Bartholomew Sikes

Bartholomew Sikes (died 1803)[1] was an officer in the employ of HM Excise who in the late 18th century perfected a device by which the alcoholic content of a liquid can be measured.[2]

Sikes' Hydrometer Act 1816
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act for establishing the Use of an Hydrometer, called Sikes's Hydrometer, in ascertaining the Strength of Spirits, instead of Clarke's Hydrometer.
Citation56 Geo. 3. c. 140
Dates
Royal assent2 July 1816
Other legislation
Repealed bySpirits (Strength Ascertainment) Act 1818
Status: Repealed

In 1802 he presented his invention to a board of inquiry together with nine other competitors who included Mary Dicas of Liverpool whose hydrometer was the approved instrument by the American excise. Sikes' device was chosen over the other nine.[3]

The success of the device caused his name to be immortalised in an Act of Parliament: Sikes' Hydrometer Act 1816 (56 Geo. 3. c. 140). From 1816 until 1980 the hydrometer was the standard used in the UK to measure the alcohol proof of spirits, and from 1846 in Canadian law.[4]

References

  1. "Bartholomew Sikes". Collections. Science Museum Group. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  2. Tate, Francis G. H. (14 March 1931). "Bartholomew Sikes's System of Alcoholometry". Nature. 127 (3202): 398–399. doi:10.1038/127398a0. S2CID 186243546. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  3. Morrison-Low, A. D. (23 September 2004). Dicas [married name Arstall], Mary (fl. 1800–1815), maker of scientific instruments. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49542.
  4. Denison 1955, p. 132

Bibliography

  • Denison, Merrill (1955). The Barley and the Stream: The Molson Story. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Limited.
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