Komagome Pipette?
Alan Siegrist
I am translating a beginning college-level chemistry textbook from Japanese
to English, and I came across 駒込ピペット.
Now, I have found out some information about this pipette. It is said to
have been invented by a certain Dr. Kenzo Futaki (二木謙三) and named for
Komagome Hospital where he worked.
According to this page:
http://www.cick.jp/gaiyou/komagomepipette.html
it is called a "Komagome pipette" in English, but I never heard that name in
the chemistry classes I took in US college.
I did hear of a similar simple pipette called a "Pasteur pipette" (see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasteur_pipette)
As far as I can tell, the primary difference between the two types of
pipette is that the Komagome pipette has an enlarged reservoir midway
between the tip and the bulb. Both types have crude volumetric markings and
come in both glass and plastic types.
No disrespect to Dr. Futaki and his hospital intended, but would it be more
understandable to the chemistry students to call these Pasteur pipettes?
Regards,
Alan Siegrist
Carmel, CA, USA
Matthew Schlecht
The Komagome pipette at the site to which you provided a link is what we would call a volumetric pipette, especially if it has volumetric gradations.
I don't recall hearing anything about Komagome pipettes in 25 years of college, grad school and research in chemistry, but I've never been to Japan. It could be that's the name it goes by there.
Don't ask for a periodic table in Russia - it's [in Russian] Mendelyeev's table.
Matthew Schlecht
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Kirill Sereda
Matthew writes:
>> Don't ask for a periodic table in Russia - it's [in Russian] Mendelyeev's table
In fact, the official Russian name is “the Mendeleyev’s periodic table”
Kirill
Alan Siegrist
> If it has a bulb like that, it won't be a Pasteur pipette.
I was under the impression that Pasteur pipettes have bulbs. At least the
ones illustrated in Wikipedia have bulbs.
> The Komagome pipette at the site to which you provided a link is what
> we would call a volumetric pipette, especially if it has volumetric
> gradations.
Well, that is the problem. It appears that Komagome pipettes do not have
accurate volumetric gradations and evidently do not necessarily have any
gradations at all.
Also, the volumetric pipettes we used did not have bulbs, but rather it was
more accurate to use your thumb to accurately dispense the right amount of
solution.
Komagome pipettes appear to be used mostly for transferring small amounts of
reagents and such.
On reflection, I think it might be better to call them "transfer pipettes"
instead.
Matthew Schlecht
>
> I was under the impression that Pasteur pipettes have bulbs. At least the
> ones illustrated in Wikipedia have bulbs.
The plastic ones (second picture, probably polypropylene) have an integrated bulb at the top.
Neither of these have a reservoir bulb similar to what one can see in the picture of the Komagome pipette.
> > The Komagome pipette at the site to which you provided a link is what
> > we would call a volumetric pipette, especially if it has volumetric
> > gradations.
>
> Well, that is the problem. It appears that Komagome pipettes do not have
> accurate volumetric gradations and evidently do not necessarily have any
> gradations at all.
> Also, the volumetric pipettes we used did not have bulbs, but rather it was
> more accurate to use your thumb to accurately dispense the right amount of
> solution.
At least in biomedical work, these old volumetric pipettes have been nearly completely supplanted by automated systems like Gilson's PipetMan. The last refuge of the simple glass pipette is the chemistry lab - who knows for how long.
> Komagome pipettes appear to be used mostly for transferring small amounts of
> reagents and such.
> On reflection, I think it might be better to call them "transfer pipettes"
> instead.
Matthew Schlecht