The apparatus was designed on the principles of single-beam spectrophotometry. A discharge tube equipped with changeable hollow cathodes, and without the additional circulatory system for re-cycling the argon which fills it, was used as a light source.
The graphite crucible is placed in a special chamber, as shown in Fig.2. Brass supports for the graphite contacts between which the graphite crucible is fixed, the mechanism for changing the electrode holding the specimen, and the hinge for the setting of the supplementary heating electrode are mounted on “Texttolite” base.
The chamber is hermetically sealed by an aluminium cover and rubber gaskets. Two holes were cut in the cover and equipped with quartz windows to allow the light to pass through the crucible. An additional window was cut in the front for observational purposes, and on the rear wall of the cover is fixed a radiation pyrometer for measuring the temperature of the crucible.