Adams & Chittenden Glass Prototyping

Here is a good illustration of glass prototyping. Pictured below is the first prototype of a reactor intended to perform several functions fairly typical of current pharmaceutical research and testing. The engineer's idea was to stir the contents using off-the-shelf components; in this case, a 100-440 glass thread interface common on cell culture glassware. The side porting was for various instrumentation. The bottom port and hose barbs are located at specific heights for sampling various densities in cell settling. He wanted a glass reactor that could be dissasembled and cleaned.

The photo at top right shows the second iteration. The three-section design proved unnecessary, the side porting was standardized to three GL45 threads, and the bottom valve replaced with another (inexpensive) hose barb.

The last iteration is shown at bottom right. The side ports have been replaced with angled hose barbs, the overall length of the glass reactor has been shortened and the bottom porting has been retained from the 1st and 2nd iterations. All-in-all, a much simpler and MUCH less expensive glass reactor.

We ended up making (and repairing) several of these for final phase clinical testing of a new drug for the treatment of Parkinson's desease. The customer is a large pharmacutical concern who happen to be located close by here in West Berkeley. Made in Berkeley! We are proud of our contributions to this work and to our local economy.

We have a lot of experience with glass prototyping for all kinds of work. We like it when we have an early opportunity to suggest simple ways to keep the cost of the glassware down. We're committed to providing the best, most cost effective solutions for our customers' needs. We are happy that glass continues to be an important material for basic research, and we'd like to keep it that way!