When you are working in a kitchen and need to touch, lift, mix, toss or flip any hot or slippery food, you often use tongs. Crucible tongs work on similar lines. In fact, it could be said that they were probably designed after crabs which use princers to catch their prey. It is also believed that the ancient humans started using two sticks for cooking meat on the fire and the design gradually evolved to what we see today.
What is Crucible Tongs?
Crucible tongs function is widely found in a science laboratory equipment or industrial equipment to handle a hot crucible, evaporating dishes, flasks, small beakers or other items which have a high temperature or contain potentially dangerous materials which cannot be touched with bare hands. In short, they are safety devices that give protection against chemical burns.
Crucible tongs typically look like a scissor. However, the two sharp blades that regular scissors have to get replaced with two princers or metal pieces with the tips forked out or serrated. The tips are available in several lengths as per the requirement of use. They are usually made from durable metal such as brass, steel, stainless steel, nickel-plated steel, cadmium-plated steel and even platinum. They have insulated grips for a firm and safe handling.
What is Crucible Tongs Used for?
- The main crucible tongs uses are related to pick up, remove and handle hot containers.
- They are used in science laboratories to move crucibles containing intense materials and chemical concoctions that are toxic or have high temperatures.
- They are also used in glass and metal factories as well as industries which use fire or hot furnaces. The industrial crucible tongs can be huge in size and quite heavy, requiring two people to manage it.
There are three types of crucible tongs:
- Charging Tongs: These are used to put metal in hot containers. They are ideal for industrial applications.
- Latching Tongs: These tongs have latch bars for easier pulling up of tongs.
- Non-Latching Tongs: These tongs, as the name suggest, do not have latch bars. But, they come with user-adjustable clamp and can come handy when you want to restrict the use of crucible.
- Locking Tongs: These tongs have a locking mechanism that can lock the edge of a crucible. This gives the user more confidence and safety in handling a hot crucible.
What Safety Factors You Should Follow
While crucible thongs provide the much-needed protection against hot crucibles, the users should follow other safety rules too while handling them:
- Always buy high-quality crucible thongs from trustworthy suppliers.
- Always wear safety gloves, goggles and other safety gear as required.
- Clean them before and after use to remove dirt, oil and impurities.
- Store them in a dry and secure place.
- Crucible thongs are not shock-resistant; hence, they should not be used for electrical purposes.
Crucible thongs are essential safety tools that every science laboratory must have in their stock.
