Identifying a piece of vintage Brewing Equipment

[greybeard54]

Hi All,
Hope you can help!

I have a piece of apparent vintage brewery measuring equipment that I have been unable to identify on the Internet.
It is a square wooden stick, 48" long and approx ½" square. The tip is tapered on one side and is protected by a strip of brass extending approximately 1" up two faces. Each face has different measurements on it.

Face 1 starts with the words 'Reeves & Co' and has markings from 1 - 10 and then 'IMPL GALLONS'. It also has figures up the side of this face and at measure 54 says 'HOGSHd LY' - further up the word 'PIN LY'

Face 2 has lots more figures on it and various markings starting 'HF HOGSHD LY', 'HF HOGSHD ST', 'BARREL LY', 'BARREL ST', KILDERKIN ST', 'KILDERKIN SY'

Face 3 has even more measures and the words 'PUNCHN LY', 'BUTT LY', 'PUNCHN ST'

Face 4 has inch measurements and even this side has 'HOGSHD' ST and '½ PIN ST'

Internet suggests that most measuring sticks would be made of metal etc., but this is definately wood.

Anyone any ideas what it is?

Gary

P.s. I can upload a photo or two if required.

[sib67]

Sounds like a dipstick - used for checking how much beer is left in various sizes of casks.

[simco999]

Pics please!!

[paulg]

yes it sounds exactly like a dipstisk .I had one made of brass about 1/4 inch square and 2 foot long

[greybeard54]

Not sure how I can sort some pictures as 'attachments' are disabled here (I think) and I don't have anywhere else to store them as I am not in Flickr etc.

Any suggestions

Gary

[barneey]

Hi,

Open a free http://photobucket.com/ upload them there, use the "img" tab on Jims and paste the direct link.

Cheers

[greybeard54]

Okay, will do thanks. Give me a bit of time and I'll re-post when done.

[greybeard54]

Here we go, hopefully this works okay!

[scuppeteer]

That size I would say it is a volume measuring stick for use in a Fermenting vessel as well as on cask, kilders etc.

An (un)educated guess for the suffixes would be: LY (laying) ST (standing)

Nice find though! )

[Graham]

It is certainly a brewers' gauging rod, and, as already mentioned, it looks like it is a wet dipping rod used for gauging how much beer is left in a casks.

It is certainly for small non-linear vessels, such as casks because, in the fifth photo down, the distance between the 10 & 20, the 20 & 30 and 30 & 40 gallon markings become substantially shorter. There will be scales for different sizes of cask and whether the cask is dipped horizontally or vertically.

Perversely, almost all of the gauging rods that I have seen (usually in breweries for dipping collection vessels, not casks) have been made from wood. Indeed, Reeves still supply gauging rods and most are still made from wood:

http://www.stevenson-reeves.co.uk/reeve ... alogue.pdf

Catalogue number B1187 looks similar to what you have, but for a different purpose.

These days brewers would dip in millimetres and use a vessel calibration chart to determine volume.

[greybeard54]

Outstanding! Thanks Guys,
I am always gobsmacked by the knowledge and friendliness of people I have never met but who share a common interest.
Having looked at the PDF item B1188 on page 19 looks identical to what I have.
I wonder if its worth contacting Reeves and asking them if they would know the age of the item?

Gary

[barneey]

Gary,

Always nice to have bits of old brewing equipment about, I intend to use the bits I have for decoration purposes.

Cheers

[simco999]

Perversely, almost all of the gauging rods that I have seen (usually in breweries for dipping collection vessels, not casks) have been made from wood. Indeed, Reeves still supply gauging rods and most are still made from wood:

I would imsagine it would be easier to see where the level is on wood rather than on say stainless steel.

My only other experience similar to this is when I used to accept petrol deliveries at the garage I worked when I was a student.

We used to have to go on top of the tankers and watch the delivery man dip the tanks to prove he'd delivered the right amount!!!! It was in the 80s!!

[greybeard54]

I e-mailed Reeves yesterday and received this excellent response today, which was much more than I expected!:

"Hi Gary,
I'm afraid I can't date it for you exactly as those were made over quite a long period. It will not be earlier than 1924, as that is when the W Reeves & Co. was founded.
I'm afraid I don't have any records from as far back as that, but it is a cask dip rod for wooden beer barrels, item B768 in our 1948 catalogue - A one piece dip rod graduated with dips for all sizes of wooden beer casks up to Butt, lying and standing, also diagonal line and inches and tenths. They were made up until the 1970's by which time aluminium kegs had replaced wooden barrels completely for beer, and it is most likely to be from the 1950's or earlier.

Best regards,

Richard Mein

Stevenson Reeves Ltd, 40 Oxgangs Bank, EDINBURGH, EH13 9LH, UK
Phone +44 (0)131 445 7151, Fax +44 (0)131 445 7323, Website www.stevenson-reeves.co.uk
Company Registered in Scotland No. 11787 at above address
VAT Reg. No. GB 269 7321 27 BS EN ISO 9001:2000 Certificate No. FM 38878 "

[willgrstevens]

I know that it's a bit late in the day to respond to your interesting posting about the dipstick, but it has only just been brought to my attention.

I, too, have a strange stick, and, for years, I have been trying to find out what it was used for. (By the way, I've been told that mine was /not/ used in brewing -- but I'm not sure that that's right.)

If you see this posting and are interested, would you like to swap further information?