MUHWA 10-Slide Glass Coplin Staining Jar — 120mL, Ground Glass Lid
This is the larger version of our Coplin jar, built for labs that process slides in batches. Ten standard 25x75mm (1x3 inch) slides fit upright in the molded grooves. Load them back-to-back and you get 20. The ground glass lid seals without a gasket. The body is clear — you can see exactly how far along your H and E or Gram stain is. 120mL total volume, fill to 90-110mL for full immersion of 10 slides. If you're running 40-plus slides a morning, two of these jars cover your H and E line without constant refilling.
We make both a 5-slide and a 10-slide version. If you're wondering which to get: the 5-slide jar uses less reagent per run and is fine for low-volume or single-protocol work. The 10-slide jar (this one) cuts your jar changes in half when you're doing batch staining. Same glass, same lid design, same groove spacing — just twice the capacity. A lot of labs keep one 10-slide for H and E batch work and a couple of 5-slide jars for special stains that use expensive reagents.
What Fits
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| Slide size | 25x75mm (1x3 inch), up to 1mm thick |
| Loading — upright | 10 slides, one per groove |
| Loading — back-to-back | 20 slides, two per groove |
| Chamber volume | 120mL total, ~90-110mL working |
| Material | Glass (body + lid) |
| Lid type | Ground glass joint, gasket-free |
| Autoclavable | 121 degrees C, 15 psi |
| Stain compatibility | H and E, Gram, Giemsa/Wright's, PAS, GMS, Warthin-Starry, Congo red, Luxol fast blue, Masson's trichrome |
| Solvent resistance | Acid alcohol, acetone, xylene |
Questions We Get
10-slide vs 5-slide — which one do I actually need?
If you process under 30 slides a day, the 5-slide jar is fine. If you're in a clinical histology lab doing 50-plus H and Es daily, the 10-slide jar saves you time — you're loading jars half as often. A common setup: one 10-slide jar for hematoxylin and eosin in the main H and E line, and a couple of 5-slide jars off to the side for special stains (PAS, GMS, trichrome) where you're only running 1-5 slides at a time.
Does loading 20 back-to-back actually work?
Yes, but with a caveat. At 20 slides, the inter-slide spacing is tight. If your protocol depends solely on passive diffusion, the inner faces of back-to-back pairs may stain slightly lighter than the outer faces. A quick swirl of the jar every 2-3 minutes fixes this. For critical diagnostic slides, stick to 10 upright — you'll get perfectly even staining every time.
How much reagent am I really using?
With 10 slides loaded upright, you need about 90-110mL to fully submerge the tissue sections and label area. That's roughly double the 5-slide jar (45-55mL). The cost per slide is about the same, but you're buying fewer jars. If you're using expensive ready-to-use kits, the 5-slide jar may be more economical for small batches.
Does the lid actually contain xylene vapor?
For a normal staining run — yes, the ground glass joint provides a mechanical seal that keeps alcohol and xylene vapor in. It's not a hermetic seal. If you're leaving slides in xylene overnight in a shared lab, put the jar in a fume hood. If you're working through a dehydration series during the day with the lid on between steps, you won't notice fumes in the room.
How do I clean this between different stain protocols?
Rinse with tap water, then distilled. For stubborn residue (crystal violet, precipitated silver), soak 30 minutes in 10 percent nitric acid or lab detergent. Do not scrub the ground glass joint surfaces — they need to stay smooth to seal. Dishwasher on glassware cycle is fine. Autoclave at 121 degrees C for sterile work.
Day-to-Day Use
High-volume H and E. Fill with hematoxylin, load 10 slides, set the timer. The clear glass lets you check staining intensity from across the bench. When it's ready, pull the slide rack or individual slides, rinse, acid alcohol, Scott's water, eosin, dehydrate, clear, mount. With 10 slides in one jar, you handle a full cassette rack of sections without swapping jars mid-protocol.
Gram stain batches. If your micro lab processes 10-plus clinical isolates a morning, one jar handles the whole batch: crystal violet, iodine, decolorizer (watch it through the glass), safranin. The wide mouth means you're not accidentally touching the rim with forceps between steps — less chance of dragging crystal violet into the safranin jar.
Giemsa and Wright's for hematology. Ten blood smears per jar. For a hematology lab running morning differentials, one jar covers the batch. If you're staining both peripheral smears and marrow aspirates, use separate jars for each stain type.
PAS staining for renal and liver path. Periodic acid oxidation, Schiff reagent, counterstain — the 120mL volume means 10 slides get full immersion without the reagent level dropping below the tissue section. Important for PAS where incomplete Schiff exposure gives patchy magenta.
Silver stains (GMS for fungi, Warthin-Starry for spirochetes). Silver nitrate solutions are expensive and sensitive to container surface chemistry. The glass doesn't react with or deplete silver from solution — a real problem in some jars where the silver plates onto the container walls instead of your tissue. At 10 slides per batch, you're getting maximum utilization from each silver kit.
Teaching and training. One 10-slide jar serves two students or one student running multiple serial sections. Instructors can observe staining progress through the glass without interrupting students mid-protocol — useful when you're grading technique as well as results.
Storage Note
If you're stacking jars on a shelf, slip a piece of lab wipe between stacked jars. Clean ground glass surfaces can stick together if they sit pressed against each other for weeks — the paper prevents it. Store with the lid slightly ajar if the jar will sit unused for more than a month — this prevents any residual moisture from creating a vacuum seal.
