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OwnerJames C. Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with respect to an invention of Fletcher, William P. Gilbreath +2inventors
InventorsJames C. Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with respect to an invention of Fletcher, William P. Gilbreath, Michael J. Adamson, Alexander G. Fassbender
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A flask having a threaded neck and a cap adapted for threaded engagement on the neck. A laminated disc between the cap and the neck forms a gas tight seal and the cap has a central opening that exposes a medial region of the disc. Piercing the disc through the opening are two electrodes, the inner ends of which contact the sample within the flask and the outer ends of which afford connection of test equipment thereto. Cylindric glass tubes are fitted over the external portion of the electrodes to provide physical support therefor; silicone rubber or the like serves to retain the glass cylinders in place and form a gas tight seal between the cylinders and the electrodes. Shrinkable tubing is shrunk over the glass tubes to afford further mechanical support and sealing. A final relatively large diameter shrinkable tube is shrunk over both electrodes and their associated glass cylinders. The support and sealing means for the elctrodes is confined to a limited portion of the medial region of the disc so that the remainder of such region can be punctured by a hollow needle to introduce a test sample within the flask.
A test cell for testing the electrical characteristics of a sample comprising an impervious container for the sample, said container having an opening and a shoulder circumscribing said opening, a laminated disc having an area corresponding to that of the opening, said disc having an inner lamina and an outer lamina, said inner lamina being inert to the sample and sealable on said shoulder, said outer lamina being formed of self sealing material fixed to said inner lamina, means for retaining said disc in spanning relation of said opening, said retaining means acting to seal the periphery of said inner lamina against said shoulder and to expose a medial region of said outer lamina exterior of said container, first and second electrodes transpiercing said disc at a portion of the medial region thereof, and means for supporting said electrodes in gas tight relation to said disc, said supporting means being limited so as to afford access to a portion of the medial region of said disc so that the medial region can be pierced to afford introduction of the sample into said container, wherein said supporting means comprises first and second cylindric members having central bores of a diameter larger than the outer diameter of said electrodes, said cylindric members being disposed on respective said electrodes so that the outer ends of the electrodes extend through said bores, said cylindric members having axial extremities secured to said outer lamina, and means intermediate the surface of said electrodes and said bores for forming a gas tight seal therebetween.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.