Efficient defrosting of deep frozen sperm for artificial insemination is achieved at a temp. of 70 deg.C but the timing becomes very critical with as little as two seconds excess being very damaging. This problem is overcome by automatically removing the cage containing the sperm ampoules from the heated water after a set period of time. The cage containing the ampoule has a buoyant buoyant base and is retained below the surface of the electrically-heated water by an electrically-operated latch, e.g. a micro-switch or electro-magnet. After a set time a time switch operates the latch and the cage is ejected by its own buoyancy.
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