Test tube racks are laboratory equipment used to hold upright multiple test tubes at the same time. They are most commonly used when various different solutions are needed to work with simultaneously, for safety reasons, for safe storage of test tubes, and to ease the transport of multiple tubes. Test tube racks also ease the organization of test tubes and provide support for the test tubes being worked with. [1]
Test tube racks come in a variety of size, composition, material, and color. The variety of test tube racks increases the number of circumstances they can be used in whether it is to be placed in an autoclave, or to be placed in the refrigerator. The racks are most commonly made of metal wires, but they can also be found as plastic, polystyrene, foam, fiberglass, and polypropylene. Test tube racks come in the form of a classic rack, an interlocking cube form, a stack-able form, test tube drying rack, slant rack, and 1-well rack. [2]
The classic racks are normally found in any regular laboratory and are made of wood, stainless steel, or plastic. It generally has 8 holes, 10 holes, or 12 holes to keep test tubes.
This form of test tube racks consists of several cubes of racks that are detachable and twist-able based on the side that is needed for use. Each cube can hold one size of test tubes but each of the four sides of the cube holds the tubes in various arrangements that can be adjusted for use accordingly. These racks can not only be used for test tubes, but it can also be used to hold culture tubes, centrifuge tubes, and micro-centrifuge tubes. The interlocking cube racks can also be put in the autoclave, as well as ease the transport of multiple different sized tubes. [3]
Stackable racks are made of polypropylene and can be placed in the autoclave as well. Using a secondary frame or chassis these racks that otherwise appear as the classic test tube racks can be placed one on top of the other.
Drying Racks can be used for various purposes, including drying and holding chromatography plates, as well as drying test tubes by placing them in an inverted position in the pegs. Placing the test tubes in an inverted position not only aids in drying, but it also minimizes the accumulation of airborne contaminants and other substances. Additionally, the drying racks are usually made of polypropylene and can be placed in the autoclave. [4]
Slant racks are used to hold the slants at the degree it is required to be placed in to be dried after the media has been inserted into the tube. It is also used to incubate certain liquid cultures at an angle so that all the tubes are uniform. [5]
The 1 well rack is designed to hold only one test tube or any tube that fits in the space. It is normally made of epoxy-coated steel wire [6] but can also be made of polystyrene. The racks made from polystyrene are friction-fit and can only hold tubes that match in size to the rack. These racks are autoclavable and can hold both conical or round bottom tubes. [7]
This type of rack is designed for much smaller plastic vials. It is often made out of plastic. [8]
A test tube, also known as a culture tube or sample tube, is a common piece of laboratory glassware consisting of a finger-like length of glass or clear plastic tubing, open at the top and closed at the bottom.
Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene.
Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage.
Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually glass, carbon, aramid, or basalt. Rarely, other fibres such as paper, wood, or asbestos have been used. The polymer is usually an epoxy, vinyl ester, or polyester thermosetting plastic, though phenol formaldehyde resins are still in use.
Vacuum forming is a simplified version of thermoforming, where a sheet of plastic is heated to a forming temperature, stretched onto a single-surface mold, and forced against the mold by a vacuum. This process can be used to form plastic into permanent objects such as turnpike signs and protective covers. Normally draft angles are present in the design of the mold to ease removal of the formed plastic part from the mold.
A drilling rig is an integrated system that drills wells, such as oil or water wells, in the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill water wells, oil wells, or natural gas extraction wells, or they can be small enough to be moved manually by one person and such are called augers. Drilling rigs can sample subsurface mineral deposits, test rock, soil and groundwater physical properties, and also can be used to install sub-surface fabrications, such as underground utilities, instrumentation, tunnels or wells. Drilling rigs can be mobile equipment mounted on trucks, tracks or trailers, or more permanent land or marine-based structures. The term "rig" therefore generally refers to the complex equipment that is used to penetrate the surface of the Earth's crust.
A watch glass is a circular concave piece of glass used in chemistry as a surface to evaporate a liquid, to hold solids while being weighed, for heating a small amount of substance and as a cover for a beaker. The latter use is generally applied to prevent dust or other particles entering the beaker; the watch glass does not completely seal the beaker, so gas exchanges still occur. When used as an evaporation surface, a watch glass allows closer observation of precipitates or crystallization, and can be placed on a surface of contrasting color to improve the visibility overall. Watch glasses are also sometimes used to cover a glass of whisky, to concentrate the aromas in the glass, and to prevent spills when the whisky is swirled. Watch glasses are named so because they are similar to the glass used for the front of old-fashioned pocket watches. In reference to this, large watch glasses are occasionally known as clock glasses.
Insulating concrete form or insulated concrete form (ICF) is a system of formwork for reinforced concrete usually made with a rigid thermal insulation that stays in place as a permanent interior and exterior substrate for walls, floors, and roofs. The forms are interlocking modular units that are dry-stacked and filled with concrete. The units lock together somewhat like Lego bricks and create a form for the structural walls or floors of a building. ICF construction has become commonplace for both low rise commercial and high performance residential construction as more stringent energy efficiency and natural disaster resistant building codes are adopted.
Blow-Fill-Seal (BFS) technology is a manufacturing technique used to produce small, (0.1mL) and large volume, liquid-filled containers. Originally developed in Europe in the 1930s, it was introduced in the United States in the 1960s, but over the last 20 years it has become more prevalent within the pharmaceutical industry and is now widely considered to be the superior form of aseptic processing by various medicine regulatory agencies including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the packaging of pharmaceutical and healthcare products.
A vial is a small glass or plastic vessel or bottle, often used to store medication as liquids, powders or capsules. They can also be used as scientific sample vessels; for instance, in autosampler devices in analytical chromatography. Vial-like glass containers date back to classical antiquity; modern vials are often made of plastics such as polypropylene. There are different types of vials such as a single dose vial and multi-dose vials often used for medications. The single dose vial is only used once whereas a multi-dose vial can be used more than once. The CDC sets specific guidelines on multi-dose vials.
In biology, a substrate is the surface on which an organism lives. A substrate can include biotic or abiotic materials and animals. For example, encrusting algae that lives on a rock can be itself a substrate for an animal that lives on top of the algae. Inert substrates are used as growing support materials in the hydroponic cultivation of plants.
A wine rack is a set of shelves for the organized storage of wine. Wine racks can be built out of a number of different materials. The size of the rack and the number of bottles it can hold can vary widely. Wine racks can be located in a winemaker’s professional wine cellar as well as private homes for personal collections.
A plastic bottle is a bottle constructed from high-density or low density plastic. Plastic bottles are typically used to store liquids such as water, soft drinks, motor oil, cooking oil, medicine, shampoo, milk, and ink. The size ranges from very small bottles to large carboys. Consumer blow molded containers often have integral handles or are shaped to facilitate grasping.
A laboratory centrifuge is a piece of laboratory equipment, driven by a motor, which spins liquid samples at high speed. There are various types of centrifuges, depending on the size and the sample capacity.
Carbon fiber reinforced polymer, Carbon fibre reinforced polymer, or carbon fiber reinforced plastic, or carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic, is an extremely strong and light fiber-reinforced plastic which contains carbon fibers. The spelling 'fibre' is typically used outside the US. CFRPs can be expensive to produce, but are commonly used wherever high strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness (rigidity) are required, such as aerospace, superstructures of ships, automotive, civil engineering, sports equipment, and an increasing number of consumer and technical applications.
A punched pocket, plastic wallet, poly pocket, slippery fishsheet protector, plastic sleeves, or sometimes perforated document bag is a flat, slit plastic bag with a perforated edge used to hold paper documents, originally created in 1986 by Mike Townsend.
Film capacitors, plastic film capacitors, film dielectric capacitors, or polymer film capacitors, generically called "film caps" as well as power film capacitors, are electrical capacitors with an insulating plastic film as the dielectric, sometimes combined with paper as carrier of the electrodes.
The storage of cultural heritage objects typically falls to the responsibility of cultural heritage institutions, or individuals. The proper storage of these objects can help to ensure a longer lifespan for the object with minimal damage or degradation. With so many different types of artifacts, materials, and combinations of materials, keepers of these artifacts often have considerable knowledge of the best practices in storing these objects to preserve their original state.
Laboratory drying rack is a pegboard for hanging and draining glassware in a laboratory. It is available in different varieties and sizes. It can be used for different materials of glassware in the laboratory room such as funnels, pipettes, mixing balls, slides, bottle stoppers, tubing and so on. In addition to that, the pegs on the drying rack are easily removable and replaceable in order to maintain the cleaning of the lab racks to avoid contamination with other apparatus used on the same rack. Any common laboratory needs to have at least two or three drying racks per lab.
Package handles, or carriers, are used to help people use packaging. They are designed to simplify and to improve the ergonomics of lifting and carrying packages. Handles on consumer packages add convenience and help facilitate use and pouring. The effect of handles on package material costs and the packaging line efficiencies are also critical. A handle can be defined as “an accessory attached to a container or part for the purpose of holding or carrying.” Sometimes a handle can be used to hang a package for dispensing or use.