The Ultrasonic Cleaner in the Laboratory One of the most useful and versatile pieces of equipment in the laboratory or glass shop is the ultrasonic, or "sonic" oleaner. Indispensable in the cleaning of standard glassware, the freeing of "frozen" ground-glass joints and stopcocks, as well as in the cleaning of special glassware having parts inaccessible to a. cleaning brush such as the Soxhlet, exLractor, the sonic cleaner also hss proved to be of great value in the cleaning of fritted-disk glassware. The author has used s. Model BO Pel-Sonic cleaner equipped with magnetic transducers for approximately five years. This model is produced by Pelton & Crane and retails for $750. Experimentation with the cleaner has resulted in a. significant swing in glassware with ground glass joints and stopcocks. The intensity of the sonio radiations can be controlled easily to produce vibrations consistent with the job to be performed and the medium of propagation. Acidio or basic solutions may be used in the bath as required in a specific cleaning process. The sonic cleaner also is useful in the mixing of solutions, the freeing of "frozen" hypodermic syringes, and in the cleanine of de~ositsof invisible erit from elassware cut on s water-cooled esrbomndum wheel meoaratorv t n glassworkir~gp n ~ r d w e r . R s , A and mrwr.!l q,wirneu~9 s well a3 metal pwt5 mxy dct, l w eh~ilyclcmed. .\ dlitim.1 hdv,a.rnceof tlwsmct: ~.lc.,nrri i LIP rwltwtic,~~ uf t l ~ ~ ~ l : ~ ~ ~ ~ e r ~1,renkngr ~ f d ~ nroddicnteglnsswnn~ ~ayeor arcompnnying rhe hand clvenmg prvcesi ll~.n.rver,a11 g.urawurP .ilrould be mqwvted fur vrulrlia pTPI>HTHIOT) 10 I T C R I ment in the sonic cleaner as the cavitations may cause an extension of a crack in the glassware. The sonic cleaner has a great potential in the chemical laboratory as well as in the glass shop. The piezoelectric crystal type appears to be superior to the trsnaducer-equipped sonic cleaner. Either type will pay for itself in s. very short period of time in the salvage of glassware. WILLIAMB. ROBERTSON
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460
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Journal o f Chemical Education
