Well, I thought it would make me a million dollars some day, but here I am publishing it on an Internet forum to firmly establish it as PRIOR ART. Don't patent my idea. I'm sharing it with the world. In doing so, all I request is that my invention be rightfully called a Moon Capsule henceforth.

Iodine tablets are a boon and a bane. They are great for purifying water but most PSK's only need enough for a liter or two of water. Unfortunately, the things come in 50 tablet bottles that immediately start to corrode any metal that is near an opened bottle.

Previously, solutions such as esoteric chemist bottles made of non-metallic materials were used to store iodine tabs. They are, however, hard-to-find, expensive, and bulky.

Well, I solved this problem for my PSK's very easily with some stuff I scrounged up for free. This system not only works for iodine tablets but any objects that need to be protected from air, moisture, and external pressure.

• Get the narrowest set of needlenose pliers you can find. Surgical mosquito clamps are the best. Narrow pliers/clamps will result in a smaller, space efficient packet.
• Go to the local fast-food store or grocery store and get some plastic soda straws that are just large enough to hold the desired object (in this example of a Moon Capsule, they happen to be iodine tabs).
• Pinch off one end of the straw with the clamp so there is about a millimeter or so of extra plastic showing. Use a concentrated heat source such as a butane fireplace lighter to melt this extra plastic into a solid waterproof, airtight seam. Applying excess heat will result in the clamp getting hot and melting an unnecessarily wide seam which will take up valuable space in your PSK.
• Load the Moon Capsule with the desired contents. In the photo, approximately 10 iodine tablets are loaded into the straw. A smaller number of tablets can be loaded if unit-dose Moon Capsules are desired. With iodine tabs, four is the maximally efficient size.
• To maximally utilize the space in the Capsule for iodine tablets, the end tablets need to have the edges of the tablet resting against the seam. The central tablets will form a stack along the axis of the straw.
• Once the Moon Capsule is fully loaded, the straw is pinched at a 90 degree angle to the first seam. This will provide structural integrity and minimize bending or crushing of the Capsule. This second pinch must be done as close as possible to the contents to minimize the size of the of the Moon Capsule as well as to prevent excess space in the Capsule which can result in the contents shaking around inside the Capsule and sustaining damage.
• This second pinch is where a narrow clamp/pliers is useful as it will allow the second seam to be as close as possible to the contents. Once clamped, the straw is trimmed off with a millimeter of plastic showing. This is melted into a second seam creating the Moon Capsule.

I have made dozens of these Moon Capsules for iodine tablets of varying numbers. I store them in a Ricola tin and use them to make PSK's as other raw materials become available (limiting factor here seems to be Altoids tins). I have not yet noticed any corrosion in the mint tins or in the Ricola can (over a year).

Hope you find the Moon Capsule technology a useful addition to your PSK tech. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Boy, it's late here. I forgot I already posted this in 2004! <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Well, no corrosion of tins or stained straws in that time. Treated water still has that unique iodine bouqet. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

iodine + anything that isn't teflon or glass = mess.

What ^^^ PC2K said.

If Iodine could be held in plastic, then storing it would be easy. The problem is that iodine is VERY reactive (but this is what makes it work for purifying water). So you need to lovingly wrap the iodine with some material which it will not react with. Glass and teflon fit the bill. I am not a chemist, so I cannot comment on what else might work.

Something you may want to take into account: many times people who are allergic to seafood are allergic to the high levels of iodine - as am I.

If you have anyone in your family who is allergic, you may want to use another substance to purify your h2o.

Doug suggests glass vials with teflon caps:

http://www.equipped.org/parepack.htm

available here:

http://www.epcamps.com/packaging_vial.html

Jim I admire your thoughts on prior art to prevent someone from srealing your idea. You may have even have posted it in 2004.

Here comes the but. But I have seen the idea of storing small things in sealed straws posted in other places prior to 2000 at least. Sorry you are niot the first by a long shot. I my self have been doing so for even longer. It is a very old idea.

how about shrink tubing, the kind made for insulating electrical connections?

There is such a thing as PTFE (Teflon) tubing. It's not so unreasonably priced that one couldn't do this instead of using a straw. But I highly advise doing any burning/melting over an open flame outside. Probably better would be to use the clamps as the fusing source (get them hot enough to seal the ends for cutting).