Technicon Gradient Mixer (partial)

Technicon Gradient Mixer (partial)

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Description
Leonard T. Skeggs (1918-1992) was a chemist with PhD from Western Reserve University who, while working at the VA Hospital in Cleveland in the 1950s, designed a device for automatically analyzing biological samples. Edwin C. Weiskopf, a New York businessman, agreed to establish a firm, termed Technicon, to turn Skeggs’ ideas into commercial products. In 1956, Technicon announced that an automatic device for analyzing blood might be ready for commercial production in six months. This device, it said, takes a 2cc sample of blood and, within a few minutes, produces a written graph showing the amount of urea, sugar or calcium in the blood. The firm introduced the Autograd, for continuous flow variable gradient devices for use in chromatography, in 1960. The inscription on the case of this partial example reads “AUTOGRAD TECHNICON.”
Weiskopf’s son, Edwin C. Whitehead, sold the business to Revlon in 1980, and used some of his resulting wealth to fund the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at M.I.T.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
gradient mixer
Technicon Gradient Mixer
Technicon Gradient Mixer (partial)
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
insulated wire (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 5 cm x 6.9 cm x 5.7 cm; 1 31/32 in x 2 23/32 in x 2 1/4 in
overall: 2 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in x 3 in; 6.35 cm x 8.89 cm x 7.62 cm
ID Number
2004.0147.019
accession number
2004.0147
catalog number
2004.0147.019
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Chemistry
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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