1.4.
SERVICE PERSONNEL
9
frailties as well as in their training and their interest in the job. In
some areas where there are many instruments of a single manufacturer,
microscope maintenance is a full time occupation for one or more welltrained electronic engineers. In other areas microscopes are only a part of
the business of the service man (in Los Angeles, service personnel have at
various times also had to occupy themselves with commercial television
installation, military work, weighing sausages, and the problems of bottling beer). In other parts of the world there are, in effect, no available
service engineers after the microscope is once installed. Even under the
best of circumstances, the director of the laboratory must assume much
responsibility himself. There are a number of maintenance tasks such as
filament changing, compensation, aperture centering, and stability checking which he must perform himself, or delegate to knowledgeable individuals who are actively using the microscope. In general, the director of
the laboratory must know when service work is required and seek help as
needed. It is not enough to assume that a service contract will guarantee
an instrument that performs well. Thus there is no substitute for an able
director.
Fortunately many, if not most of the present-day electron microscopes,
are quite reliable instruments once they have been put in proper working
order. After the initial "break-in" period, the troubles should be sporadic,
and result from the failure of a particular part, perhaps a tube, condenser,
resistor, transformer, or a battery, or, on the mechanical side, a gasket.
Laboratories which must be self-sufficient, often can be for very long
periods of time. They may get along by recruiting local technical help.
Someone on the physics faculty, an electrical engineer down the hall, or
even an amateur radio ham often can work out electronic difficulties if
the laboratory director can make clear what the problem is. Thus, the
director should know enough about the theory and practice of electron
microscopy to (1) be aware of trouble, (2) be able to perform something of
a differential diagnosis, and (3) be able to explain it in intelligible terms
to someone not specifically trained in the details of the instrument. To
a large extent these abilities come with experience, but also the manufacturer provides personal instruction which should be taken advantage of
to the fullest possible extent, and there are technical instrument manuals
to assist the novice. On the one hand the task of maintaining a microscope should not be forbidding, but there is no substitute for experience
and knowledge.
SERVICE PERSONNEL
9
frailties as well as in their training and their interest in the job. In
some areas where there are many instruments of a single manufacturer,
microscope maintenance is a full time occupation for one or more welltrained electronic engineers. In other areas microscopes are only a part of
the business of the service man (in Los Angeles, service personnel have at
various times also had to occupy themselves with commercial television
installation, military work, weighing sausages, and the problems of bottling beer). In other parts of the world there are, in effect, no available
service engineers after the microscope is once installed. Even under the
best of circumstances, the director of the laboratory must assume much
responsibility himself. There are a number of maintenance tasks such as
filament changing, compensation, aperture centering, and stability checking which he must perform himself, or delegate to knowledgeable individuals who are actively using the microscope. In general, the director of
the laboratory must know when service work is required and seek help as
needed. It is not enough to assume that a service contract will guarantee
an instrument that performs well. Thus there is no substitute for an able
director.
Fortunately many, if not most of the present-day electron microscopes,
are quite reliable instruments once they have been put in proper working
order. After the initial "break-in" period, the troubles should be sporadic,
and result from the failure of a particular part, perhaps a tube, condenser,
resistor, transformer, or a battery, or, on the mechanical side, a gasket.
Laboratories which must be self-sufficient, often can be for very long
periods of time. They may get along by recruiting local technical help.
Someone on the physics faculty, an electrical engineer down the hall, or
even an amateur radio ham often can work out electronic difficulties if
the laboratory director can make clear what the problem is. Thus, the
director should know enough about the theory and practice of electron
microscopy to (1) be aware of trouble, (2) be able to perform something of
a differential diagnosis, and (3) be able to explain it in intelligible terms
to someone not specifically trained in the details of the instrument. To
a large extent these abilities come with experience, but also the manufacturer provides personal instruction which should be taken advantage of
to the fullest possible extent, and there are technical instrument manuals
to assist the novice. On the one hand the task of maintaining a microscope should not be forbidding, but there is no substitute for experience
and knowledge.