Glassblowing nostalgia

The article on glass-blowing brought back some pleasant memories (C&EN, Jan. 16, page 9). When I was in graduate school at Vanderbilt University in 1950, the maintenance man for laboratory equipment in the chemistry department was Tom Marshall. Tom also gave a short course in glassblowing for $10. I took his course and learned how to bend glass, join tubing, and make melting point tubes.

When I joined the research department at Monsanto in Anniston, Ala., they had a well-equipped glassblowing room in the basement of one of the buildings but no glassblower. The researchers had to blow their own glass or ask someone else to do it for them.

Some of the chemists, notably Tom Cleveland and A. F. (Buzz) Isbell, who later became a professor at Texas A&M, were quite proficient at it and happy to show us their techniques.

From making simple stirrer bearings, I worked up to stripping columns with thermowells and side arms to thermosiphon reboilers and all sorts of apparatus. Frankly, I enjoyed designing and building the apparatus as much as running the experiments.

Later, I transferred to a larger Monsanto location that had a professional glassblower. My efficiency as a chemist probably increased, but the experiments became a little less personal.

Charles H. Campbell
Cincinnati