Title: Centrifuge

Identifier: Country Doctor Museum   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/14347)

Description: A centrifuge is used to separate particles quickly from a solution. When a solution spins inside a centrifuge, centrifugal force makes the particles that are suspended in the solution gravitate to the outside of the tube. When the spinning stops, the heaviest particles sink to the bottom of the tube. This hand operated centrifuge, manufactured by Aloe in the early 1900s, has a maximum speed of 2500 rotations per minute. If a doctor had to wait for fluid to separate without using a centrifuge, it would take up to several weeks. The centrifuge allows doctors to separate particles in solution in a matter of minutes so that their component parts can be evaluated. Although electric centrifuges came into use in the 1930s, hand operated centrifuges were still used into the 1940s.