ELECTRIC APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC 

 CONTROL OF THE FLOW OF GAS^ 



SERGIUS MORGULIS 



(U. S. Bureau of Fisheries and the Biochemical Lahoratory of Columbia Univer- 

 sity, at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Neiv York) 



(WiTH PLATE 2) 



(Received for publication, May i, 1916) 



There are many occasions in laboratory procedures when the 

 automatic regulation of a gas current is highly desirable. This is 

 particularly true of metabolism experiments where, for instance, 

 oxygen must be supplied as rapidly as it is being used up by the 

 organism. To insure a continuous and sufficient supply of oxygen 

 in experiments of long duration, the attention of a special assistant 

 is not infrequently required. 



Being engaged, at present, in the construction of a respiration 

 apparatus for the study of the gaseous metabolism of aquatic ani- 

 mals, attempts have been made to introduce, wherever possible, 

 automatic regulators as time saving, as well as trouble saving, de- 

 vices. In this note I wish to describe briefly an electrically con- 

 trolled apparatus by means of which the admission of oxygen from 

 a cylinder is effected automatically ; and, while this has been de- 

 signed for a special purpose, it is believed that the apparatus may 

 be easily adapted to other laboratory uses. 



The apparatus consists of three essential parts : a " pinch-cock," 

 electromagnets and contact-makers (Plate 2). These will be de- 

 scribed separately.^ 



A side viev/ and top view of the first two parts are shown in 



1 Published by permission of the Commissioner of Fisheries. 



2 The apparatus has been made from the writer's sketches, but it is a pleasure 

 to acknowledge that the refinement in the mechanical construction of the appa- 

 ratus is due to the excellent workmanship of Air. J. Becker, the mechanic in the 

 Pharmacological Laboratory, who made it for me. 



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