Accession No

1039

Brief Description

Clarke hydrometer, by Dring and Fage, English, 1/2 19th Century

Origin

England; London; 20 Tooley Street

Maker

Dring and Fage

Class

physics; metrology

Earliest Date

1800

Latest Date

1850

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass, steel); wood (two types); paper; cloth (silk, baize, ribbon, padding)

Dimensions

hydrometer length 165mm; maximum diameter 33mm box length 230mm; breadth 122mm; height 48mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from W. Derret, 1951.

Inscription

‘CLARKE’ (lower spindle)
‘EXPORT’ (lower spindle)
‘For Clarkes Export
Hydrometer
by
Dring and Fage’ (top of weights list in box)
‘CLARKES
Export Hydrometer made only by
Dring & Fage. Hydrometer Makers to his
Majesty’s Honorable Board of Excise.
NO. 20 Tooley ST near
London Bridge
NO. 9024’ (lid of box)

Description Notes

Clarke’s export hydrometer with spherical float and turned counterweight. Scale on one side of spindle: two scales marked in opposite directions each divided 1 - 10, numbered by 1 (10 not marked on upper scale, marked as 0 on lower scale).
48 weights with varying serial numbers; one more originally. Some weights marked as ‘in 1 90 u’ etc., some marked with single digit numbers and indications of temperature, some marked with ‘B’, some marked ‘0 1 to 7’ etc.
Fitted wooden box with brass hinges (one screw missing) and hook fasteners. Lined with green silk and green baize. Depression in back of box with lid with ribbon hinges, covering some of the weights; paper scale on underside of this lid giving table of proof counts. Thermometer would have rested on top of this but is missing.

Condition fair (lots of tarnishing, silk torn); incomplete (at least one weight missing, many probably not part of this set (up to 3 duplicates of same weight), hydrometer has wrong serial number, thermometer missing)

References

Events