Also 9 -or. [f. CONDENSE v. + -ER1. Cf. mod.F. condenseur.]
I. General: One who or that which condenses.
1. That which makes dense, collects into smaller space, intensifies, etc.: see CONDENSE v. 1.
1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, I. ii. 6. Infinite variety of Rarefiers and Condensers.
1804. R. Prony, in Jrnl. Nat. Philos., IX. 275. A condenser of Forces.
2. That which reduces vapor to the liquid condition (esp. by cooling): see CONDENSE v. 2.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xx. 137. The cold crags … acted like condensers upon the ascending vapour.
1880. Haughton, Phys. Geog., iii. 128. Mountain ranges … serve as condensers for the aqueous vapour.
3. One who condenses or abridges in literature.
1868. Morning Star, 16 June. In the … summary of correspondence … the condenser omits to mention [etc.].
1870. Lowell, Study Wind. (1886), 363. He was … the condenser … of Bolingbroke.
1888. Daily News, 30 April, 7/4. Advt. Situation wanted As Editor, Sub-Editor … Concise critical writer, condenser.
II. Specific and technical senses.
4. A vessel or apparatus in which vapor is reduced (e.g., by cooling) to the liquid (or solid) form.
a. in Distillation. That part of the apparatus in which the vapor is condensed.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 607. The still-condenser is generally of the worm-tub form.
attrib. 1890. Pall Mall G., 28 July, 6/1. Hurricane … at Suakin … demolition of the condenser chimneys.
b. Steam-Engine. A chamber in a steam-engine in which the steam is condensed into water on leaving the cylinder, either by injection of cold water, or by exposure to a chilled surface (surface condenser). Also in comb. as condenser-gauge.
1769. Watt, Specif. of Patent, No. 913. 2. These vessels I call condensers.
1833. N. Arnott, Physics (ed. 5), II. 93. Watt … contrived the separate condenser for his steam-engine, by which heat once saved three-fourths of the fuel formerly used.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 607. The surface-condenser has a series of flat chambers or tubes … in which the steam is cooled by a body of water surrounding the tubes. Ibid., I. 609. Condenser-gage, a tube of glass, thirty-two inches long,… the upper end … fixed to the condenser, the lower end dipping into mercury … to ascertain the degree of exhaustion in the steam-condenser.
c. Gas-works. An apparatus in which the tar, ammonia, and other substances mixed with the heated gas are condensed and separated by cooling.
1809. A. Winsor, Specif. of Patent, No. 3200. 4. The condensor … serves to cool and decompose the hot smoke and gas.
c. 1865. Letheby, in Circ. Sc., I. 117/1. From the condenser the gas passes to the purifiers.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 579. The condenser, the office of which … is to effect the condensation of all those vapours which could not be retained by the gas at the ordinary atmospheric temperature.
d. Metallurgy. (See quots.)
1874. in Knight, Dict. Mech.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Condenser, a vessel or chamber in which volatile products of roasting or smelting (e. g. mercury or zinc vapors) are reduced to solid form by cooling.
5. Pneumatics. An apparatus for condensing or compressing air, a pneumatic force-pump.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., Condenser, a pneumatic engine, whereby an unusual quantity of air may be crouded into a given space.
1829. Nat. Philos. Pneumatics, v. 20 (U. K. S.). The condenser … is the opposite of the air-pump.
6. Electr. An apparatus for accumulating or increasing the intensity of an electric charge. (Cf. CONDENSE v. 1 c.)
1782. Volta, in Phil. Trans., LXXII. App. 8. I had rather call it a condenser of electricity … using a word which expresses at once the reason and cause of the phenomenon.
1790. W. Nicholson, Nat. Philos. (ed. 3), II. 356. The condenser is of excellent use to ascertain the presence … of atmospherical electricity when the conductor is … slightly electrified.
1881. Spottiswoode, in Nature, No. 623. 546. We have Leyden jars or condensers for accumulating large charges.
1881. Maxwell, Electr. & Magn., I. 50. Accumulators are sometimes called Condensers, but I prefer to restrict the term ‘condenser’ to an instrument which is used not to hold electricity but to increase its superficial density.
7. Optics. A lens or system of lenses by which light is concentrated on one point or object.
1798. G. Adams, Ess. Microscope, 107. Fig. 4 represents … a condenser. There are three in number … they serve to condense the sun’s rays strongly on the object.
1832. A. Pritchard, Microsc. Cabinet, 243. A large condenser placed before the reflector.
8. Wool Manuf. A machine that receives the narrow slivers from the carding machine and rolls them into ‘slubbings.’
1862. Reports of Juries, Exhibition, Class XXI. 4. The ‘condenser’ is now very generally used…. It also entirely supersedes the ‘slubbing’ machine.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., s.v., The narrow circumferential cards of the doffing-cylinder deliver narrow slivers which pass to the condenser.
9. Sugar Manuf. An apparatus for the partial concentration of the clarified juice.
1874. in Knight, Dict. Mech.
