This 200 mL Kjeldahl flask was made by Schott & Genossen. In 1883 Danish chemist Johan Kjeldahl (1849–1900) of the Carlsberg Laboratory published the Kjeldahl method. It was the first accurate, simple, and speedy way to determine nitrogen content in organic matter.
Kjeldahl’s employer, Carlsberg Laboratory, had been originally established as a place for scientific research to perfect the process of beer making. Later, the laboratory took on a broader mission to contribute to pure research. The need for the Kjeldahl method grew from his analysis of the protein content of grains for beers at different stages—from germination to fermentation as beer wort. Analyses of nitrogen content can be used to quantify the amount of protein in a sample, and protein content of grains influences the volume of beer they produce.
The Kjeldahl method proved to have wide-ranging applications and was quickly adopted by scientists from a variety of fields. In the mid-2010s, the method (with minor modifications) was still in use for purposes ranging from analysis of protein in foods to nitrogen content in soil samples. To “Kjeldahl” a sample has become a verb in chemical parlance, considered by some the greatest honor bestowed by the chemical community.
Along with his method, Kjeldahl’s name also became attached to a piece of laboratory equipment he developed in 1888. The long-necked, round-bottomed flask was ideal for avoiding splashback when heating solutions. Splashback was a threat during the first step of the Kjeldahl method—which requires heating the sample in concentrated sulfuric acid.
Glastechnisches Laboratorium Schott und Genossen (Glass Technology Laboratory, Schott & Associates), later the Jenaer Glasswerk Schott & Gen. (Jena Glassworks, Schott & Associates), was founded in 1884 by Otto Schott (1851–1935), Ernst Abbe (1840–1905), Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), and Zeiss' son Roderick.
In 1881 Schott, a chemist from a family of glassmakers, and Abbe, a physicist with an interest in optics, formed a research partnership. Together they hoped to perfect a chemical glass formula for lenses in optical instruments like microscopes and telescopes. Their original goal was to develop glasses of high quality and purity with consistent optical properties. As their research expanded, they eventually developed the first borosilicate glasses. Their strength against chemical attack and low coefficient of thermal expansion made them better suited to the harsh circumstances of the chemical laboratory than any other glass.
Jena Glass quickly became a success among the scientific community, widely considered the best on the market until World War I.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Baker, Ray Stannard. Seen in Germany. Chautauqua, N. Y.: 1908. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433043165608.
Burns, D. Thorburn, and W. I. Stephen. “Kjeldahl Centenary Meeting.” Analytical Proceedings 21, no. 6 (1984): 210–20. doi:10.1039/AP9842100210.
Cauwood, J.D., and W.E.S. Turner. “The Attack of Chemical Reagents on Glass Surfaces, and a Comparison of Different Types of Chemical Glassware.” Journal of the Society of Glass Technology 1 (1917): 153–62.
Hovestadt, Heinrich. Jena Glass and Its Scientific and Industrial Applications. London, New York: Macmillan, 1902.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
Pfaender, H. G. Schott Guide to Glass. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
Sáez-Plaza, Purificación, Tadeusz Michałowski, María José Navas, Agustín García Asuero, and Sławomir Wybraniec. “An Overview of the Kjeldahl Method of Nitrogen Determination. Part I. Early History, Chemistry of the Procedure, and Titrimetric Finish.” Critical Reviews in Analytical Chemistry 43, no. 4 (2013): 178–223. doi:10.1080/10408347.2012.751786.
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
Walker, Percy H. Comparative Tests of Chemical Glassware. Washington, D.C.: 1918. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086545707.
This object is an evaporating dish made from Pyrex glass. An evaporating dish is a round, low dish with a spout used for evaporation in chemistry. Often they are made from porcelain but they can also be made from glass.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
This object is a 50 mL volumetric flask made from Pyrex glass. Volumetric flasks are calibrated with great accuracy, for the purpose of preparing dilutions and solutions of a precise volume.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
Markel, Howard. “Science Diction: The Origin Of The Petri Dish.” ScienceFriday.com. December 16, 2011. http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/12/16/2011/science-diction-the-origin-of-the-petri-dish.html.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
Petri, R.J. “Eine Kleine Modification Des Koch’schen Plattenverfahrens.” Centralblatt Fur Bacteriologie Und Parasitenkunde 1 (1887): 279–80.
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
This object is a Soxhlet’s extraction tube made from Pyrex glass. The Soxhlet extraction uses a solvent to extract organic compounds from a solid matrix. The extraction is named for its inventor, Franz Ritter von Soxhlet (1848–1926), a German chemist who worked on issues of milk chemistry. He developed the procedure, first described in 1879, as a way to separate the fats from milk solids. It remains a popular and important method for chemistry, biochemistry, and industry, particularly as they relate to food, plastic, and oil. In the 1980s the procedure was automated through the Soxtec extraction system.
Soxhlet’s original bench extraction requires a specialized piece of glassware known as Soxhlet’s extraction tube. The tube is open at both the top and the bottom and features two side arms. For the extraction, Soxhlet’s extraction tube is assembled into an apparatus with three other pieces of labware: a condenser, a porous thimble (containing the solid), and a boiling flask (placed beneath the extractor).
The solid sample is placed in a porous thimble (essentially a dense tube of filter paper). The thimble rests in the bottom of the body of the extractor tube. The apparatus is then assembled with the condenser on top, extractor in the middle, and boiling flask below. The solvent boils in the boiling flask, and vaporized solvent rises through one side arm of the extractor to the condenser. Once condensed back into a liquid, it drips down through the extraction tube onto the solid within the thimble, passing through it and extracting organic compounds.
The solvent gradually builds up in the bottom of the extraction tube and the siphon side arm. Once the level of the solvent in the side arm reaches the top of the siphon, the siphon drains the main body of the extractor of its solvent. Drained solvent (with its dissolved compounds) returns to the boiling flask, where it revaporizes to continue the extraction.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal
shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
Mitra, Somenath. Sample Preparation Techniques in Analytical Chemistry. John Wiley & Sons, 2004.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
Soxhlet Extraction with Dr. Mark Niemczyk, Ph.D. 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLq35x0g46g.
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
This object is a 500 mL boiling flask made from Pyrex glass. The boiling flask, also known as a round bottom flask, is a chemical vessel with a spherical body and a cylindrical neck. It is most often used when heating solutions, particularly for distillation.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
This object is a 25 mL volumetric pipette made from Pyrex glass. Volumetric pipettes are designed to be highly accurate for a specific volume. They can be used to transfer that volume of liquid for use in creating a solution or dilution.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
Ridley, John. Essentials of Clinical Laboratory Science. Cengage Learning, 2010.
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
This object is a 50 mL Griffin beaker made from Pyrex glass. Short, squat beakers are referred to as Griffin beakers, differentiating them from taller, thinner beakers known as Berzelius beakers. The Griffin beaker’s name refers to John Joseph Griffin (1802–1877), an English chemistry enthusiast. His interest in bringing chemistry to the common man led him to publish popular works on the subject and eventually to begin supplying scientific apparatus, including his eponymous beakers.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
This object is a 25 mL volumetric flask made from Pyrex glass. Volumetric flasks are calibrated with great accuracy, for the purpose of preparing dilutions and solutions of a precise volume.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
Markel, Howard. “Science Diction: The Origin Of The Petri Dish.” ScienceFriday.com. December 16, 2011. http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/12/16/2011/science-diction-the-origin-of-the-petri-dish.html.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
Petri, R.J. “Eine Kleine Modification Des Koch’schen Plattenverfahrens.” Centralblatt Fur Bacteriologie Und Parasitenkunde 1 (1887): 279–80.
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
This object is a retort made by Josef Kavlier. Retorts are among the oldest forms of glassware used in chemistry. With their bulbs and long necks, they are suitable for distillation—the separation of one material from another through heating. The bulb containing the sample is heated and the resulting gases travel along the neck to a second collecting vessel.
The chemical glassware of Josef Kavalier (1831–1903) of Bohemia was considered to be among the best available for the lab in the mid- to late- 19th century. The Kavalier brand started with Josef’s father Frantisek Kavalir (1796–1853) (the family later added an “e” to make the name easier for international customers). In the 1830s Frantisek developed a very hard, resistant glass which he used to produce chemical glassware at his glassworks in Sázava. He worked with renowned Swedish chemist Jons Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) to design new forms and shapes to replace earlier flasks and alembics, and became one of the first exporters of specially made chemical glass. Frantisek’s sons, including Josef, continued the business after his death.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Langhamer, Antonín. The Legend of Bohemian Glass: A Thousand Years of Glassmaking in the Heart of Europe. Tigris, 2003.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
This object is a boiling flask made from Pyrex glass. The boiling flask, also known as a round bottom flask, is a chemical vessel with a spherical body and a cylindrical neck. It is most often used when heating solutions, particularly for distillation.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
This object is a 10 mL Griffin beaker made from Pyrex glass. Short, squat beakers are referred to as Griffin beakers, differentiating them from taller, thinner beakers known as Berzelius beakers. The Griffin beaker’s name refers to John Joseph Griffin (1802–1877), an English chemistry enthusiast. His interest in bringing chemistry to the common man led him to publish popular works on the subject and eventually to begin supplying scientific apparatus, including his eponymous beakers.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
This object is a stoppered 1000 mL Erlenmeyer flask made of Pyrex glass. The Erlenmeyer flask is named for Emil Erlenmeyer (1825–1909), a German organic chemist who designed the flask in 1861. The flask is often used for stirring or heating solutions and is purposefully designed to be useful for those tasks. The narrow top allows it to be stoppered, the sloping sides prevent liquids from slopping out when stirred, and the flat bottom can be placed on a heating mechanism or apparatus.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
Ridley, John. Essentials of Clinical Laboratory Science. Cengage Learning, 2010.
Sella, Andrea. “Classic Kit: Erlenmeyer Flask,” July 2008. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2008/July/ErlenmeyerFlask.asp.
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
This modified Claisen flask is made of Pyrex glass.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
This object is a test tube made of Pyrex glass. The test tube is one of the most commonly used pieces of laboratory ware. Test tubes are the perfect shape and size to hold small amounts of substances, usually liquid, which are then manipulated in some way, such as being placed over the flame of a Bunsen burner.
Two renowned chemists, Jons Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) and Michael Faraday (1791–1867), have been suggested as the inventor of the test tube. Berzelius describes the more robust cousin of the test tube, the boiling tube, in an 1814 article. Faraday mentions that small glass tubes would make a useful vessel for test reactions in his 1827 book, Chemical Manipulation. Either way, the test tube likely has its origins in the early 19th century, as the form does not seem to appear in 18th century chemistry sets. Instead, earlier texts suggest carrying out test reactions in wine glasses.
Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
This object is part of a collection donated by Barbara Keppel, wife of C. Robert Keppel. Robert Keppel taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from M.I.T. The glassware in the Keppel collection covers the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sources:
Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jackson, Catherine M. “The ‘Wonderful Properties of Glass’: Liebig’s Kaliapparat and the Practice of Chemistry in Glass.” Isis 106, no. 1 (2015): 43–69. doi:10.1086/681036.
Jensen, William B. “Michael Faraday and the Art and Science of Chemical Manipulation.” Bulletin for the History of Chemistry, no. 11 (1991): 65–76.
Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
“University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
The glass graduate is a form of glassware used for measuring precise volumes of liquids, particularly by pharmacists. Over time, the graduate has been produced in a variety of shapes, from a flat-bottomed, beaker form to a footed cylinder, tumbler, or cone.
Whitall Tatum Company was among the first American glass companies to manufacture chemical glassware, starting as early as the late 1870s. Based in Millville, New Jersey, the company’s factory produced chemical and other glassware for over 150 years, finally closing its doors in 1999.
Whitall Tatum donated this object to the museum in 1931, at the request of Charles Whitebread, assistant curator in the Division of Medicine. Whitebread planned to use the object as a part of a series of exhibits illustrating “historical and practical phases of medicine and pharmacy.”
Sources:
Harrison, Charles. Cumberland County, New Jersey: 265 Years of History. The History Press, 2013.
Levy, Bernard. “Pharmacy Graduates in Use from 1880 to 1920.” Pharmacy in History 26, no. 3 (1984): 150–54.
National Museum of American History Accession File #113583
Rosenfeld, Louis. Four Centuries of Clinical Chemistry. CRC Press, 1999.
This graduate was made by Whitall Tatum Company. The glass graduate is a form of glassware used for measuring precise volumes of liquids, particularly by pharmacists. Over time, the graduate has been produced in a variety of shapes, from a flat-bottomed, beaker form to a footed cylinder, tumbler, or cone.
Whitall Tatum Company was among the first American glass companies to manufacture chemical glassware, starting as early as the late 1870s. Based in Millville, New Jersey, the company’s factory produced chemical and other glassware for over 150 years, finally closing its doors in 1999. The company sold glassware under a variety of trade names, among them Acme, Phenix, and Duplex. Phenix was generally regarded as the higher-end brand. Its Duplex-branded glassware featured marks in two standards, with metric on one side and U.S. fluid on the other.
Whitall Tatum donated this object to the Museum in 1921, at the request of Charles Whitebread, assistant curator in the Division of Medicine. Whitebread planned to use the object as a part of an exhibit to illustrate pharmaceutical methods used in the manufacture of medicine. He hoped to “illustrate some of the operations to which crude drugs are subjected to get them into a form suitable for administration.” The methods he planned to display included: vaporization, distillation, sublimation, comminution, desiccation, sifting, levigation, precipitation, dialysis, expression, percolation, solution, lotion or displacement washing, decantation, collation or straining, filtration, and separation of immiscible liquids.
Sources:
American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record. 1900. Vol. 36. American Druggist Publishing Company.
Harrison, Charles. Cumberland County, New Jersey: 265 Years of History. The History Press, 2013.
Levy, Bernard. “Pharmacy Graduates in Use from 1880 to 1920.” Pharmacy in History 26, no. 3 (1984): 150–54.
National Museum of American History Accession File #67053
Rosenfeld, Louis. Four Centuries of Clinical Chemistry. CRC Press, 1999.
This oil flask, designed by Charles Lindbergh, was used in conjunction with the Lindbergh-Carrel perfusion pump (see record MG*M-09361) in experiments at Rockefeller Institute to keep small animal organs alive outside of the body. The organ was kept sterile within the inner chambers of the perfusion pump while a nutrient-rich fluid was pumped into the organ’s artery. The oil flask provided the pulsating power for the system. When connected to the pump, the flask operated like an oil piston to drive the nutrient solution through the animal organ. The flask, like the perfusion pump, was made from Pyrex glass by master glassblower Otto Hopf, who worked at Rockefeller Institute at the time Alexis Carrel (1873–1944) was carrying out his investigations in tissue and organ culture.
The oil flask consists of two chambers and seven openings. When in operation it was partially filled with oil and connected through rubber tubing to a gas cylinder, an air tank, and several perfusion pumps. Pulses of air entered the outer chamber of the flask at the lower valve, driving oil up through the inner chamber and compressing the control gas, which entered the upper chamber at one of the top valves. This compressed gas transmitted pulses of pressure to the perfusion pumps, which drove the perfusion fluid through the pump and to the animal organ resting in the upper chamber. The oil flask was designed to operate three perfusion pumps, a configuration that was utilized by Lindbergh and Carrel in their experiments. Lindbergh describes in detail the perfusion pump, oil flask, and the apparatus assembly in his 1935 article “An Apparatus for the Culture of Whole Organs” and in the 1938 book The Culture of Organs.
Sources:
Carrel, Alexis, and Charles A. Lindbergh. The Culture of Organs. New York: P.B. Hoeber, Inc., 1938.
Lindbergh, C. A. “An Apparatus for the Culture of Whole Organs.” The Journal of Experimental Medicine 62.3 (1935): 409–31. PMC. Web. 14 July 2015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2133279/
This glass pipette, from the University of Michigan Medical School Hygienic Laboratory, was used to transfer small quantities of liquids from one vessel to another in bacteriological investigations. The pipettes were used like straws—the liquid to be transferred was drawn up through mouth suction and the tongue or finger used to close off the tube while the material was moved to another test tube or flask.
The Michigan laboratory was established in 1887 under the direction of Dr. Victor Vaughan (1851–1929), Professor of Hygiene and Physiological Chemistry and his assistant Frederick Novy (1864–1957). The laboratory was one of the first in the country to offer courses in the relatively new science of bacteriology. Vaughan and Novy traveled to Europe to learn bacteriological techniques at Robert Koch’s laboratory in Berlin and also visited Pasteur’s laboratory in Paris. Equipment for the new laboratory was purchased during this trip. Novy credits the Pasteur school for developing the methods for preparing and using the glass pipettes. He describes these techniques for his students in his laboratory manual published in 1899.
The pipettes were made from lengths of standard glass tubing of about fourteen inches. The tubes were heated in the middle over a blast-lamp until soft and the two ends slowly drawn apart to form a long thin capillary. This was then heated again at the center to completely seal and divide the tube thus forming two pipettes. The pipettes were then sterilized and cotton plugs inserted in the open end to prevent further contamination. Thus prepared, a quantity of pipettes could be kept on hand until needed during investigations.
Sources:
Novy, Frederick G. Laboratory Work in Bacteriology. Ann Arbor, Mich.: G. Wahr, 1899. 456–60. https://books.google.com/books?id=bkdwAAAAIAAJ
This glass pipette, from the University of Michigan Medical School Hygienic Laboratory, was used to transfer small quantities of liquids from one vessel to another in bacteriological investigations. The pipettes were used like straws—the liquid to be transferred was drawn up through mouth suction and the tongue or finger used to close off the tube while the material was moved to another test tube or flask.
The Michigan laboratory was established in 1887 under the direction of Dr. Victor Vaughan (1851–1929), Professor of Hygiene and Physiological Chemistry and his assistant Frederick Novy (1864–1957). The laboratory was one of the first in the country to offer courses in the relatively new science of bacteriology. Vaughan and Novy traveled to Europe to learn bacteriological techniques at Robert Koch’s laboratory in Berlin and also visited Pasteur’s laboratory in Paris. Equipment for the new laboratory was purchased during this trip. Novy credits the Pasteur school for developing the methods for preparing and using the glass pipettes. He describes these techniques for his students in his laboratory manual published in 1899.
The pipettes were made from lengths of standard glass tubing of about fourteen inches. The tubes were heated in the middle over a blast-lamp until soft and the two ends slowly drawn apart to form a long thin capillary. This was then heated again at the center to completely seal and divide the tube thus forming two pipettes. The pipettes were then sterilized and cotton plugs inserted in the open end to prevent further contamination. Thus prepared, a quantity of pipettes could be kept on hand until needed during investigations.
Sources:
Novy, Frederick G. Laboratory Work in Bacteriology. Ann Arbor, Mich.: G. Wahr, 1899. 456–60. https://books.google.com/books?id=bkdwAAAAIAAJ