TIME SAVING BACTERIOLOGICAL APPARATUS 



M. J. PRUCHA and F. W. TANNER 

 I ' a iversity of Illinois 



Received for publication, May 14, 1920 



In bacteriological laboratories the preparation of media and 

 the cleaning of used apparatus and the sterilization of the same 

 are often problems of difficult solution. Especially is this true 

 in laboratoiies where all the media are furnished the students 

 and all the apparatus such as Petri dishes and tubes, etc., are 

 cleaned and sterilized for them. This practice is being followed 

 in the bacteriological laboratories at the University of Illinois. 



This paper gives a brief description of apparatus which we 

 have found to be time saving and consequently expense saving 

 in our work. Xo claim of originality is made. These descrip- 

 tions are given with the hope that they may be of some use to 

 others who have similar problems to work out. 



APPARATUS FOR COOKING MEDIA 



This is a double walled steam jacketed trunnion kettle. Similar 

 kettles are used in hotel kitchens and in ice cream plants. Figure 

 1 shows its general construction and appearance. 1 It is made 

 of one piece of aluminum and hence its inner surface has no 

 seams or joints. It can be used where a supply of steam is 

 available. About 2 to 5 pounds of steam pressure is sufficient 

 for cooking. The kettle used in our laboratory has a capacity 

 of eight gallons. 



The main virtue of this kettle lies in the fact that a large 

 quantity of media can be prepared in a short time. It takes 

 less than five minutes to bring 30 quarts of cold water to a boiling- 

 point. 



1 This photograph was kindly supplied by the Aluminum Cooking Utensils 

 Company, New Kensington, Pennsylvania. 



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