William Garnett

“ The hydrometer constructed by Dicas of Liverpool is provided with a sliding scale which can be adjusted for different temperatures, and which also indicates the contraction in volume incident on bringing the spirit to proof strength. It is provided with thirty-six different weights which, with the ten divisions on the stem, form a scale from 0 to 370. The employment of so many weights renders the instrument ill-adapted for practical work where speed is an object. ”

“ As in Boriés’s instrument, a series of 9 weights, each of the form shown at E, serves to extend the scale to 100 principal divisions. In the centre of each weight is a hole capable of admitting the lowest and thickest end of the conical stem C, and a slot is cut into it just wide enough to allow the upper part of the cone to pass. Each weight can thus be dropped on to the lower stem so as to rest on the counterpoise B. The weights are marked 10, 20, . ”

“ When loaded with either of the lightest two weights the instrument is specifically lighter than Sikes’s hydrometer when unloaded, and it may thus be used for specific gravities as low as that of absolute alcohol. The volume of each weight being the same, the whole volume immersed is always the same when it floats at the same mark whatever weight may be attached. ”

“ It is clear that the effect of this “plongeur,” when placed in the lower pan, is exactly the same as that of the 5 gramme weight in the upper pan. Without the extra 5 grammes the instrument weighs about 20 grammes, and therefore floats in a liquid of specific gravity .8. Thus deprived of its additional weight it may be used for spirits. To use the instrument for liquids of much greater density than water additional weights must be placed in the upper pan, and the “plongeur” is then placed in the lower pan for the purpose of giving to the instrument the requisite stability. ”

“ The plan commonly adopted to obviate the necessity of inconveniently long stems is to construct a number of hydrometers as nearly alike as may be, but to load them differently, so that the scale-divisions at the bottom of the stem of one hydrometer just overlap those at the top of the stem of the preceding. ”

“ One side of the stem AD is shown in fig. 5, the other three in fig. 6. The thermometer is also provided with four scales corresponding to the scales above mentioned. Each scale has its zero in the middle corresponding to 60° F. If the mercury in the thermometer stand above this zero the spirit must be reckoned weaker than the hydrometer indicates by the number on the thermometer scale level with the top of the mercury, while if the thermometer indicate a temperature lower than the zero of the scale (60° F.) the spirit must be reckoned stronger by the scale reading. ”

“ This weight will exceed w in consequence of the water displaced by the solid, and the weight of the water thus displaced will be W1−w, which is therefore the weight of a volume of water equal to that of the solid. Hence, since the weight of the solid itself is W−w, its density must be (W−w) / (w1−w) .
The above example illustrates how Nicholson’s or Fahrenheit’s hydrometer may be employed as a weighing machine for small weights. ”

“ The use of Sikes’s hydrometer necessitates the employment of a considerable quantity of spirit. For the testing of spirits in bulk no more convenient instrument has been devised, but where very small quantities are available more suitable laboratory methods must be adopted. ”

“ Charles’s balance areometer is similar to Nicholson’s hydrometer, except that the lower basin admits of inversion, thus enabling the instrument to be employed for solids lighter than water, the inverted basin serving the same purpose as the pointed screw in Atkins’s modification of the instrument. ”

“ This instrument was adopted by the United States in 1790, but was subsequently discarded by the Internal Revenue Service for another type. In this latter form the observations have to be made at the standard temperature of 60° F., at which the graduation 100 corresponds to proof spirit and 200 to absolute alcohol. The need of adjustable weights is avoided by employing a set of five instruments, graduated respectively 0°-100°, 80°-120°, 100°-140°, 130°-170°, 160°-200°. The reading gives the volume of proof spirit equivalent to the volume of liquor ”

“ Any regulations made under this section shall be published in the London, Edinburgh and Dublin Gazette, and shall take effect from the date of publication, or such later date as may be mentioned in the regulations for the purpose. ”