Hydrometer
name: label: maker
content: Dring & Fage
notes: label: Description
content: Bartholomew Sikes (d. 1803) was a British excise officer who, recognizing problems with the hydrometers used for determining the strength of (and thus the relevant duties on) spirituous liquors, came up with a new design. In 1803, when trials were held in the Excise Office, Sikes came out the winner. On July 2, 1816, Parliament declared the Sikes hydrometer to be the official instrument for use in determining alcoholic duties throughout the United Kingdom. The wooden box holding this example has an ivory inset reading “IMPROVED SIKES’ HYDROMETER / MADE BY / DRING & FAGE / TOOLEY STREET / LONDON.” John Dring and William Fage began in business in London in 1792, making and selling rules of various sorts.
label: Description
content: This form of Sikes's hydrometer, introduced by Dring & Fage, differs from the original in that the circular brass weights are placed on top of the spindle. In this example, each of the brass weights is marked “6544.” There is, in addition, a small square weight that can be used to show that the instrument is accurately adjusted.
label: Description
content: Ref: <i>Sikes Hydrometer & Table</i> (London, 1817).
label: Description
content: J.C., “Memoir of the Late Mr. Bartholomew Sikes,” <i>The Newcastle Magazine</i> 5 (Sept. 1826): 387-391.
label: Description
content: Dring & Fage, <i>Description of Sikes's Hydrometer</i> (London, 1855).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1984.1079.02
label: accession number
content: 1984.1079
label: catalog number
content: 1984.1079.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: hydrometer, Sikes's
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall in box: 2 3/8 in x 9 3/16 in x 3 11/16 in; 6.0325 cm x 23.33625 cm x 9.36625 cm