Erlenmeyer flask
date: label: date made
content: 1931-1985
name: label: maker
content: Corning Incorporated
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This object is a modifed 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask, known as an iodine determination 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.
label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Sources:
label: Description (Brief)
content: Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
label: Description (Brief)
content: National Museum of American History Accession File #1985.0311
label: Description (Brief)
content: Ridley, John. Essentials of Clinical Laboratory Science. Cengage Learning, 2010.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Sella, Andrea. “Classic Kit: Erlenmeyer Flask,” July 2008. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2008/July/ErlenmeyerFlask.asp.
label: Description (Brief)
content: “University of Nebraska Omaha.” 2015. Accessed May 4. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/chemistry/student-opportunities/scholarships.php.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
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content: Science Under Glass
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Barbara A. Keppel
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1985.0311.072
label: catalog number
content: 1985.0311.072
label: accession number
content: 1985.0311
objectType: label: Object Name
content: flask, Erlenmeyer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: pyrex (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 152 mm x 76 mm; 6 in x 3 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 3/4 in x 3 in x 3 in; 14.605 cm x 7.62 cm x 7.62 cm