Oldest Homogeniser in Town?

Do you have the oldest mill in the UK and is it still used?

I recently visited a researcher in Cambridge who was looking to homogenise animal tissue at liquid nitrogen temperatures. Prior to the meeting we discussed details such as sample type and size the SPEX 6775 Freezer mill was the perfect solution.

A demo was arranged and I planned my trip to Cambridge accordingly. A few days before the demo I was contacted the customer had found a 6750 mill so I arranged to test the mill during the demo. We switched on the instrument and it burst into life I pressed run there was an immediate error informing me of low liquid nitrogen. This was good as there was no liquid nitrogen proving the internal sensor was working. I then opened the lid and the lid error message came up showing the lid sensor was working. To test the instrument we often use laboratory gloves so we placed the gloves in the 6750 added liquid nitrogen and within minutes we had a fine powdered laboratory glove showing the instrument was performing correctly. Over the years the gas had drained out of the gas spring and an exhaust pipe had gone missing. However, for less than ￡100 the researcher had resurrected her mill.

She has since named her mill Millie and going through our records I found the mill was manufactured in 2001 meaning this year it will be 18 years old.

Please let me know if you have any mills, homogenisers in your laboratory that are still functioning well despite their age.