Instrument Name, Model Number,
Year Introduced, and Manufacturer

Rationale for Selection

Available
in CHF Inventory

Beckman Acidimeter
1934, National Technical Laboratories (now Beckman Coulter)

First integrated electronic pH meter

No

Beckman Model G pH meter
1935, National Technical Laboratories (now Beckman Coulter)

First commercial instrument to apply electronics to direct chemical measurement

Yes

RCA Electron Microscope Model EMB
1940, RCA

First commercial electron microscope

No
Most Wanted!

Beckman Model DU Spectrophotometer
1941, National Technical Laboratories (now Beckman Coulter)

First commercial UV-Vis spectrophotometer

Yes

Beckman IR-1 Spectrophotometer
1942, National Technical Laboratories (now Beckman Coulter)

First production IR spectro-photometer, used in top-secret synthetic rubber and aviation fuel programs during WWII for multi-component analysis of C₄ isomers

Yes

Coleman Jr. Spectrophotometer
1942, Coleman Instruments (now PerkinElmer)

First widely used, inexpensive, direct-reading spectrophotometer

Yes

Model 21-101 Mass Spectrometer
1942, Consolidated Engineering Company (later Consolidated Electrodynamics Corporation)

First commercial mass spectrometer

Yes

21-Foot Wadsworth Grating Spectrograph
1942, Jarrell-Ash Co. (now Thermo Electron Corporation)

Early, widely used spectrograph

Yes

Beckman Oxygen Analyzer Models P and D2
1943, Arnold O. Beckman, Inc. (now Beckman Coulter)

First instrumental measurement of the partial pressure of oxygen

Yes

P-E Model 12 IR Spectrophotometer
1944, Perkin-Elmer Corporation (now PerkinElmer)

First IR spectrophotometer commercially available to the scientific community

Yes

Model AB-1 IR Spectrophotometer
1946, Baird Association, Cambridge , Massachusetts (now Thermo Electron Corporation)

First double-beam recording IR spectrophotometer

No

Cary Model 11 UV-Vis Spectrophotometer
1947, Applied Physics Corporation (now Varian)

First recording UV-Visible double-beam instrument

Yes

Mettler B5 Analytical Balance
1947, Mettler Instruments AG (now Mettler-Toledo)

First single-pan precision analytical balance

Yes

P-E Model 52A Flame Photometer
1949, Perkin-Elmer Corporation (now PerkinElmer)

First commercial flame photometer

Yes

Spinco Model L Ultracentrifuge
1950, Spinco (now Beckman Coulter)

First commercial preparative ultracentrifuge

Yes

P-E Model 21 IR Spectrophotometer
1951, Perkin-Elmer Corporation (now PerkinElmer)

Commercial instrument that made IR analysis a routine laboratory tool

Yes

Spinco Model R Paper Electrophoresis System
1953, Spinco (now Beckman Coulter)

First integrated system to separate and quantify serum proteins for clinical diagnostic use

Yes

Astrup Apparatus Model E50101
1954, Radiometer A/S

First blood-gas apparatus for measuring acid-base status in blood

Yes

Bausch & Lomb Spectronic 20 Spectrophotometer
1954, Bausch & Lomb Optical Company (now Thermo Electron Corporation)

Widely used, low-cost grating spectrophotometer

Yes

Beckman Model DK-2A UV-Vis-NIR Spectrophotometer
1954, Beckman Instruments (now Beckman Coulter)

Early, widely used UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer

Yes

Cary Model 14 UV-Vis Recording Spectrophotometer
1954, Applied Physics Corporation (now Varian)

Early recording instrument that greatly extended the ultraviolet wavelength range, making possible the analysis of more compounds

Yes

P-E Model 38A Tiselius Electrophoresis Instrument
1954, Perkin-Elmer Corporation (now PerkinElmer)

Allowed determination of absolute electrophoretic mobility and diffusion constants by moving boundary electrophoresis

Yes

Bendix Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer
1955, Bendix Corporation (now Allied Corporation)

One of the first commercially successful departures from the use of magnetic sectors for mass separation of ions

No
Most Wanted!

Model III Polarograph
1955, E. H. Sargent & Co.

Widely used polarograph

Yes

P-E Model 154 Vapor Fractometer
1955, Perkin-Elmer Corporation (now PerkinElmer)

First commercial gas chromatograph, improved in 1959 with flame-ionization detectors, electron-capture detectors, and capillary columns

Yes

Model A Coulter Counter
1956, Coulter Electronics (now Beckman Coulter)

First automated cell counter; changed medicine by increasing the speed and accuracy with which blood counts are made

Yes

AA 1 Autoanalyzer
1957, Technicon (now Bayer Diagnostics)

First instrument to automate the analysis of blood serum for medical diagnosis

No
Most Wanted!

Cary Model 81 Raman Spectrometer
1957, Applied Physics Corporation (now Varian)

First commercial Raman instrument; was later augmented with a laser source, helping establish Raman as an essential research technique

Yes

P-E Model 137 Infracord IR Spectrophotometer
1957, Perkin-Elmer Corporation (now PerkinElmer)

Popular, low-cost, bench-top IR spectrophotometer

Yes

Beckman Model 120 Amino Acid Analyzer
1958, Beckman Instruments (now Beckman Coulter)

First commercial amino-acid analyzer

No

MS-9 Mass Spectrometer
1963, Associated Electrical Industries (now Kratos Analytical)

Based on a Nier-Johnson design, employed superior technology for its day; some still in use

Yes

P-E Model 303 Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer
1963, Perkin-Elmer Corporation (now PerkinElmer)

Early, widely used atomic-absorption spectrophotometer

Yes

Model GPC 100 Liquid Chromatograph
1963, Waters Corporation

First commercial liquid chromatograph

No
Most Wanted!

Cary Model 82 Raman Spectrometer
1964, Applied Physics Corporation (now Varian)

First commercial laser Raman instrument

No

Technicon SMA 12/60
1966, Technicon (now Bayer Diagnostics)

Widely used, multiple-channel, automated, clinical-chemistry analyzer

No

ALC 100 HPLC
1967, Waters Corporation

Made liquid chromatography a valuable, widely used tool for organic chemists

No
Most Wanted!

Model 1015 GC-MS-DS
1967, Finnigan Corporation (now Thermo Electron Corporation)

First computerized GC-MS system; established GC-MS as a primary technique of organic analysis

No
Most Wanted!

Beckman Glucose Analyzer
1968, Beckman Instruments (now Beckman Coulter)

First application of a one-minute rate measurement to a clinical-chemistry analysis

No

Model FTS-14 FTIR Spectrophotometer
1969, Digilab

First commercial FTIR; totally computer-automated in operation; first instrument to make ultra-microsampling a matter of routine

No
Most Wanted!

Varian Model XL100 FT-NMR
1969, Varian Associates (now Varian)

First NMR to be used for carbon-13 analysis

No
Most Wanted!

Beckman Models 800 and 890 Protein Sequencers
1970, Beckman Instruments (now Beckman Coulter)

First automated protein sequencers

No

ENI-GEMSAEC Centrifugal Analyzer
1970, Electronucleonics

First commercial centrifugal analyzer

No

Beckman Peptide Synthesizer
1971, Beckman Instruments (now Beckman Coulter)

First commercial product to enable the synthetic duplication of the structures of important peptides

No

Mettler Model PT1200 Electronic Balance
1973, Mettler Instruments AG (now Mettler Toledo )

First fully electronic precision balance, (Class 1) accuracy

No

No
Most wanted!

B-D FACS Flow Cytometer
1975, Becton-Dickenson and Company

First commercial flow cytometer (fluorescent-activated cell sorter)

No

Dionex Model 10 Ion Chromatograph
1975, Dionex Corporation

First widely used ion chromatograph

No
Most Wanted!

YSI Blood Glucose Analyzer Model 23A
1975, Yellow Springs Instrument Company

First whole-blood glucose analyzer

Yes

Abbott Quantum
1977, Abbott Laboratories

First dedicated ELISA (enzyme linked immuno assay) instrument based on use of styrene beads

No

Hitachi Model 340 UV-Vis-NIR Spectrometer
1977, Hitachi Corporation

First microcomputer-controlled spectrometer

No

Beckman ASTRA
1978, Beckman Instruments (now Beckman Coulter)

First clinical chemistry analyzer to incorporate rate kinetic first-order reactions for one minute's assays of substrates

Yes

H-P Model 8450A Diode Array UV-VIS Spectrophotometer
1979, Hewlett-Packard (now Agilent Technologies)

First diode array spectrophotometer

Yes

Kodak E-400 Clinical Chemistry Analyzer
1979, Kodak

First dry-film chemistry analyzer

No

IBM PC
1981, IBM Corporation

Most ubiquitous laboratory-enabling technology

Yes

Zymark Zymate 1
1981, Zymark Technologies (now Caliper Life Sciences)

First laboratory robotic system

No

Model 5MX FTIR Spectrophotometer
1982, Nicolet (now Thermo Electron Corporation)

Affordable high-performance instrument; made FTIR available to a wider community of researchers

Yes

ABI DNA Thermocycler
1987, Applied Biosystems Inc. (now Applied Biosystems Group, Applera Corporation)

Facilitated polymerase chain reactions (PCR) for cloning and rapid identification of DNA

No

ABI Model 370 Sequencer
1989, Applied Biosystems Inc. (now Applied Biosystems Group, Applera Corporation)

Enabling instrument for the Human Genome Project

Yes

Beckman PACE System 2000 Capillary Electrophoresis
1989, Beckman Instruments (now Beckman Coulter)

First fully integrated capillary electrophoresis system with auto-sampler and temperature control

Yes

Nicolet 900 FT-Raman Spectrometer
1992, Nicolet (now Thermo Electron Corporation)

Early FT-Raman instrument

No

Affymetrix GeneChip
1994, Affymetrix

Popular microarray device for DNA analysis

Yes

Caliper LabChip
1996, Caliper Technologies (now Caliper Life Sciences)

First commercial microchip for fluid handling

No