From professional glassblowers...

摘要

I thoroughly enjoyed Dave Sammut's engaging article 'A rare and declining craft' in the July issue (p. 26). I have always held scientific glassblowers in awe, especially as I could scarcely join two pieces of tubing together myself. My T-pieces were a source of derision. I hold a special respect for those who work at the miniature end, especially when sealing sensors into probes. The Metroglas subsidiary of Metrohm AG solved a sealing problem with thermometric titration probes by sealing the glass-jacketed thermistor sensor into a glass-bodied probe without changing the sensing characteristics of the thermistor by excess heat. A photograph of the tip of the probe is shown here. The glass shaft encasing the leads from the thermistor is only 1 millimetre thick.