killforfood Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 At the annual Christmas White Elephant party this year my Brother received this weird piece of lab glass. Considering he gave away a pink tutu and some falsies; I think he did pretty well. At first glance I thought it was just another run of the mil condenser but what has me confused is that the condensate tube travels on the outside of the cooling chamber. I don't know what the heck it does. any ideas??? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/Condenser001.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/Condenser002.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/Condenser003.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/Condenser004.jpg
Mumbles Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 I'll have a look through my glassware catalogs, but I have no idea. It looks broken however. There is a hole at the top that looks like it was once connected to something else, but that has been broken off. There is also a missing stopcock. Given the way the numbering is done on the top portion, it appears to have been designed to dispense a liquid of some sort. The side arm that connects the top portion to the bottom was meant to equalize pressures. Besides that I have no idea. The side arm on the bottom was possibly mean to draw a vacuum? There are some reactions where the reagents need to be added at the bottom for certain reasons. Generally this is accomplished with a long funnel or glass tube, but if you had a lot of time and money on your hands you could come up with that I suppose.
Peret Posted January 13, 2012 Posted January 13, 2012 I think I saw something like that on Breaking Bad
asilentbob Posted January 15, 2012 Posted January 15, 2012 Soxhlet's have a pretty distinctive look. This is definitely not one. Besides, where is the extraction thimble and condenser? I'd agree that it is for dispensing liquids of some kind.
Voryon Posted January 15, 2012 Posted January 15, 2012 (edited) I`m quite sure that this is a "automatic-filling" buret according to pellet. Don`t know if this link is working...this should be a picture of a newer one (with the missing parts included):http://www.google.at/imgres?q=b%C3%BCrette&um=1&hl=de&sa=N&biw=1600&bih=707&tbm=isch&tbnid=3k3ettSabb243M:&imgrefurl=http://www.duran-group.com/de/produkte-loesungen/laborglas/produkte/volumenmessgeraete/bueretten.html&docid=X1xYOArv5ODoaM&imgurl=http://www.duran-group.com/uploads/pics/24318335sm.jpg&w=511&h=768&ei=YgITT-zbHYr38QOOgdGGBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1364&vpy=159&dur=2949&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=151&ty=89&sig=101403122878329848622&page=2&tbnh=158&tbnw=105&start=34&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:15,s:34 As I know how these things work, I would not say that it is broken. But to function properly you will need the missing valve, a rubberball + rubbertube and a titrating solution supply bottle with a suitable joint + clamp. If you`d like to know how this clever piece of glass works and don`t find the information for yourself, let me know it and I`ll give my best to explain it to you. Edited January 15, 2012 by Voryon
Arthur Posted January 15, 2012 Posted January 15, 2012 Good find Voryon! Now can I imagine the electrochemists being interested for titrating cell chemistry?
WSM Posted January 16, 2012 Posted January 16, 2012 I`m quite sure that this is a "automatic-filling" buret according to pellet. Don`t know if this link is working...this should be a picture of a newer one (with the missing parts included):http://www.google.at...t:429,r:15,s:34As I know how these things work, I would not say that it is broken. But to function properly you will need the missing valve, a rubberball + rubbertube and a titrating solution supply bottle with a suitable joint + clamp.If you`d like to know how this clever piece of glass works and don`t find the information for yourself, let me know it and I`ll give my best to explain it to you. Between Mumbles and Voryon I think we're very close. The top piece is broken but it can either be repaired by a competent lab glass shop or the input port replaced with a compatible polymer/elastomer fitting. It may well be an automatic filling buret that feeds an air excluding vessel (note the ground glass joint on the lower half of the piece) for air/moisture sensitive reactions. This is a very cool piece and I like the pressure equalizing aspect of the top resevoir. If I owned it I'd be shopping for a PTFE stopcock to replace the missing one. As for electrochemist's use for titrations; better to stick with standard titration columns and solutions . WSM
killforfood Posted January 16, 2012 Author Posted January 16, 2012 Thanks for all of the input. We both puzzled over the device for quite a while but both of us lack an advanced education in chemistry. The equalization tube is what confused us the most. His Wife was most amused as to why we would even have such interest in a dirty piece of junk!Neither of us really has a use for it but I think he'll hang on to it for a while just for it's coolness factor. If I were a drinking man, I'd convert it into a white lightening dispensor.Duran Automatic Burette http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/DuranAutomaticBurette.jpg
Mumbles Posted January 16, 2012 Posted January 16, 2012 ...This is a very cool piece and I like the pressure equalizing aspect of the top resevoir. If I owned it I'd be shopping for a PTFE stopcock to replace the missing one. ... That may be rather hard to do actually. Teflon stopcocks and ground glass stop cocks are made to different standards. They typically have a different taper on them. The easiest way to tell them apart is that teflon designed stopcocks usually don't have frosted/ground glass joints. Rather they are clear. When you get into specalized glassware the joints are actually matched key to joint. No other key will fit quite right. I found this out the hard way when I broke a key on a high vac line, and we had to have the entire joint cut off and replaced. With something like this it wouldn't surprise me if it had a matched joint. They do make teflon keys to fit ground glass joints (at least teflon coated), but in my experience they're never quite as good. This particular piece looks to be at least a 3 way valve, so the appropriate teflon version may not be available.
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