seal to the glass, We used to use 8436 glass but that sometimes left a dark stain in the glass and I was the one that came up with using SBW. The platinum electrodes had to have a glass sleeve around the wire to stop contamination. I also used to make the round bottom beakers and the stirrers. The early (the first table top units) we used to make the faraday cage doors by sealing two pains of glass with a fine wire mesh between them. I used to make all the original mercury manometers and trap assemblys as well.
I did not know the electrodes were platinum. This is similar to the gel electrophoresis boxes. Very interesting. Faraday cages for the doors? That is surprising. Did the original models have electromagnetic interference issues?
@@ProfessorDrewCollop When the first "units" were made the KD factors were very high and gave some erroneous results, this was solved by having longer platinum electrodes inside the aperture tube and in the sample beaker, the units were a very basic configuration in electronics but gave very good results, bearing in mind the components in the early seventies... as the electronics improved over the years and went over to solid state parts, the KD factor line was a lot lower on the CRT (cathode ray tube) however this meant other issues came to light with outside interferance from electronics nearby. by placing the sample vessle and aperture tube inside a Faraday cage, almost overnight the improvent of the results became apparent. I suppose being a radio amateur helped as well as the fact of being the scientific glassblower making the glassware and being allowed to suggest how the projects should go helped
@@ProfessorDrewCollop We have a 4e multisizer here in the laboratory, and I found it very similar to the equipment in the video. Recently I had a blocking problem due to low flow rate. I don't know how to solve it, could you help me with this? Even analyzing just the isoflow, the low flow rate error appears and the analysis does not continue.
How to dismantle aperture tube?
Unfortunately I do not have any experience servicing the Coulter Counter. We always hire qualified technicians for our service needs. My advice would be to contact the manufacturer, Beckman Coulter, for more information.
Thanks for this very accessible and informative video.
Why did you keep the counter on even when not in use?
And why is the probe submerged in the isoflow at all times?
Thanks for the question. The machine is left on and the probe is keep submerged as it is used almost exclusively by students in a teaching lab. In the past, students would press too many buttons and change the setup. We tell the students to only press the "Start/Stop" button to avoid this issue. Also, we use the machine all the time, so leaving it on is helpful. If the probe was to dry out, it could affect the machines operation. The system is run with isoflow at the end of every usage, to ensure cells do not remain in the probe. Many years ago we did not monitor this and the probe become completely blocked. It took several hours of a hot bleach wash to clear the issue. There is now a log on the Coulter Counter. Readings must be below 50, or more washing needs to be done. Since implementing this system, we have never had a blockage again. Hope this helps.
@@ProfessorDrewCollop It helped. Thanks a lot for replying.
Thanks it helped alot.
How much is it?
How much is what? The Coulter Counter?