Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) A HANDBOOK OF LABORATORY GLASS-BLOWING _To my Friends Eric Reid and Sidney Wilkinson_ A Handbook of Laboratory Glass-Blowing BY BERNARD D. BOLAS WITH NUMEROUS DIAGRAMS IN THE TEXT BY NAOMI BOLAS [Illustration] LONDON GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LTD NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. 1921 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. Introduction and Preliminary Remarks--General Principles to be observed in Glass Working--Choice of Apparatus--Tools and Appliances--Glass 1 II. Easy Examples of Laboratory Glass-Blowing--Cutting and Sealing Tubes, Tubes for High Temperature Experiments--Thermometer-Bulbs, Bulbs of Special Glass, Pipettes, Absorption-Bulbs or Washing Bulbs--Joining Tubes, Branches, Exhaustion-Branches, Branches of Dissimilar Glass, Blowing Bulbs, A Thistle Funnel, Cracking and Breaking Glass, Leading and Direction of Cracks--Use of Glass Rod or Strips of Window-Glass, Joining Rod, Feet and Supports--Gripping Devices for use in Corrosive Solutions--The Building up of Special Forms from Solid Glass 10 III. Internal Seals, Air-Traps, Spray Arresters, Filter-Pumps--Sprays, Condensers; plain, double surface, and spherical--Soxhlet Tubes and Fat Extraction Apparatus--Vacuum Tubes, Electrode Work, Enclosed Thermometers, Alarm Thermometers ... Recording Thermometers, "Spinning" Glass 32 IV. Glass, its Composition and Characteristics--Annealing--Drilling, Grinding, and Shaping Glass by methods other than Fusion--Stopcocks--Marking Glass--Calibration and Graduation of Apparatus--Thermometers--Exhaustion of Apparatus--Joining Glass and Metal--Silvering Glass 55 V. Extemporised Glass-Blowing Apparatus--The use of Oil or other Fuels--Making Small Rods and Tubes from Glass Scraps--The Examination of Manufactured Apparatus with a view to Discovering the Methods used in Manufacture--Summary of Conditions necessary for Successful Glass-Blowing 80 Index 105 PREFACE To cover the whole field of glass-blowing in a small handbook would be impossible. To attempt even a complete outline of the methods used in making commercial apparatus would involve more than could be undertaken without omitting the essential details of manipulation that a novice needs. I have, therefore, confined myself as far as possible to such work as will find practical application in the laboratory and will, I hope, prove of value to those whose interests lie therein.