Water-Cooled Condenser: Liebig's Glass Tube Corked in a Metal Pipe (Fownes, 1847)

Liebig's condenser as Fownes described it in 1847: a glass tube, tapering from end to end, held by bored corks in the centre of a metal pipe, with tubes that let a current of cold water run through the pipe around it. Vapour from a retort passes down the glass tube, condenses and runs into the receiver. With a few pieces of ice in the little cistern the water stays at 32 °F (0 °C), and even very volatile liquids condense. Unknown: the metal of the pipe, the material of the water tubes and all sizes. Fownes does not give them. Source: G. Fownes, Elementary Chemistry (1847), p. 46 and Fig. 33. Picture: Fig. 33.