Beaker
date: label: date made
content: after 1884
name: label: maker
content: Jena Glasswork, Schott & Associates
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This beaker is made by Schott & Genossen. Short, squat beakers are referred to as Griffin beakers, differentiating them from taller, thinner beakers known as Berzelius beakers. The Griffin beaker’s name refers to John Joseph Griffin (1802–1877), an English chemistry enthusiast. His interest in bringing chemistry to the common man led him to publish popular works on the subject and eventually to begin supplying scientific apparatus, including his eponymous beakers.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Glastechnisches Laboratorium Schott und Genossen (Glass Technology Laboratory, Schott & Associates), later the Jenaer Glasswerk Schott & Gen. (Jena Glassworks, Schott & Associates), was founded in 1884 by Otto Schott (1851–1935), Ernst Abbe (1840–1905), Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), and Zeiss' son Roderick.
label: Description (Brief)
content: In 1881 Schott, a chemist from a family of glassmakers, and Abbe, a physicist with an interest in optics, formed a research partnership. Together they hoped to perfect a chemical glass formula for lenses in optical instruments like microscopes and telescopes. Their original goal was to develop glasses of high quality and purity with consistent optical properties. As their research expanded, they eventually developed the first borosilicate glasses. Their strength against chemical attack and low coefficient of thermal expansion made them better suited to the harsh circumstances of the chemical laboratory than any other glass.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Jena Glass quickly became a success among the scientific community, widely considered the best on the market until World War I.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Sources:
label: Description (Brief)
content: Baker, Ray Stannard. Seen in Germany. Chautauqua, N. Y.: 1908. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433043165608.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Cauwood, J.D., and W.E.S. Turner. “The Attack of Chemical Reagents on Glass Surfaces, and a Comparison of Different Types of Chemical Glassware.” Journal of the Society of Glass Technology 1 (1917): 153–62.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Hovestadt, Heinrich. Jena Glass and Its Scientific and Industrial Applications. London, New York: Macmillan, 1902.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Pfaender, H. G. Schott Guide to Glass. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Sella, Andrea. “Classic Kit: Griffin’s Beaker.” Chemistry World, 2011. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2011/August/GriffinsBeaker.asp.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Walker, Percy H. Comparative Tests of Chemical Glassware. Washington, D.C.: 1918. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086545707.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Science Under Glass
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: From collection of George A. Bender (Accession 286284)
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-12931
label: catalog number
content: M-12931
label: accession number
content: 286284
label: collector/donor number
content: 191
objectType: label: Object Name
content: beaker, griffin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 1/4 in x 4 1/2 in; 13.335 cm x 11.43 cm