No universities near me unfortunately. I live in the middle of the sticks, and so I tend to rely on mail order/internet.
It's for a level indicator for a hot water vessel.
I'll drill a hole in the vessel top and bottom, which line up in the same plane, with fixings to elbows from each hole. In between each elbow will go the transparent tube. The water level should show up inside the tube. Which I intend to calibate with permanent pen marks.
I've seen a picture of this on the web somewhere before. Seemed like a good idea.
Cheers, Mark