Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:08 pm Posts: 381 Location: Lyon, France
The used refractometer and the box it's in that I got REEKS of RI liquid. I just gave the whole thing a once over with soapy water but I'd like to somehow neutralize the smell before prolonged used of my eye being close to this thing. Is there anything that can help?
I have had considerable success with "lighter fuel", most tobacconists sell it, it's the stuff you fill your lighter with. It certainly works to clean hard surfaces where the fluid hasn't been on too long. Not sure how effective it would be if the fluid is really dried on, nor how it would work on the box. Best thing, try using it to soak off the deposits on the instrument, then use a tisse wetted with the lighter fuel to sponge out the box, then leave everything where the air can get to it and dry it.
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
Give Alan's suggestion a try...also isopropyl alcohol.
But, you know, I might look for another box to put your refractometer in. You don't need to be sniffing methylene iodide if you don't have to.....nor handling the stuff. It's nasty.
If you warm it gently the methylene iodide will evaporate. I would say put the empty case in a 200 degree F or less oven. Play a hair dryer or heat gun gently over the refractometer. Just warm it don't get it hot because you don't want to soften any optical cements that may be present. I would use isopropyl alcohol first then do the above. Lighter fluid is naphthalene and is a strnger and more "aromatic" solvent.
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:08 pm Posts: 381 Location: Lyon, France
Thanks for the tips. I'll try the isopropyl alcohol first because that seems easiest. There are no visible deposits of RI liquid on the refractometer, it just smells. It might just be from being in a smelly box. It's hard to put stuff out to air out right now because I'm in a sort of dorm apartment in Bangkok for the next few months and I am definitely not airing it out in my room.
I did end up with the Raynor refractometer. Bidding got pretty intense in the last 5 minutes. Most exciting eBay auction I've had in years. Came with a nice little Gem-A sodium light too. Not sure what the model is but it looks like this:
If anyone knows the model, I wouldn't mind knowing.
Also I just realized I never showed the forum the handy travel kit I put together:
Took it on the plane to Thailand with no questions asked.
looks a nice clean instrument. Has it the graduated dial on the right side? That would mean it is a Dialdex. Did it come with the sodium and polarising filters? They are nice to have although you can soon lash up a polariser from a camera filter (but make sure it is a linear polariser rather than a circular one). Neat kit by the way.
Sorry, forgot to add that I would recommend a prism spectroscope as well. The red end gets a bit crowded, but they are a lot brighter than a diffraction spectroscope and useful with dark stones. I have a Zeiss one with a wavelength scale, very useful if you can find one.
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:08 pm Posts: 381 Location: Lyon, France
Nope the right side looks like the left except without the Name. Didn't come with any filters. I have a polariscope so I probably don't need a polarizing filter for the refractometer. Or do those two entirely different functions?
Are the fumes from the heated methylene iodide safe?
They are the identical fumes that you smell when you use RI liquid. I wouldn't recommend huffing the fumes but they won't harm you in the concentrations you are likely to encounter if you are not huffing them. The are non flammable and in fact are similar chemically to the carbon tetrachloride that used to be in certain small fire extinguishers.
The refractometer is a Rayner S model. When they built the DialDex they also made a newer S (scale) model that shared the case casting and some optics with the DialDex but did not have the dial. It also shared the greenish paint job. The older model is less wide field optically but is a very serviceable refractometer if the calibration has not shifted. It is pretty easy to adjust.
Rayner were not really an instrument maker as such. They were a chain of eyeglass opticians who were contracted by Gem A to make instruments back in the day when there were more engineers and machinists around. The company was originally called Rheiner but anglicized it to Rayner during one of the wars probably the first one.
The lamp is a yellow LED source which is (Slightly)better than a white source but not to be compared with a real sodium lamp. It should not be called a sodium lamp because it is not one.
79 pounds for a refractometer and source is a great deal.
Rayner were not really an instrument maker as such. They were a chain of eyeglass opticians who were contracted by Gem A to make instruments back in the day when there were more engineers and machinists around. The company was originally called Rheiner but anglicized it to Rayner during one of the wars probably the first one.
Forgive me, but surely if a firm makes instruments, they are instrument makers? It is worthy of note that not only did they make refractometers with a glass prism, but also with synthetic spinel, blende and diamond, although the diamond prism model used a working fluid of such toxicity that it was difficult to work with. I think that the refractometer illustrated is one of the later models as earlier ones were much more angular. It may be just a prejudice, but I feel that production standards suffered after about 1978 or 80.
They were instrument makers to Gem A sure enough but it was not their main business. They had multiple retail locations for the sale of eyeglasses. I think that you are in a better position than I am to drill down to the historical bottom. I don't know of any other instruments with their name on it other than Gem A instruments for whom they built quite a range of things.
Their dichroscopes are especially nice if you can find one that has not clouded up. They even made some gemscopes like an early gemolite but I doubt they built the scopes. They probably subcontracted that to the vernerable UK microscope industry which is now long gone (Cooke Troughton and Sims, Beck, Ealing Optical etc.) I have a catalog page about those scopes but have never ever seen one offered for sale anywhere.
I have three examples of the spinel table refractometer which shares the case with the S model shown above. I also have a diamond table unit which is very rare. It is about twice the size of a regular refractometer and the eyepiece is mounted on a sliding dovetail. It is a little work of art actually. It has no parts in common with any of the other units. It only reads up to about 2.05 or so. The contact liquids are based on Arsenic Tribromide and you don't even want a drop of those liquids on your skin.
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