Hi HBT-ers, been lurking this forum for awhile and have gained some great knowledge from it. Now I need to specifically ask for your help.
The husband of an old family friend passed away, and as she was going through her late husband's effects she found these two old hydrometers, and since she'd heard I was into homebrewing she straight out gave them to me..
One has a marking on it that says D.R.G.M. Some searching on Google suggests this stands for "Deutsches Reich Gebrauchsmuster (German Reich Registered Design)". What info I can find says that this naming convention was used in addition to or in lieu of a patent, and was used prior to and during WWII.
The notation about the legal percentage of alcohol leads me to believe it may have been produced during the American prohibition. I don't particularly care if it's really worth anything, but I think it's neat as a piece of brewing history. I've been trying to figure out ways to mount it (maybe a deep picture type frame with the hydrometer cushioned in foam?) so I can mount it over my kegerator.
If anyone could help me ID these (or better yet find the patent) that would be awesome.
The two hydrometers are side by side, the top of one near the bottom of the other.
Another pic with the same orientation, just looking at the other half of each
Back to the same end as the first pic, but I rotated the hydrometers this time
Other neat thing - one of these was in some kind of fiberboard tube, but the other is packed in a tube made completely out of wood. They certainly don't build them like they used to.
For those feeling particularly curious, here's the full ~3.5meg pix:
http://www.cdsworkshop.com/files/forums/hydro1full.JPG
http://www.cdsworkshop.com/files/forums/hydro2full.JPG
http://www.cdsworkshop.com/files/forums/hydro3full.JPG
The husband of an old family friend passed away, and as she was going through her late husband's effects she found these two old hydrometers, and since she'd heard I was into homebrewing she straight out gave them to me..
One has a marking on it that says D.R.G.M. Some searching on Google suggests this stands for "Deutsches Reich Gebrauchsmuster (German Reich Registered Design)". What info I can find says that this naming convention was used in addition to or in lieu of a patent, and was used prior to and during WWII.
The notation about the legal percentage of alcohol leads me to believe it may have been produced during the American prohibition. I don't particularly care if it's really worth anything, but I think it's neat as a piece of brewing history. I've been trying to figure out ways to mount it (maybe a deep picture type frame with the hydrometer cushioned in foam?) so I can mount it over my kegerator.
If anyone could help me ID these (or better yet find the patent) that would be awesome.
The two hydrometers are side by side, the top of one near the bottom of the other.
Another pic with the same orientation, just looking at the other half of each
Back to the same end as the first pic, but I rotated the hydrometers this time
Other neat thing - one of these was in some kind of fiberboard tube, but the other is packed in a tube made completely out of wood. They certainly don't build them like they used to.
For those feeling particularly curious, here's the full ~3.5meg pix:
http://www.cdsworkshop.com/files/forums/hydro1full.JPG
http://www.cdsworkshop.com/files/forums/hydro2full.JPG
http://www.cdsworkshop.com/files/forums/hydro3full.JPG