The overflowing cylinder sixty years on

The overflowing cylinder (OFC) was developed at Kodak sixty years ago and remains an elegant, precise and versatile tool for studying the dynamic surface properties of surfactant solutions today. The principles and design of the OFC are introduced and the use of the OFC to study adsorption kinetics and Marangoni effects is explained. Examples are provided from the study of pure surfactant solutions, mixed surfactants and polymer–surfactant complexes.