Help me ID this antique homebrew equipment

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caspio

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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. :mug:

The two hydrometers are side by side, the top of one near the bottom of the other.
hydrometer1.jpg


Another pic with the same orientation, just looking at the other half of each
hydrometer2.jpg


Back to the same end as the first pic, but I rotated the hydrometers this time
hydrometer3.jpg


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
 
That's the very first hydrometer porn I've seen!

Hydrometers don't normally turn me on at all, but the curves, lumps and bumps on that lower one are stirring feelings within me........
 
I would say that the top hydrometer would be from the twenties. The Volstead Act which established Prohibition, made any beverage with alcohol content higher than .5% illegal. Cool find!
 
Wow thanks for the link mrbowenz. Guess its time to learn some German

Edit - if you google "antique hydrometer" this thread is the 4th or 5th result. Go HBT
 
wow that is WAY cool. Nice find, i would put those guys in a nice padded box and store them or a nice big frame and hang them up (very securely) as a work of art. Very cool, thanks for sharing the pictures, now that im drooling all over my desk :)
 
I definitely want to frame them. Any suggestions where I could get memorabilia or other deep frames suitable for doing something like this? Any searching I do only turns up ridiculously expensive sports jersey frames and such
 
Check places like Michaels, Joann's, Home Goods, or other places like that. They typically sell "shadow box" style pre-packaged framed decorative pieces. Buy them, pull their junk out of them and just use the actual shadow box frame. My wife does this quite often, and tends to regularly find the "seasonal" varities on clearance for next to nothing.
 
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