A hot topic – Ovens, Incubators, Materials Testing ovens, Drying Cabinets & more.

Whether you want a standard product or a completely bespoke design, Genlab prides itself on its ability to meet every customers requirements. They’ve been manufacturing ovens and incubators since 1963 and for piece of mind all units are supplied with a 2 year warranty.

Genlab Classic range of ovens:-

• 7 sizes from 6L to 100L
• Temp range 40ºC to 250ºC
• Fluctuation +/- 0.75ºC

Various options available for example

• Fan assisted circulation (over 30L)
• Stainless Steel chamber
• Prices start from £815 in the Classic Range and £990 in the Multi purpose benchtop oven

Also available are a wide range of large capacity ovens.

• Capacities 250 to 1250L
• 8 sizes (single door) and 9 sizes (twin door)
• Temp range 50ºC to 250ºC
• On screen historical trending (48hrs)
• Count down timer
• Fan assistance
• Prices start at £3690

We can also supply their range of incubators. If you are looking for an oven or incubator then get in touch. Genlab can also help with bespoke/custom oven designs – electric or gas fired.  Download the flyer now and take advantage of a 10% discount for all orders placed before 31/05/26. Download here.

Genlab offer a full range of Classic Incubators and Multi Purpose Incubators. Click on the links for full spcs/brochures.

Genlab manufacture a comprehensive range of Drying Cabinets and these units are in use in laboratories, schools and universities worldwide. Typically these particular products are used for drying items such as glassware and instruments. But they can also be used for any general purpose warming application.

The Magnetic Stirrer

A magnetic stirrer is a piece of laboratory equipment that uses a rotating magnetic field to cause a stirrer bar (also called "flea") immersed in a liquid to spin very quickly, thus stirring it.  The rotating field may be created either by a rotating magnet or a set of stationary electromagnets, placed beneath the vessel with the liquid.

Glass does not affect a magnetic field and most chemical reactions take place in glass vessels (i.e. beakers or flasks) and magnetic stirrer bars work well in glass vessels. However, the limited size of the bar means that magnetic stirrers can only be used for relatively small (under 4 litres) experiments.  They also have difficulty dealing with viscous liquids or thick suspensions.  For larger volumes or more viscous liquids, some sort of mechanical stirring is typically needed.

Magnetic Stirrer

 

Magnetic stirrers are preferred over gear-driven motorized stirrers because they are quieter, more efficient, and have no moving external parts to break or wear out (other than the simple bar magnet itself).  Due to its small size, a stirrer bar is more easily cleaned and sterilised than other stirring devices.  They do not require lubricants which could contaminate the reaction vessel and the product. They can be used inside hermetically closed vessels or systems, without the need for complicated rotary seals. Magnetic stirrers may also include a heating element to heat the liquid being stirred.

Arthur Rosinger of Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A. obtained US Patent 2,350,534, titled Magnetic Stirrer on 6 June 1944, having filed an application on 5 October 1942.   His patent includes a description of a coated bar magnet placed in a vessel, which is driven by a rotating magnet in a base below the vessel. His patent explains that coating the magnet in plastic or covering it with glass or porcelain makes it chemically inert.

The plastic-coated bar magnet was independently invented in the late 1940s by Edward McLaughlin, of the Torpedo Experimental Establishment (TEE), Greenock, Scotland, who named it the 'flea' because of the way it jumps about if the rotating magnet is driven too fast.

An even earlier patent for a magnetic mixer is US 1,242,493, issued 9 October 1917 to Richard H. Stringham of Bountiful, Utah, U.S.A. Mr. Stringman's mixer used stationary electromagnets in the base, rather than a rotating permanent magnet, to rotate the stirrer.

For more information visit:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_stirrer
http://www.prlabs.co.uk
http://www.prlabs.co.uk/news/article.php?Id=125

The Bunsen Burner

Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811-1899), a German chemist and inventor is credited with inventing the Bunsen burner, a gas burner used in scientific laboratories.

With Gustav R. Kirchhoff they pioneered work with spectrum analysis, inventing the spectroscope to detect chemicals by the colours they give off when burning. Using this instrument, they discovered the elements caesium (1860) and rubidium (1861).

Bunsen improved the efficiency of blast furnaces after observing gases escaping from them and devising a method of gas analysis. His other inventions include the ice calorimeter, a filter pump, a zinc-carbon electric cell, and the magnesium light. With Sir Henry Roscoe he did important work in the field of photochemistry.

The Bunsen Burner is used for heating chemicals, boiling water, sterilising small objects, preparing microscopic slides, bending glass tubing, and many other purposes.

The Bunsen burner consists of a straight metal tube, about five inches (13 cm) long, fastened to a stand. The bottom is connected by rubber tubing to a source of illuminating gas. Adjustable openings at the base of the burner admit air. The mixture of gas and air produces a very hot flame. Nozzles of various types can be fitted to the top of the burner to control the flame's shape.

Bunsen burner flames depend on air flow in the throat holes (on the burner side, not the needle valve for gas flow): 1. air hole closed (safety flame used for lighting or default), 2. air hole slightly open, 3. air hole half open, 4. hole almost fully open (roaring blue flame).

Flame Test

This is a method of detecting the presence of certain metals by the colours they give off in the flame of a Bunsen burner. A platinum or nichrome wire is dipped in a powder or solution of the compound to be tested, and the compound is then placed in the flame. Barium gives a green flame; calcium, orange; caesium, blue; copper, greenish blue; potassium, violet.

If more than one metal is present, the test is unreliable as one colour obscures another. Except in rough, preliminary analyses, the flame test is little used by chemists. There are more precise methods of identifying elements.

Other burners based on the same principle exist. The most important alternatives to the Bunsen burner are:

Teclu burner
The lower part of its tube is conical, with a round screw nut below its base. The gap, set by the distance between the nut and the end of the tube, regulates the influx of the air in a way similar to the open slots of the Bunsen burner. The Teclu burner provides better mixing of air and fuel and can achieve higher flame temperatures than the Bunsen burner.


Teclu Burner

Meker burner
The lower part of its tube has more openings with larger total cross-section, admitting more air and facilitating better mixing of air and gas. The tube is wider and its top is covered with a wire grid. The grid separates the flame into an array of smaller flames with a common external envelope, and also prevents flashback to the bottom of the tube, which is a risk at high air-to-fuel ratios and limits the maximum rate of air intake in a conventional Bunsen burner. Flame temperatures of up to 1100–1200 °C (2000–2200 °F) are achievable if properly used. The flame also burns without noise, unlike the Bunsen or Teclu burners

Meker Burner

For more information visit:-
http://science.howstuffworks.com/dictionary/famous-scientists/chemists/robert-wilhelm-bunsen-info.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunsen_burner

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