A SCHEME FOR CONSERVING PLATINUM WIRE CLYDE W. TOTTEN University Junior College, Tonkawa, Oklahoma
IN THESE days of drastic reduction of expenditures for laboratory supplies it .is necessary for those in charge of the laboratories to conserve every item possible, especially those made of expensive material like platinum. In the qualitative analysis laboratory the student is usually supplied with an inch or more of platinum wire with which to make necessary flame and bead tests. The wire is commonly sealed into the end of a glass rod. After a few weeks of use the wire often breaks in the middle, leaving a stub of wire a half-inch or more in length which is frequently discarded as useless. In a laboratory where hundreds of such wires are in use the loss is considerable and can be materially lessened by the following scheme, illustrated in the accompanying drawing. A continuous piece of platinum wire (ED)several
inches long is sealed inside a glass tube (AC) so that one inch of wire (CD) is the only portion exposed out-
HANDLE PROTECTS EXCESSWIRE AND PREVENTS FORHATION Or
SEVERAL USELESS REMNANTS
side for use. When this outer portion becomes too short for use the tube,is melted at (C), an additional length is pulled out, and the tube is resealed. In this way the formation of several small useless remnants of wire is prevented and the portion of wire inside the tube is kept in perfect condition until needed, protected from breakage by bending and from corrosion by heat and reagents.
