20-Place Cardboard Microscope Slide Tray — Color-Coded Slide Organization at High Volume
The Heathrow Scientific 20-Place Cardboard Slide Tray provides a practical, disposable solution for working with, transporting, and short-term storing standard 76 x 26mm (3 x 1 inch) microscope slides. Sold in cases of 72 trays, these color-coded folders are designed for high-volume histology, pathology, and clinical laboratory environments where cost-per-slide-storage is a meaningful operational metric. The recessed slide compartment design and color-coded cover system enable fast sorting, routing, and identification of slide batches moving through staining, reading, and archival workflows.
Features & Benefits
- Color-coded covers: Available in Black, Blue, Green, Red, and Yellow, enabling immediate visual sorting of slide batches by stain type, case priority, tissue type, or processing stage without opening individual folders.
- Numbered index on front cover: A numbered grid on the cover corresponds precisely to the recessed slide compartment positions inside, supporting slide-by-slide tracking across batches of up to 20 slides per folder.
- Recessed slide compartments: Each of the 20 positions features a recessed molded compartment that holds slides flat and separated, preventing direct glass-to-glass contact that causes scratching and coverslip separation.
- Inside cover specimen protection: When the folder is closed, the inside cover provides an additional protective layer over the slide face, reducing contamination and physical damage during bench handling and transport.
- Slide security when closed: Slides cannot be accessed when the cover is closed, reducing the risk of contamination and accidental slide removal or misplacement during transport between laboratory areas.
- Corrugated cardboard compartment holder: The slide compartment substrate is constructed from corrugated cardboard that provides structural rigidity to prevent compartment collapse under the weight of 20 glass slides.
- Case of 72: High-volume case quantity reduces per-unit cost and ensures consistent supply for laboratories generating dozens of slide batches per day.
- Disposable design: Single-use disposable format eliminates cleaning and contamination tracking requirements associated with reusable plastic slide carriers, simplifying infection control protocols.
Specifications
| Material | Cardboard |
| Capacity | 20-Place |
| Compatible Slides | Standard 76 x 26mm (3 x 1 inch) microscope slides |
| Dimensions (folded) | 8.2 x 13.4 x 0.4 in (20.8 x 34.1 x 0.9 cm) |
| Colors Available | Black, Blue, Green, Red, Yellow |
| Sold As | Case of 72 trays |
| Brand | Heathrow Scientific |
Applications
In anatomical and surgical pathology, cardboard slide trays are used to stage batches of H&E slides for pathologist reading, grouping each case's slides together in a numbered folder for systematic review. The color-coding system allows the laboratory to route folders by priority level — red for urgent, blue for routine, yellow for teaching — without requiring the reader to open each folder to determine its contents. Clinical microbiology uses these trays to batch Gram stain, AFB, and fungal stain slides by specimen type for technician reading. Cytopathology labs batch Pap smears and fine needle aspiration preparations into numbered folders for quality control review. Academic teaching laboratories provide each student with a color-coded folder for their assigned slide sets, enabling rapid distribution and collection at the start and end of practical sessions. The high-volume case quantity makes these trays a cost-effective consumable for busy labs processing hundreds of slides daily.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are cardboard slide trays suitable for long-term slide archival?
Cardboard slide trays are designed for working, transport, and short-term storage rather than long-term archival. For permanent archival of stained slides, cork-lined or polypropylene slide boxes offer greater protection against humidity, physical damage, and fading. Cardboard trays are the optimal choice for active workflow stages where slides are accessed, read, or processed within days to weeks of preparation.
How many slides does each cardboard slide tray hold?
Each tray holds 20 standard 76 x 26mm microscope slides in individually numbered recessed compartments. The numbered index on the front cover corresponds to the compartment positions inside, supporting precise slide tracking. For larger collections, multiple trays in the same color can be numbered sequentially, and the case quantity of 72 trays supports batch organization of up to 1,440 slides per case.
Can these slide trays be used in cytology screening workflows?
Yes. Cardboard slide trays are widely used in cytology and cytopathology for staging Pap smears, liquid-based cytology slides, and FNA preparations for primary and secondary review. The recessed compartments protect fragile coverslipped cytology preparations, and the color-coded cover system enables priority triage for abnormal cases flagged during primary screening. The closed-cover protection reduces airborne contamination exposure during staging.
Volume Discounts
LabSupplies.com offers below retail pricing with volume discounts available. As an authorized Heathrow Scientific dealer, we ship directly from USA inventory. Multi-case pricing available for high-volume pathology and histology facilities.