The Ammonia Fountain-An To the Editor:
LETTERS A Handy Spirit Lamp
To the Editor:
I would like to share with your readers the following design for a handy spirit lamp. Although chemistry laboratories seldom lack Bunsen burners or svirit lamus. - . situations do arise occasionally when one must improvise a spirit lamp from the materials at hand. I t might be necessary, for example, to shut off the gas supply, or a spirit lamp might he out of reach a t some odd hour when a hurner is required for urgent work. The need might also arise when a chemistry department has moved into a new building which is not completed. For such times, the following lamp is convenient and can be used for most of the laboratory work for which a hurner is used. The spirit lamp is constructed of materials normally available in the chemistry laboratory: a 1Ci-ml Pyrexa conical flask or bottle having a 19/26 socket joint and a Pyrex reduction adapter having a 19/26 cone and a 14/23 socket. Strips of cloth messed into a roll serve as a wick. The roll must he thick enough to fit snugly into the reduction adapter. The upper part of the wick is passed through the reduction adapter, and the lower part, of course, reaches the bottom of the conical flask or bottle. Alcohol is poured into the conical flask or bottle, the reduction adapter is placed in position, and the wick is lighted. The flame mav be adiusted by pushinp the ~~~~
.~
~~~~~~
~~~
a bit below the upper edge of the reduction adapter, and the lamp is kept closed with a cork to prevent evaporation of alcohol. When i t is needed again, the cork is removed, the wick is pushed up and lighted. The - --- lamn can serve other functions in the laboratorv as well. A small flame may be obtained by reducing the size of the wick. and thus it can be used as a substitute for a microburner. 111l ~ g hiwratories, e [he ~piritlamp is useiul a
