glass pycnometer
Datecirca 1900
Inventory Number1998-1-0292
ClassificationPycnometer
Subject
Maker
American
?
User
Bowdoin College, Department of Physics
founded after 1794
Cultural Region
Place of Use
Dimensions16.4 x 2.2 x 2.2 cm (6 7/16 x 7/8 x 7/8 in.)
storage: 6 x 29.5 x 6 cm (2 3/8 x 11 5/8 x 2 3/8 in.)
storage: 6 x 29.5 x 6 cm (2 3/8 x 11 5/8 x 2 3/8 in.)
Material
DescriptionA small device consisting of a cylindrical glass bottle with a narrow neck and a side tube entering diagonally near the top and extending vertically upwards for several inches to end in an open mouth that can be closed with a hollow arrow-shaped glass cap. Attached tightly but freely to the neck of the bottle is a large thermometer with its bulb inside it almost touching the bottom. This thermometer is longer than the bottle and consists of a thin capillary on a scale, all inside a larger glass tube. The thermometer has a range from about 4 to 50 degrees (probably Celsius).
There is some rusted metal wire wrapped around the thermometer where it meets the glass bottle.
There is some rusted metal wire wrapped around the thermometer where it meets the glass bottle.
Signedunsigned
Inscribedon label: Pycnometer for measuring the specific gravity of liquids. C. 1900. With handwritten scale calibrated from 6 to 50 (no units). Used in Bowdoin College research labs.
FunctionThis is a device for accurately measuring the density of a liquid at a specific temperature, by comparing the weight of the empty (or water-filled) bottle with that of when it is filled with the liquid of unknown density.
Knowing the weight of the pycnometer when it is empty or full of liquid of a known density, one would fill it with the liquid to be determined, closing it then with the thermometer. The excess liquid should leave through the side tube and one must make sure no air is left inside. Then one would measure its new weight and use it to calculate the liquid's density.
Knowing the weight of the pycnometer when it is empty or full of liquid of a known density, one would fill it with the liquid to be determined, closing it then with the thermometer. The excess liquid should leave through the side tube and one must make sure no air is left inside. Then one would measure its new weight and use it to calculate the liquid's density.
ProvenanceFrom the Department of Physics, Bowdoin College.
Todd Scientific Company
Date: 1955-1965
Object number: 1996-1-0396
A. Gallenkamp and Company, Ltd.
Date: circa 1906
Accessories: wood carrying case
Object number: 1998-1-0069
Negretti and Zambra
Date: circa 1887
Accessories: spare outer tube
Object number: 1998-1-1260b
Carl Zeiss Jena
Date: circa 1926
Accessories: wooden box with two hook-and-eye latches to fasten front opening; in instrument file: instruction book (photocopy); Geissler tube labeled "H2"; carboard tube containing German thermometer C in stainless steel holder that screws into instrument; glass bottle with cork stopper labeled "Monobromnaphthalin, Germany nD=1 658"; small round cardboard box labeled "For Pulfrich Refractometer" containing one tubulure
Object number: 1996-1-0229
Taylor Instrument Companies
Date: circa 1930
Accessories: chart "RELATIVE HUMIDITY" in holder stored in file folder
Object number: 1998-1-0285
Henry J. Green
Date: circa 1900
Accessories: wrapped in cotton with two other thermometers
Object number: 1998-1-1268c
Bausch & Lomb Optical Company
Date: 1930-1940
Accessories: case; thermometer; immersion prisms (5); calibration cells (3); other prism
Object number: 1996-1-0682
Distillation Products Industries
Date: circa 1940
Object number: 1998-1-0034
Dr. H. Geissler, Nachfolger Franz Müller
Date: 1890-1920
Accessories: black cardboard case with green inner surface
Object number: 4399