James W. Beatty, Earle S. Scott, and Richard G. Scamehorn Ripon College Ripon. Wisconsin 54971
Convenient Laboratory Storage of Glassware for Organic Chemistry
For several years we have used standard taper glassware kits in a multi-section freshman course in organic chemistry and have watched the cases and their liners slowly disintegrate with consequent hreakage and difficulty in maintaining clean apparatus. Last year, when this process of disintegration had progressed to a point requiring action, consultation with a nuinber of representatives of scientific glassware suppliers indicated that we could not expect to find new containers which were suverior to those we had been using. Consequently, we undertook t o iind an alterniat~vcwhich would a l l w 6 r ellicitmt storarc*uf the glassware while facilitating drainagr and inventory;tivo are& in which the original cases are deficient. Our solution to this problem is described below. I t has been in use for a year in the freshman laboratory and has resulted in greater ease of operation in the laboratory, more efficient use of space in the storage cupboard, less hreakage, and greater tidiness. The ease of inventory has descreased the arguments over responsihility for hreakage, and we believe that we may he able to exploit this feature of the apparatus even further. As shown hy Figures 1 and 2 we mounted the glassware on a piece of '14-in. pegboard using hardware gripper clips, and fitted this pegboard in a slot down one side of the storage cupboard so the effect, in terms of consumption of space, was essentially the same as if we had hung the glassware on the
Figure 1. Photograph ot storage set-up: a) detall of pegboard. and b) pegboard in place in storage cupboard. 134 / Journal of Chemical Education
wall of the cupboard. The 19 X 21 in in. pegboard carrier can be pulled about halfway out of the cupboard space so glassware can be removed from it or remounted with ease. The arrangement of apparatus shown in the picture has been satisfactory but there might he more useful arrangements. The gripper clips used are made of stainless steel and are available a t most hardware stores. Two sizes of clips are needed; the 318 to 7s-in. size to hold the plastic thermometer cases, and the to l1I8-in. size which will hold all the glassware. Holes were cut in the pegboard to permit the easy mounting of round bottom flasks and separatory funnel and to encourage their replacement in the proper place. The clamp for the 500-ml round bottom flask is set out from the pegboard by a %-in. block. The pegboard glides between two I-in. select pine finishing strips on the top and bottom and a stop is placed so the pegboard slides only as far out as is desired. The stop is secured with a screw and may he removed so the pegboard may be altered or cleaned. The estimated cost of the units is $20; $10 for materials and $10 for labor. Our units were purposely over engineered with brass hardware and 'I4-in. pegboard. One-eighth-inch pegboard was used in a trial unit and was satisfactory. We have encountered some problems in the use of these units, all of which are correctable. When screwed directly to the pegboard the clamps are too tight resulting in some breakage because students do not hold the glassware tightly when removing it. This problem is relieved by placing two washers under the clamps to keep them in their most relaxed position and by instructing the students in the proper way to handle the equipment. The removal of thermometers from the apparatus is complicated by the placement of the thermometer holders and the reluctance of the students to he sure that the peghoard is pulled to i t s limit hefore attempting to remove the thermnmeter. It is v~~asihlr that in a diiferent si7ed cuvh ~ a n al more convenient placement of the thermmnetrr cnuld he found. although the problem is a minor one. The vrohlem uf the tightness nf the s;ninlts steel clips may hr solved also h y the use o r plastic laborarwy clips (BcI-Art FIR251, FlR252, and ~18253):This replacementincreases the cost for the materials bv about 5W. but our trial unit indicated the cost may be justified.
Figure 2. Layout of equipment on pegboard.
