Laboratory pipettors have come a long way since the mouth pipettes used in the mid to late 20th century in college biology labs. Today's pipettes are precision instruments that are used to transfer a precisely measured volume of liquid from one container to another. They are used for medical tests and molecular level biology experiments. Depending on the specific use, pipettes are available with different levels of accuracy. Many of them work by making a partial vacuum above the chamber that holds the liquid, sucking up the volume of liquid to be transfered. In most cases, the liquid is released by pressing a button on top of the pipette with the thumb.
The pipettes known as micropipettes handle volumes of liquid from 0.1 to 1,000 microliters. Larger models are macropipettes. One common type of micropipette is the air-displacement, piston-driven version. These can dispense adjustable amounts of a liquid from a plastic disposable tip. The body of the product itself has a plunger that allows suction of the liquid into the tip when the piston is pressed and then released. A dial on the side of the micropipette can be turned to specify the exact volume of liquid to be aspirated. Though piston-driven pipettes have been used since 1960, the adjustable types didn't come along until the early 1970s, but they rapidly gained widespread acceptance for their accuracy and convenience.
Piston-driven, adjustable micropipettes and pipettors are standard equipment in many biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology labs today, and anyone old enough to remember life before they were invented can attest to their revolutionary effect on lab research.
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