Apparatus designed by James Velasco of U.S.D.A. and published in the J.O.A.C., Vol. 46, No. 5, Pages 252-255. Newly designed flask increases the efficiency and standardization of neutral oil determination by: permitting automatic transfer of weighed crude oil samples onto alumina columns; converting column operation to a semiautomatic level, thereby reducing the cost of operation; and allowing the chromatographic procedure to be performed in laboratories which are not air-conditioned.