I recently went to a market in Southern France and found this little piece of equipment for sale along with a whole bunch of other chemistry things. the guy had no idea what it was for or where he'd gotten it from, but for €1 I decided I had to have it because I've never seen anything quite like it (and I'm mildly infatuated with old chemistry equipment...). I'm wondering if anyone here would be able to identify it?
An image with a 10 pence coin for size comparison.
My first thought was some sort of condenser, because the design is a quite similar due to the external jacket with an internal tube. However on closer inspection the internal tube has a cut out section which would mean any coolant would mix with the substance being condensed.
this diagram shows a little bit more detail about the internal construction of the piece (cross-section):
There is also some text on the body of the tube which says:
EX 2ml COLD E - MIL LINE
Thanks for any information someone could give me about what this piece of equipment is and/or what it was used for.