Crist Instrument Company, Inc. specializes in the design, development, and manufacturing of custom biomedical research equipment, as well as the design and installation of complete onsite laboratories. Products include custom equipment for MRI research and positioning equipment for primate chairs. Crist also offers consultation service to its customers to help find solutions to research problems and determine the exact apparatus requirements necessary for successful projects.

 

As a corporation, our primary mission is to provide products with excellent quality, to design and modify mechanical apparatus, and to suggest to our customers new uses of devices that are already available. It is our pleasure to assist our customers in their work in any way necessary, may it be providing a single product or installing a complete onsite laboratory with a variety of useful mechanical apparatus and equipment.

We are continuing to upgrade our services and expand our inventory to better serve the ever-growing biomedical research community. We welcome any and all suggestions, comments, or questions that will allow us to more effectively aid you in getting the most from your research

Our Company Founders

 

Joan began her professional career at the age of eight. She often worked in her great aunt’s health food store, where she stocked shelves, worked as a cashier, and performed other tasks crucial to the business. By the time she was sixteen, she was managing the store and serving all business functions in her great aunt’s absence. Joan was also involved with her father’s business. He was a residential construction contractor, and Joan would often assist him with his work.      

Joan became involved with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD in 1961. She started work in the shop area, scheduling the construction and maintenance work for all NIH facilities. At the time, all construction and maintenance for NIH was done “in house” – none being contracted out. During this time, she was active in developing procedures and charts for controlling this operation. After she left NIH, many of her systems continued to be used by her successors. Next, she transferred to the Security and Safety Division. As an administrator of this division, she was instrumental in developing training programs for the Locksmith Shop. She also worked closely with the Training Office in developing the Conversion Program. This program was designed to provide guards with the opportunity to become U.S. Police officers. Joan also developed budgets and hiring programs for the Locksmith, Security, Police, and Fire Departments. Subsequent to leaving NIH, Joan worked as an administrator for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD). There, she was very active in upgrading working conditions at the Baltimore office. While staying under budget, she organized the Baltimore office’s move to a new facility. After ending her work for the government, Joan began to work as a consultant for several companies in the D.C. Baltimore area where she provided operations improvements, orchestrated company moves to new locations, etc.. She soon teamed up with Charles Crist to start Crist Instrument Co., Inc. While holding these noteworthy positions, Joan also managed to continue her education and raise a family. Joan earned a B.S., having majored in Business Administration and minored in both Chemistry and Architecture. She has also raised five children.

 

Charles (Chuck) Crist started his career as an electrician installing lighting in homes and in gas stations. In 1956 he received a commission by the Navy Department and was accepted in their Apprenticeship Training Program with the intent of becoming a Master Electrician. As there were no openings in that area he accepted a training position as a Machinist temporarily. During his training he worked on a variety of armaments like the 16-inch battleship guns, the Gattling gun and the 30mm cannon. In 1960 he graduated at the top of his class with two years of college as a Journeyman Machinist. That same year he transferred to the National Institutes of Health.

He began his work in the biomedical field at NIH in Bethesda, MD with the Arthritis Institute in the Laboratory of Physical Biology. During Chuck’s 22 year tenure with this group he worked with many experts in a broad range of disciplines. Drawing on his knowledge acquired from his earlier training in mechanical principles and machine shop knowledge he was able to create equipment and apparatus to augment the research in this group. Working on a one-to-one basis he developed a thorough understanding of the type of data his scientists wished to collect as well as the proper form and format. His designs and fabrications required him to draw upon his broad knowledge of electrical, electronics, hydraulics, materials characteristics, i.e. chemical resistances, strengths, flexibility and life.

Among the many devices he developed, some were used for studies of fireflies. The ‘Borneo Bug Gun’, which was designed by Chuck, recorded the synchronized flashing of fireflies. It was used in some of Dr. John Buck’s studies of synchrony. Chuck also did work with fluid surface tension measurement and molecular modeling and built one of the early hemoglobin models for Dr. Muriyama.

While at the Arthritis Institute, Chuck developed important apparatus and equipment for muscle-related research. He developed a system for studying simultaneous x-ray and laser diffraction patterns from the same sarcomere of a single muscle fiber. This system provided for the electrical stimulation of the muscle while the reaction pattern was measured and recorded, it enabled researchers to measure both the force and distance traveled by the contraction. Chuck also developed the system in which the muscle was kept alive in a re-oxygenated saline bath. This allowed the muscle to be cycled approximately 100 times per 24-hour period.

Chuck was also responsible for the design and creation of several other useful instruments while at the Arthritis Institute. Chuck’s design of a cold finger for the Raman Spectrophotometer facilitated the crystallization of gaseous elements. He created a complex mirror-bending device for use with a spray of Copper K-alpha x-rays from a GX 13 Generator. This device allowed for very fine focusing at very high intensities. Additionally, he designed many tools for use with electron microscopes and constructed a number of models based on electron micrographs.

Chuck transferred from the Arthritis Institute to the Eye Institute of NIH where he worked as their Biomedical Engineer. He worked with Dr. Robert Wurtz in the Laboratory of Sensory Motor Research and other senior scientists in the lab. While Chuck was there, it became necessary for the facility to create ten new research labs. Time was of the essence, as all ten labs had to be installed very quickly to allow incoming postdoctoral students to work with the senior scientists. Modified electronic racks had to be installed. Existing cables had to be wired to equipment. Eye coil systems had to be built and hooked up, and a hoisting system for the coil frames had to be manufactured. Primate chairs that would be universal to all of the labs and an accompanying positioning system for the chairs had to be developed. As the designer, builder and installer Chuck dealt directly with all of the issues as they related uniquely to the setup of each of the ten new labs.

Because Chuck also personally designed and manufactured unique equipment to meet the particular needs of each of the individual labs when they were being initially installed, he was repeatedly called upon when new researchers and changing research dictated modifications and replacements of equipment. The many years spent periodically renovating these labs – designing and manufacturing specialized, custom-built equipment gave him a unique insight into the needs of researchers in this field.

While working with Dr. Wurtz in Building 10 at NIH, Chuck developed many important devices at the NIH facilities. He worked on the Rear Projection Screen and co-authored a paper with David Lee on the results of the device. He developed the process of using Denril drafting paper with an acrylic base for creating brighter and sharper imaging. Chuck developed the syringe that simultaneously recorded and injected material to create a lesion without extracting or moving the electrode. He was also involved in the creation of mirror scanning devices that used LED or laser light sources as well as general scanning motors and controllers to move and position the device’s fixation point. Chuck developed the grid system for precise mapping of the brain and adapters to use this system with a variety of microdrives. He developed the knurled base on the Evarts Style chamber, later adding the pin to help accurately position the grid and grid adapters repeatedly in the same position. He created a trapeze system to support large screens and allow for precise adjustment. Chuck developed microdrives for use with specialized chambers and adapters. He has also been very active in the on-going development and adaptation of the basic primate chair.

After many years at NIH, Chuck retired in 1992. He has since focused on work at Crist Instrument Co., Inc. where he had already been intimately involved in product engineering since the company’s creation in 1990. He is also proud of the fact that three of his five children are employed in the company as well.

P.S. He is still waiting for that transfer for training in the electrical trade.