Business Segment Information (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 segment division	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Business Segment Information
Number of operating segments									4
Number of divisions									4
Revenue:
Total revenue	$ 517.3	$ 447.8	$ 420.7	$ 405.6	$ 475.1	$ 418.4	$ 401.2	$ 357.0	$ 1,791.4	$ 1,651.7	$ 1,304.9
Operating Income (Loss):
Total operating income	39.2	60.3	22.1	34.4	53.7	37.5	38.7	25.7	156.0	155.6	155.7
Assets:
Total assets	1,856.4				1,710.5				1,856.4	1,710.5
Capital Expenditures
Total capital expenditures									72.8	61.6	31.9
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation and amortization									59.1	52.9	36.1
Impairment of assets	23.8								23.8
Goodwill impairment charges									1.4
Definite-lived intangible asset impairment charges									16.4
Scientific Instruments
Revenue:
Total revenue									1,666.1	1,554.1	1,225.1
Operating Income (Loss):
Total operating income									140.8	162.8	160.5
Assets:
Total assets	1,786.2				1,675.0				1,786.2	1,675.0
Capital Expenditures
Total capital expenditures									60.1	52.3	26.6
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation and amortization									54.6	49.1	32.8
Impairment of assets									22.6
Goodwill impairment charges									1.4
Definite-lived intangible asset impairment charges									16.4
Impairment charge of other long-lived assets									4.8
Energy and Supercon Technologies
Revenue:
Total revenue									136.2	113.4	90.5
Operating Income (Loss):
Total operating income									12.8	(4.1)	(2.6)
Assets:
Total assets	134.4				104.4				134.4	104.4
Capital Expenditures
Total capital expenditures									12.7	9.3	5.3
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation and amortization									4.5	3.8	3.3
Impairment of assets									1.2
Corporate, eliminations and other
Revenue:
Product and service revenue between reportable segments									(10.9)	(15.8)	(10.7)
Operating Income (Loss):
Total operating income									2.4	(3.1)	(2.2)
Assets:
Total assets	$ (64.2)				$ (68.9)				$ (64.2)	$ (68.9)