SOME POINTERS for the HOME LABORATORY MYRON A. COLER Paragon Paint and Varnish
Corporation, Long Island City, New York
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N A previous article' the author has discussed the
"evolution" of his home laboratory, and has pointed out that compactness had been one of the prime requirements. The present article describes in some detail a few of the tricks which were particularly helpful
cocks leading to the top of the water tank, the water tank outlet, the hood baffleback, the hood roof, the water bath steam outlet, the gas line, and so forth. By means of flexible connections it is possible to connect these various lines in almost any reasonable series or parallel arrangement desired, with the minimum consumption of working space. By way of example, suppose that it is desired to carry out a re- ' action in the hood which would require a sweeping atmosphere of nitrogen and an oscillatory discharge from an induction coil. The "fluid switchboard" is right above the main table-top so that a nitrogen ~ e n e r --
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be up FIGURE2.-AN ARRANGEMENT the and .OR SUPPORTING GLASSWARE connected to the hood A-Cross-section showing a flask neck in position. roof inlet; when B-Isometric drawing of splitthe baffle-back outlet block shown in A. is connected to the exhaust line and the hood is properly sealed a sweeping atmosphere of nitrogen will be maintained within. The induction coil, input potentiometer, and so forth, can be set up in another compartment, and by means of the electric outlets mounted in this compartment and in the hood the two may be tied in on the electrical switchboard so that the output of the induction coil will be available directly in the hood. Thus, although the hood space is very small (length 15 inches, width 7.5 inches, and height 7.5 inches) i t is still useful because there is no need to put anything into it except such apparatus as is concerned directly with the reaction proper. On
ROR STORING LONGGLASSFIGURE1.-ARRANGEMENT WARE
A--Side of tray wall. B-Channel.
CScrew orovidinn friction hold with adiustable channel posiiion. D-Piece of glassware. E-Supporting block. in securing compactness and which may be of use to others. A "PLUID SWITCHBOARD"
We a, all familiar with the use of electrical switchboards which permit all major connections and modifications of one or more remote circuits to be made in a relatively small space; the corresponding set-up for "fluid services" is not so common. It has proved very convenient to mount on a sinele board tubes and stop-
A FLEXIBLE FAUCET
By the attachment of a piece of liquid-tight flexible tubihg, such as the helicalstock used for desk lamps, to a mounted metal stopcock a faucet which will "stay 172
put" in almost any position may be obtained. I t may be left in the form of an ordinary goose neck or be bent so as to spray water on a particular piece of equipment in such a way as to completely avoid splashing, and so forth. STORAGE OF LONG GLASSWARE
on top. Blocks of wood of mated cross-section rest between the bars and are provided with holes or slots for accommodating flasks, funnels, and so forth. An arrangement using a pierced split-block is shown in Figure 2. Since the scheme does not require that flasks or bottles be inverted, they may be left stored or soaking with full contents. Moreover, since each piece may be re-
Due to the well-known flowing properties of glass, long nnrron. pieces will often warp under vertical storagr conditions unless suspended. I n the case of intricate shaped apparatus in which certain alignments must be preserved, a multitude of auxiliary supports may be required. A very convenient arrangement for storing such glassware consists of a sufficiently long horizontal drawer or tray provided with a number of parallel widthwise channels. In these channels are placed snugly fitting but readily movable blocks. The blocks extend above the channels and offer depressions parallel to the length of the box in which the glassware may rest. Since the blocks are movable, support may be applied wherever it is needed. Figure 1 shows an arrangement in which the positions of the widthwise channels may also be adjusted and then fixed by means of friction holds.
Perhaps no one who has ever taken a first course in organic chemistry has escaped the irritating procedure
I moved without removing its neighbors, the full rack area may be utilized. Figures 3 and 4 and the accomTABLE COX~~N eX. TRACR S ShOWN I N
FIGURE 3.-GLASSWARE RACK: TOPVIEW of having to remove half a dozen flasks in order to withdraw a particular distilling or Claisen flask whose side-tube seemed to have a remarkable propensity for getting tied up with all of the other equipment. A very simple solution of this problem has been obtained by using a horizontal rack made up of equally spaced bars of trapezoidal cross-section, with the small base
FIGURES
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AN0
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3 funneln, ordinary, 8-cm. dia., 15-em, stem. 1 funnel, large, 15-cm, dia., 14-cm.stem. 1 iunne1, dropping, 100-cc. 1 funnel, dropping, 250~~~. 1 funnel, separatory, 500-ee. 1 flask. Erlenmeyer. 250-ec. 1 flask, Erlenmeyer, 500-ec. 1 flask, mering, 1000-cc. 1 flask Claiseo, 125-ce. 1 flask, Claisen, 500-cc. 1 Bask, Ciaircn, 1000-cc. 5 flasks, distilling, 125-cc. 2 flarks, distilling, 500-cc. 3 hottles, 750-cc. 1 bottle, 300-cc. 1 vacuum desiccator, S~inchdie. Front panel is 231/1 inches high and 10'/2inches wide. Length oi rack is 22 inches.
panying table give some idea of the space economy which may be by such an arrangement, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In addition to the acknowledgments of the previous article, special thanks are again due to Mr. William J. Withrow for the photographs.
