Laboratory shakers agitate liquids during laboratory procedures. These devices can be analog or digital and are typically an automated, electrically powered, countertop unit that shakes liquid in lab containers, such as flasks, funnels, or test tubes. Some shakers can operate inside fume hoods, incubators, refrigerators, or other laboratory devices, and can include controls for the frequency and/or degree of movement. The types of shakers include: orbital, rocking, rolling, rotating, and wrist action. The most common orbital shaker provides a smooth, continuous, circular motion, sometimes with a tilt angle, for uniform mixing of contents. The rocking shaker creates gentle uniform mixing with a see-saw, or up and down, motion. Reciprocating, or rolling, shakers provide a horizontal side-to-side motion with simple agitation of samples. A rotating, or rotisserie, shaker provides samples with a rotating action that moves in a circular motion. Wrist-action shakers duplicate the effect of hand mixing with "arms" on each side of the unit. Some shakers have the ability to incubate or refrigerate samples while providing shaking action.
Bibby Scientific manufactures laboratory equipment such as shakers, centrifuges, incubators, and water baths under the Stuart, Jenway, and Techne brand names. The company is headquartered in Stone, Staffordshire, UK.