NEON TUBE MERCURY INJECTOR
• SAFE – NO METAL NEEDLES!
• ALL WETTED PARTS ARE GLASS & TEFLON
• FLEXIBLE TEFLON INSERTION TUBE (Needle)
• HOLDS 2 ml. - ENOUGH FOR 100+ NEON UNITS*
• EASY TO REFILL - TAKES ONLY SECONDS
• PRECISION THREADED BODY & CONTROL KNOB
• PRECISE CONTROL

Our hand held NEON TUBE MERCURY INJECTOR is constructed of Pyrex glass and inert PTFE (Teflon) flexible tubing. A Kel-F hub connects the Teflon needle to the glass injector body. All wetted parts (ones that come in contact with the mercury) are inert glass and Teflon. Inert is chemically defined as "Exhibiting no chemical activity; totally un-reactive".

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The unit provides precise control over the amount of mercury inserted into a neon tube by a simple turn of the control knob. Each drop dispensed is approximately 25mg. (0.002ml. in volume). Using 3 drops of mercury per neon unit*, a full injector will hold enough mercury for 100+ units. To refill the injector, simply insert the flexible needle into your supply bottle of mercury and turn the control knob counterclockwise. The mercury will be sucked into the injector body and refill it.

As with all sizes of glass tubing, tubulation glass contains dust, water vapor, condensed oxides from the drawing process, and other contaminants on the interior surface of the tubing. The flexible insertion tube (needle) allows the user to insert the desired amount of mercury directly into the mercury "bubble" or "trap" eliminating contamination of the mercury caused by rolling it through the dirty, contaminated, unheated portion of the tubulation glass.

When not in use the injector stands upright as pictured. The Teflon needle is transparent which allows the user to see where the mercury is inside the needle. The mercury can easily be retracted all the way, or part of the way back into the injector body after every use thereby eliminating droplets of mercury creeping out of the end of the needle, something that is normally associated with syringe type injectors with stainless steel needles. As supplied, the Teflon needle is 12" long and can be easily cut to any desired length.

As mentioned, all wetted parts are inert. This eliminates the mercury contamination commonly found in syringe type mercury injectors that utilize a stainless steel needle. Research at the University Of South Carolina, Department Of Chemistry, revealed that after extended contact with even high purity stainless steels mercury 'salts' will begin to degrade the surface of the metal thereby promoting contamination of the mercury inside the needle. This contaminated mercury inside the needle is the first to be inserted into a new unit. Simply stated, contaminated and dirty mercury will produce contaminated and dirty neon units.

* 3 drops from the injector is approximately 75mg., the amount SVP recommends for an average size neon unit.

DESCRIPTION:
The REUSABLE MERCURY TRAP is constructed of Pyrex glass tubing for heat resistance and durability. Each trap consists of two (2) of our #7* THREADED GLASS COMPRESSION O-RING CONNECTORS, sealed together with an appropriate size "bubble" or "trap" blown in the middle to hold the mercury.

The #7 connector on one end uses the standard black plastic compression cap. This end connects to the manifold tubulation. The #7 connector on the opposite end uses a special heat resistant compression cap. This end connects to the tubulation of an electrode, or a side tubulated neon unit. This connector is also fabricated with a constriction just behind the glass threads to facilitate the transfer of mercury from the bubble into the tubulation.
 

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USE:
The desired amount of mercury is placed in to the bubble of the REUSABLE MERCURY TRAP (we recommend using our NEON TUBE MERCURY INJECTOR for this purpose). The end of the trap with the constriction and the heat resistant cap is connected to the tubulation of the neon unit to be processed, either a tubulated electrode or a side tubulation. The end of the tubulation is slid in to the connector until it is firmly seated against the constriction. (The end of the tubulation that is inserted in to the heat resistant cap must be cut square on the end and lightly fire polished. Tubulated electrodes are already prepared this way). The other #7 connector, with the black cap, is connected to the manifold using a short piece of 5mm or 6mm tubulation.

After the neon unit is processed and is filled to the desired gas pressure, the short piece of tubulation between the black plastic cap and the manifold is sealed off in the usual manner, being careful not to get the hand torch too close to the black cap. The unit is aged first, and then the mercury is added by rolling it from the bubble in to the tubulation. The mercury rolls from the bubble, through the constriction and directly in to the center of the tubulation; it only touches glass. The REUSABLE MERCURY TRAP is then sealed off from the neon unit in the usual manner and is ready to reuse.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS:
Because of the larger diameter, more free flowing 11mm tubing that the trap is made with and the round, turbulent free bubble, the mercury will have much less of a tendency to be 'sucked' out of the trap when opening the main stopcock. In fact, it is actually difficult to get it to do so. Also because of the larger diameter tubing used, the traps provide faster pumping speeds than a hand-made trap of the same length made of 5mm or 6mm tubulation.

* The #7 connector will accept 4mm to 7mm tubing. 5mm tubulation is ideal.