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A battery powered, microprocessor controlled portable electronic pipette, comprising a hand holdable housing supporting a battery, a linear actuator for driving a plunger lengthwise in a cylinder to aspirate and dispense fluid into and from a pipette tip extending from the housing and a control circ

A battery powered, microprocessor controlled portable electronic pipette, comprising a hand holdable housing supporting a battery, a linear actuator for driving a plunger lengthwise in a cylinder to aspirate and dispense fluid into and from a pipette tip extending from the housing and a control circuit for the linear actuator. The linear actuator is powered by the battery and comprises a stepper motor with current receiving windings for electromagnetically driving a rotor to impart the lengthwise movement to the plunger. The control circuit includes (i) a user controllable microprocessor powered by the battery and programmed to generate drive signals for the stepper motor, (ii) a display supported by the housing and electrically connected to the microprocessor, (iii) user actuateable control keys supported by the housing and electrically connected to the microprocessor for generating within the microprocessor pipette mode of operation, liquid pick up volume, liquid dispense, pipette speed of operation and pipette reset signals for controlling operation of the pipette and alpha-numeric user readable displays on the display, (iv) a memory having tables of data stored therein and accessible and useable by the microprocessor to control operations of the pipette, and (v) user actuateable switches supported by the housing for triggering pipette operations selected by user actuation of the control keys.

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[ What is claimed is:] [1.]1. An electronic pipette, comprising:a linear actuator for driving a plunger lengthwise in a cylinder to aspirate and dispense fluid into and from a pipette tip, the linear actuator comprising a motor with current receiving windings for electromagnetically driving a rotor

[ What is claimed is:] [1.]1. An electronic pipette, comprising:a linear actuator for driving a plunger lengthwise in a cylinder to aspirate and dispense fluid into and from a pipette tip, the linear actuator comprising a motor with current receiving windings for electromagnetically driving a rotor to impart the lengthwise movement to the plunger; anda control circuit for the pipette including a user controllable microprocessor programmed to generate drive signals for the motor, the control circuit further comprisinga display electrically connected to the microprocessor,user actuateable control keys electrically connected to the microprocessor for generating within the microprocessor pipette mode of operation, liquid pick up volume, liquid dispense, pipette speed of operation and pipette reset signals for controlling operation of the pipette and alpha-numeric user readable displays on the display,a memory having tables of data stored therein and accessible and useable by the microprocessor to control operations of the pipette, andat least one user actuateable trigger switch for triggering pipette operations selected by user actuation of the control keys,the microprocessor being further programmed to cause the pipette to sequentially enter successive user selected modes of operation in response to successive user actuation of only a first one of the control keys defining a "mode"-key and in each selected mode to control operation of the pipette so that(a) actuation of an option key, defined by either a second distinctive actuation of the mode key or actuation of another of the control keys, causes the microprocessor to control the display to display at least a first operational option for the selected mode only, with subsequent actuations of the option key causing the display to sequentially display any other operational option for the selected mode only,(b) actuation of a second one of the control keys defining an "up" key causes the microprocessor to control the display to indicate an activation or deactivation of the operational option as displayed by the display or an increasing value for a numeric display associated with the operational option in response to data from the tables stored in the memory, and(c) actuation of a third one of the control keys defining a "down" key causes the microprocessor to control the display to indicate an activation or deactivation of the operational option as displayed by the display or a decreasing value for the numeric display associated with the operational option in response to data from the tables stored in the memory, and(d) subsequent user actuations of the trigger switch actuates the motor to drive the plunger in the selected mode augmented by the operational options pursuant to (b) and (c) above and in an up direction to pick up liquid into the tip, and then in a down direction to dispense liquid from the pipette tip.