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Thermometers

NEMO-Chemistry - 2-1-2018 at 08:44

I just won a load thermometers on ebay, most are no good to me, the temp span is really low on them.

Some are like 80-85c and so on, they look like they have a ground glass part, so i assume they are designed to fit in a flask.

I got them for the mercury, but I will keep a couple of each! I have a great collection of Mercury thermometers now

.

Oh BTW how many? 96!

I didnt pay the price shown (far from it), so i think i got a decent deal..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263408774111

It says sold for £66 but I paid £12 with free postage

The Austrian Scientist - 2-1-2018 at 08:45

Nice

NEMO-Chemistry - 2-1-2018 at 09:45

Quote: Originally posted by The Austrian Scientist

Nice

Yeah is almost a shame to break most them open, but I will keep 2 of each.

The Austrian Scientist - 2-1-2018 at 10:00

What are you going to do to the Hg?

[Edited on 2-1-2018 by The Austrian Scientist]

Sulaiman - 2-1-2018 at 10:29

I believe that you have short scale thermometers ... KEEP A SET

If you have complete sets, I'd like to buy a set

The combined length of scales gives precision, without a REALLY long stem.

They usually contain a lot of mercury, which contributes towards precision and linearity.

IF the thermometers have ground glass cones, then I can't afford a set

Dr.Bob - 2-1-2018 at 10:46

If they are really nice ones, I would save most and try to resell them, limited range ones cost a fortune. And ones with 10/30 joints are also pricey.

Mercury is not that hard to find if you look around, plus much easier to store in a thermometer. It is neat to have some, but a pain to store, move, ship or dispose of, etc, due to growing regulations. If you were in the US, I would offer to swap mercury for therms in a heartbeat. But maybe you can find someone willing to swap a few therms for some bulk mercury. Check around here and other chemistry forums.

NEMO-Chemistry - 2-1-2018 at 11:29

I thought they were worthless! I feel guilty now, i told the guy they were not worth the price as they had limited use. I told him i would take them off his hands for the mercury......

I didnt pay anything like the £66 it says.

I dont know what a full set it is, but these ones are as follows.

There are 11 in the range of 25-30
There are 21 in the range of 33-45
There are 27 in the range of 45-60
There are 16 in the range of 70-80
There are 19 in the range of 95-110

Is that a full set?

Some pics from the listing, so what you think? is this a full set?

NEMO-Chemistry - 2-1-2018 at 11:40

its ok i spotted the gaps in the ranges.

Vosoryx - 2-1-2018 at 11:50

Awesome deal!

Jealous.

NEMO-Chemistry - 2-1-2018 at 11:57

Well it looks like a couple of UK members are wanting some, so that makes it worth it to me. Its nice to be able to help out those who have helped me.

Lots like this pop up and now and then, i dont normally bother, but in future i might grab some more. I will post some pics of my collection so far. My favorite is a 0-360C in 0.1 increments, will be real handy with the Melting point app

Radium212 - 2-1-2018 at 14:24

Nice! Love bulk listing of anything. Maybe use the mercury is a Sprengel pump?

Magpie - 2-1-2018 at 14:46

My problem with thermometers is that often times I cannot read them because the area of interest is below the thermometer holder. I often mix 24/40 and 19/22 adapters which makes things worse. So, I have gone to a K-type thermocouple in a rubber stopper.

Dr.Bob - 2-1-2018 at 19:29

I've seen a lot of therms, but never anything quite like those. They appear designed to hang into a flask, and read while inside the flask. Perhaps they were for sensitive reactions which required careful temperature control like nitration reactions. They might have been custom made for specific reactions, or parts of a set, and the customer only got certain ones.

They also look old. Is there any text or markings on the them? I would look around and see if there are anything like them posted on Ebay or other sites, it would be a shame to break them if they are rare or historic items. But you have plenty, so hard to say. If it were not so hard to ship them overseas, I would buy some as they are just so unique. I have a few odd ones, but not 90+. Sadly the best one was 3' long and eventually got broken, as it was nearly impossible to store in a safe place. It was like -10 to 260 in 0.1C marks or something like that.

NEMO-Chemistry - 3-1-2018 at 03:10

I use a K couple now for most things, except for accuracy.

Dr Bob these came fro a well known Custom glass blower, they were made in the 1960's and have been stored at the workshop since. I havnt got them at home yet, so cant give much more detail, the other info was in the listing. And i asked the seller a few questions.

If it was anything but mercury i would consider posting to the states. I might ask SWIM lol if they can do it, I wont send them myself as I am now a registered business, i dont want to risk all the time and money i have spent setting it up.

But i am sure I can find a way to get some over there, someone else wants some as well, i might even look into shipping by sea! Because I can prove the age etc i should be able to sell and ship as historical items or whatever.

I have a message this morning from the seller, they also have the calibration certs from the day they were made! He also thinks there are some more, So just maybe we do have a complete set! The guy selling them is just a disposal company, they do company closures etc. He calls me now and then with science stuff from universities.

If I can get them to you, I wouldnt ask much for them. I like the idea of them going somewhere they will be looked after. I honestly thought they were just crap, until it got pointed out to me.

They didnt cost much, so i wont be breaking them now. I can afford to keep hold of most of them and give some away to people who would like some. I can get mercury from some other stuff I have.

Tonight I will post some the unusual therms I have, one is broken and really unusual, i would love to get it fixed! I know it would never be accurate again, but when you see it you will understand why i want it fixed! It comes in a black painted solid Brass tube.

I collect alot of really old scientific glassware and bits, i like the old stuff alot!

Radium212 - 3-1-2018 at 03:18

Lucky you.

NEMO-Chemistry - 3-1-2018 at 03:27

Lucky yes in a way, but also alot of work has gone into calling people and developing a relationship with people. I hate the thought of old glassware being thrown out.

j_sum1 - 3-1-2018 at 04:40

These sound really interesting.
Set some aside for SS gifts.

NEMO-Chemistry - 3-1-2018 at 08:33

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1

These sound really interesting.
Set some aside for SS gifts.

Your like my mum, she was in the boxing day sales looking for bargains for next years Christmas lol.

Shes got the Christmas Cards for next already!

weilawei - 3-1-2018 at 10:38

NEMO-Chemistry, I sent you a U2U.

PirateDocBrown - 3-1-2018 at 13:34

Goodness! Wish I was over in the UK for this!

NEMO-Chemistry - 3-1-2018 at 19:22

Quote: Originally posted by weilawei

NEMO-Chemistry, I sent you a U2U.

Spotted it.

They should be here tomorrow, i will reply once i got my paws on them

NEMO-Chemistry - 3-1-2018 at 19:25

Had alot of u2u's on this. And to think i thought i had brought crap!! I will answer all u2u's. But for now it looks likes I have takers for the spares ones (assuming they arrive here safely and not broken!).

NEMO-Chemistry - 4-1-2018 at 12:47

Well they came today! I havnt had a good look yet, once everyone is out the way I will go through them. With luck some pics as well, i tried a couple of pics earlier with the camera. the depth of field was really bad. I havnt a clue how to use this camera properly, so will use the phone camera later.

The guy i was dealing with dosnt speak great English, so i could be wrong... he thinks he has more of these from the place they cleared, from what he told me i am thinking these may be the missing ranges.

The place they cleared was a special glass blowers, i have opened 2 tubes only, they look good quality and certainly would fit with the 1960's time frame i was given. Some one asked about joint size, the two i looked at i think are around 14's. I will try them later to make sure.

I am going to sort my glass ware out to make some money, i want a couple of things for my lab. So i might post some stuff up in the next few days for sale. I got some really odd glass i havnt a clue what its for.

Because of shipping, a friend of mine that does chemistry with me now and then, has agreed to take some of the thermometers. He mentioned he dosnt mind sending them outside the UK as scientific instruments. I hope others understand why personally i dont want to be involved in shipping these

.

I am also keeping a couple of sets, mainly just for my odd glass collection

, and the fact i seem to have ended up with an unintentional thermometer museum, along with a hydrometer museum!!

NEMO-Chemistry - 4-1-2018 at 16:42

Just opened some, some of these were sealed and have never been opened. I am going through them carefully, so far i have found one with a tiny crack. Some pics of them,i have no idea how they got the ranges. Two i opened that were brand new were not marked on the outside pack, they turned out to be a different range from the advert.
So it is possible we do have a full set... But keep in mind when you look at the pic of the cracked one, its going to take a couple of days to check them carefully! The crack was hard to see, last thing i want is to send anyone a cracked one!!

Now some mixed news, as you can from the back shot, these are actually size B10, on a happier note I have been given the number of a scientific glass blowing company.

I am told they make adapters from B10-B14, I am also told they are reasonable price (roughly £5-£6 each).

So anyone who wanted a set and now dosnt, please let me know. If anyone wants a price for adapters let me know.

Thx guys

NEMO-Chemistry - 12-1-2018 at 09:30

Ok these are now sorted...

I will post a list of what there is when i get a chance. Some of these were in tubes that were sealed with the original seal. Its a shame but i had to open the seals as they were not marked with the range on.

I know this sounds soft but.... My lab is REALLY cold! Cold enough most nights to freeze water if left in a condenser. This will be rectified soon as we are having a new heating system put in!! And the room i use in the house is having a radiator put in.

Which is my long way of saying sorry it took so long to sort them out! But seriously its no fun working in temps that low, even with gloves on i end up dropping things because my fingers go numb.

Sulaiman - 12-1-2018 at 10:09

In my shed, and sometimes outdoors, I use a 1/2/3/4-bar 1200W halogen heater on an extension cable from the house;
less than 20p/hour for comfort ... worth it !

It will transform your hobby

NEMO-Chemistry - 12-1-2018 at 13:02

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman

In my shed, and sometimes outdoors, I use a 1/2/3/4-bar 1200W halogen heater on an extension cable from the house;
less than 20p/hour for comfort ... worth it !

It will transform your hobby
A couple of weeks and its sorted!
But for my shed its an idea!! If the trip switch thing can take the extra load, actually next big job is to rewire my lab safely, it needs more sockets and less cables strewn about.
But I agree its awful when its so cold you shiver non stop, great for the solvents, not for people.