IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ASCERTAINING THE ALCOHOLIC STRENGTH OF LIQUIDS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FIELD, junior, of West Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of June, in the ninth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Field, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege, and authority, that I, the said John Field, my exors, adñors and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Field, my exors, adññors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times.
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ASCERTAINING THE
ALCOHOLIC STRENGTH OF LIQUIDS," communicated from abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said John Field, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner.
the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Field, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
that is to say
In ascertaining the alcoholic strength of liquids it has been heretofore usual
to employ instruments which indicate the specific gravity of the liquid, and such
instruments ascertain with considerable accuracy the alcoholic strength when
water only is mixed with the alcohol, but so soon as the specific gravity of the
liquid is interfered with by the addition of sugar or other matter, then the
instruments indicating the alcoholic strength of a liquid by a specific gravity
are no longer to be depended on; in fact, it will be found that by dissolving a
comparatively small quantity of sugar in water containing alcohol that the
ordinary instruments will give no indication of the presence of alcohol. It is
well known that the temperature at which liquids containing alcohol boil
depends on the quantity of alcohol in the mixture, and this is not materially
interfered with by the circumstance of sugar or other salt or matter which
interferes with the specific gravity of the liquid being in the liquid; and the
present Invention consists in so arranging thermometric apparatus that the
alcoholic strength of liquids may be thereby ascertained.
And in order that the Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a side view, in section, of a thermometric apparatus arranged
suitably for carrying out the Invention; Figure 2 is a front view thereof.
And it should be stated that in each of the Figures of the Drawing the same
letters of reference are used to indicate the same parts.
a is a spirit lamp, in which I burn alcohol of about 85° of strength; this-
lamp is placed in the vessel b, to which, at its upper part, is formed the
vessel c, in which, when the apparatus is being used, is placed a small-
quantity of water; d is another vessel, into which the alcoholic liquid to be
tested is to be placed up to the top of vessel d. The thermometric apparatus.
which is preferred to be used consists, as is shewn in the Drawing, of the
following parts-e is a glass bulb containing quicksilver, and e¹ is a tube
rising from the bulb e, into this tube a glass float f descends, such float consist-
ing of a glass tube, having quicksilver at the lower part, the upper part being
sealed by means of a blow-pipe, and it is fixed in a short metal tube f¹, which
by means of a fine silk cord f², is fixed to a pulley 9; on the axis h and i is a
counterbalance weight, which is, by means of a fine silk cord, affixed to the

page_text: pulley ; affixed on the axis h; and the weight of the float f preponderates over
the balance weight to such an extent as to cause the hand fixed on the
axis ḥ to stand in the position shewn in the Drawing when the instrument is
not in use; d is a cover for the vessel d. A graduated scale e is employed to
indicate by the hand ke the alcoholic strength of the liquid; the hand k, when
the liquid boils, pointing the graduation of the dial plate which indicates the
alcoholic strength of the liquid which is being tested. The zero marked on
the dial plate indicates the boiling point of distilled water, hence should the
hand k not come to that point when distilled water is boiling in the vessel d, or
if it goes beyond that point, it will be evident that the instrument is out of
order either by there being too little or too much quicksilver in the bulb, or
that the length of the silk cord of the float is not correct. The graduations
of 0 to 60° on the scale indicate the degrees of strength of alcoholic liquids,
and the graduations are obtained in the first instance by successively increasing
the alcohol in measured quantities and marking the points to which the hand
comes when the respective known mixtures come to their boiling points. The
apparatus being in proper condition is used in the following manner :-A
quantity of water is placed in the vessel c, and the liquid to contain alcohol is
to be put into the vessel d and covered over, the lamp is to be lighted, and if
the liquid is of 60° of alcoholic strength, then when the liquid comes to the
boiling point the hand will only have moved from its resting place to 60° on
the dial plate; and if of less strength, then the hand would move to fifty, forty,
thirty, or other degree marked on the scale of the dial plate; and if the hand
comes to zero, then it will show that alcohol is not present; and this will not
be materially interfered with by the liquid containing sugar or other soluble
matter which interferes with the specific gravity of the liquid without changing
the quantity of alcohol present, as the quantity of alcohol will be indicated
with considerable accuracy by the apparatus.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details shown, provided the peculiar character of the Invention
be retained. But what I claim is, the so arranging of thermometric apparatus
as to indicate the acoholic strength of liquid when the same are raised to
their boiling points.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Field, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
JOHN (L.s.) FIELD, JB.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of
December, in the year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid John Field came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.