Description

Glass tube with a glass spiral inside. The outer glass tube has both an inlet and outlet valve.

Graham coil condensers cool and condense gasses back to their liquid forms. The gas travels through the inner coil, which has additional surface area to speed up the cooling process. The outer tube is flooded with water via the inlet and outlet tubes to speed up the cooling process even further.

Because this condensation process subjects the glassware to rapid changes in temperature, Graham condensers are made of thermal resistant borosilicate glass. This condenser is made of Pyrex, the Corning trade name for borosilicate glass. The Corning Glass Works developed a lead-free borosilicate glass as a consumer product in 1915. Though it was first used in consumer products like pie plates and casserole dishes, WWI-era shortages in laboratory equipment (which were mainly manufactured in Germany) led the company to expand into making laboratory glassware.

This object was used by the MIT Chemistry Department until it was donated to the museum in 1978. Stamped "TS 1938"