LABORATORY MANUAL

OF

GLASS-BLOWING

LABORATORY MANUAL

OF

GLASS-BLOWING

BY

FRANCIS C. FRARY, Ph. D.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, Inc.

239 WEST 39TH STREET, NEW YORK
6 BOUVERIE STREET, LONDON, E. C.
1914

Copyright, 1914, by the
McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.

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PREFACE

The purpose of this little book is to provide a clear anddetailed discussion of the elements of glass-blowing.Many laboratories in this country, especially in the west,are located a long way from any professional glass-blower,and the time and money spent in shipping broken apparatusseveral hundred miles to be mended could oftenbe saved if some of the laboratory force could seal on anew stopcock, replace a broken tube, or make sometemporary repairs. Many men in physical or chemicallaboratories have occasion to modify some piece of apparatusdesigned perhaps for other uses, or to design newapparatus. To such also, the ability to perform some ofthe operations herein described may be very valuable.

No originality is claimed for the methods here described.They are those which the author has foundmost suitable and convenient in his own work, and mosteasily learned by students. The aim has been to describeeach operation in such detail that a beginner can followthe process without help and, with practice, attainsatisfactory results. It is, however, much easier to performany of the operations described, after seeing someone else perform it correctly; since the temperature, theexact time to begin blowing the glass, and many other littledetails are very difficult to obtain from a description.

It has not been thought worth while to describe theprocess of making stopcocks, thermometers, vacuumtubes, etc., as such things can be purchased more cheaplyand of much better quality than any amateur can makeunless he is willing to spend a very large amount of timein practice. For similar reasons the manipulation ofquartz glass has been omitted.

The author will be grateful for all suggestions and criticismstending to improve the methods presented. Ifsome of them appear to be given in excessive detail, thereader will remember that many things which are obviousto the experienced worker are not so to the beginner, andthat it is the little details in the manipulation whichoften spell success or failure in glass-blowing.

F. C. F.

Minneapolis, Minn.,
January, 1914.

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CONTENTS