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STORING RUBBER TUBING ROLAND S. YOUNG, D.. A. BENFIELD, and K. G. A. STRACHAN Diamond Research Laboratory, Johannesburg, South Africa
IN MOST laboratories a stock of various sizes of~ruhher tubing is kept in a drawer or cupboard, or on a shelf. Unless an exceptional amount of storage space is available, the rolls of tubing as purchased from chemical supply houses must be stacked together and they soon become mixed and untidy. A convenient arrangement to store rubber tubing in a minimum space is illustrated below. The different sizes of tubing are wound on a number of light reels, which have a slight frictional grip on a fixed shaft. The shaft may be installed in a cupboard or shelf. Spacers are provided between each reel so that they may rotate individually. If the reels turn too freely, the rubber tubing may uncoil itself. To overcome this, felt washers fixed to the shaft are placed between the reels. The reels can be made out of two pieces of 3/,& hardboard 8 in. in diameter, fastened by screws to both ends of a 13/a-in.-diameterwooden center piece 2L/rin. long. The center piece is drilled with a 3/Fin. hole to accommodate a brass rod serving as a shaft for the reels. A brass staple in the wooden center piece holds one end of the tubing firmly while winding the latter on the reel. The free end of the tubing is drawn through a hole in a piece of hardboard fixed in front of the reels. The bore and wall thickness of each type of tubimg are painted on the hardboard sheet, above or below the protruding end. Above the hardboard is fastened a transwarent olastic sheet. to afford a full view of the reels of tubing. A small drawer can be provided as in-
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dicated to hold odds and ends of tubing, or short used lengths. In this way a number of sizes of tubine can be stored neatly in a small space on a shelf or in a cupboard, readily accessible, and in full view for checking stocks. The device will be found useful in industrial laboratories and the chemical storerooms of educational institutions.
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