Wheaton Announce the Newest Product in Crimping and Decapping of Chromatography Vials

The new Crimpenstein™ Electric Crimper/Decapper can increase your productivity and lessen injuries due to repetitive hand crimping. The Crimpenstein Electric Crimper/Decapper is a hand-held tool used to crimp and decap aluminum seals on or off of vials or bottles. This unit utilizes an ergonomic design to make crimping and decapping quick and easy.

The Crimpenstein™ comes with interchangeable heads making it versatile and economical. It can be used on standard 8, 11, 13, & 20 mm aluminum seals. A sturdy stand is available which will hold the Crimpenstein in a fixed vertical position for operations where vials need to be handled one at a time.

Scientists can now seal crimp-top bottles and vials without the risk of physical fatigue. This can become increasingly concerning when crimping or decapping seals on a regular basis. A common 20mm aluminum seal can take a reported 300 pounds of pressure per square inch to remove. The gearing and leverage utilized by most hand operated crimpers and decappers absorb most of the force. Still the stress that is transferred to the user can create a great deal of fatigue.

In some laboratories, technicians crimp over 1,000 seals a day, by hand. It is imperative that each crimp be positively secure to ensure sample longevity and protection. As the process becomes more tedious towards the end of the day, seal integrity may decrease. To offset this problem, researchers take extra time to focus on each set-up as the day comes to a conclusion. This extra time translates into lowered productivity, lowered efficiency, and ultimately an increase in cost.

When crimping 100 vials at a time, it takes approximately 6.75 minutes to complete with the use of a manual hand-held crimper. This does not include the increased time towards the end of the crimping due to hand fatigue. When crimping the same amount of vials with a Crimpenstein™ electric crimper, the total time is reduced to approximately 5 minutes. There is no need to add additional time due to hand fatigue because the unit does all of the work.

That saves a laboratory 1.75 minutes for every hundred bottles or vials crimped. If a laboratory crimped 1,000 vials a day, 5 days a week, for 52 weeks; it would save the laboratory 75.83 hours a year. That’s nearly 2 weeks of work for one laboratory technician, not to mention all of the health benefits of reducing hand and wrist strain.