Pneumatic Trough with Gas Jars: a Tin Basin and Wide-Mouth Bottles (Woodhull, 1895)

Use a block-tin basin about 6 inches across as the trough, and 8 oz wide-mouth bottles as the gas jars. Ours: a basin soldered from tinplate. Not given: how the basin is made.

Use a 6 x 3/4 inch test-tube as the retort, with a No. 1 one-hole rubber stopper and a delivery tube of 3/16 inch glass tubing bent to run down into the basin. Fill the basin with water. Fill a bottle with water, close it, turn it mouth-down into the basin and open it under the water. Put the delivery tube's end under its mouth. Heat the test-tube by moving it back and forth through the flame, held in the hand rather than on a stand: the gas bubbles up and drives the water out of the bottle. Close each full bottle under water and lift it out. The same set serves for hydrogen, nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide and others.