21 8 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



COMMITTEE ON SAXTON'S ALCOHOLOMETER. 1863 



While the purpose of this committee was to advise the Govern- 

 ment, it was peculiar in that it was appointed at the request of 

 a member of the Academy to examine the invention of another 

 member. The request came from Professor Bache who was at 

 once President of the Academy and Superintendent of the 

 United States Weights and Measures, while Saxton, whose in- 

 vention was to be reported upon, was a member of the Academy. 



The committee, which was appointed May 25, 1863, consisted 

 of John F. Frazer, Joseph G. Totten, F. A. P. Barnard, and 

 William Chauvenet. The hydrometer which the committee was 

 to examine was patented by Saxton, who, however, took occasion 

 to address a letter to the President of the Academy to the follow- 

 ing effect: " In taking out a patent for the hydrometer I do not 

 intend to interfere with its free use by the government. My 

 object in patenting it is to have control of its manufacture in 

 private establishments only." " 



Saxton was a man of unusual inventive genius and had devised 

 many curious and useful mechanisms. Among them was this 

 novel form of hydrometer which he believed superior to that 

 used by the Treasury Department. It consisted of a glass bulb 

 of spheroidal form, to which was attached a chain of one hun- 

 dred links, which were smaller in proportion as they were 

 nearer the lower end of the chain. 18 The instrument was so 

 constructed that when placed in pure water the bulb and the 

 whole of the chain were suspended, while if placed in absolute 

 alcohol the bulb alone remained suspended and the chain of one 

 hundred links lay in the bottom of the vessel containing the fluid. 

 The percentage of alcohol in any given mixture of alcohol and 

 water could be determined by counting the number of links that 

 remained suspended in the liquid. This instrument was readily 

 portable and was so small that it could be placed in a box three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter and one inch high. 18 



"Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1863, p. 97. 

 " Loc. cit., p. 96. 

 19 Lor. cit., p. 6. 



