Alla France hydrometer

ALLA FRANCE and the History of the Hydrometer

The origin of the hydrometer is more vague, but also more ancient.

The hydrometer works according to Archimedes’ principle, defined by the Sicilian mathematician (287 – 212 BC) as follows: “The upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces.” History says that Hypatia of Alexandria, a mathematician and philosopher, invented the hydrometer following this principle.

Amongst the most important characters in the history of the hydrometer, we must mention Mr Baumé (1728-1804), a French pharmacist and chemist who created the Baumé scale. The latter is divided in regular intervals and the density of water corresponds to 0°Bé. This scale, still used today, is often mentioned in cooking recipes for syrup. Mr ALLA would have participated in the development of this scale.

Similar to the Baumé scale we also come across the Brix scale, invented by the German mathematician Mr Brix (1798-1870). It is also a regular scale in which the density of water corresponds to 0°Bx, mostly used to measure sugar content in a liquid.

Other scales invented by other researchers have followed.

Mr Cartier  in  1771 and  Mr Gay-Lussac in 1824, created scales to measure alcohol contentin.

In 1874, Mr Pinchon, a French chemistry professor, developed a “thermal areometer” that is to say a hydrometer with a thermometer inside its body. He also invented hydrometers for specific uses such as various vegetable oils, glycerine, and oleic acid but also for the petroleum industry.

Mr Twaddell (1792-1839), a Scotsman, also created a scale which bears his name.

Mr Alla manufactured all kinds of hydrometers for those scientists. Many specimens can be seen in the history area of our premises.

Mr Pinchon’s cod liver oil hydrometer must have been one of the most unpleasant to develop. Indeed, at the time, you needed to test the product to determine the scale of an instrument.

It was Mr Littré, a French politician and philosopher, who mentioned the idea of mass density (ratio between weight and volume). The unit of measurement becomes the kg/ m3.

The scale in specific gravity, unstable depending on the mass density was made official in 1960 by the BIPM (International Bureau of Weights and Measures). It is still active today within the SI (International System).

No matter what the scale is, density will vary according to the temperature of the liquid. Therefore, the Galileo thermometer can also be seen as a hydrometer.

To create a scale, a pantograph was used. The one used from the 18th century to the 1980s by M. ALLA & Sons is displayed in our history area. Scales were designed with a quill and printed using lithographic limestones (also on display).

Originally, hydrometers were manufactured by jewellers and were made of copper, silver or brass. Then metal was replaced by glass because it resists anything except caustic soda and hydrofluoric acid.

Mr Fahrenheit became a glass blower and manufactured hydrometers, hygrometers and thermo-barometers to determine atmospheric pressure. He invented a hydrometer with a small pan at the top to place specific weights until the central part of the hydrometer is immersed. The heavier the weights are, the greater the Archimedean buoyant force exerted on the hydrometer by the liquid is, that is to say the greater the density of the liquid is (a specimen can be seen in the history area of our premises).

ALLA FRANCE today

The hydrometer market is a niche market. With more than 500,000 units produced per year, we are certainly the leading manufacturer in the West.

The thermometer is the second bestselling measuring instrument in the world, after the manometer (pressure gauge). The market is difficult to assess because it covers many different applications such as medicine, air conditioning, industry, laboratory and everyday cooking.

ALLA FRANCE is mainly positioned in the industrial laboratory sector.

During these last few years, the economic context has been slowing our growth but we are coping decently by applying a simple motto: “take a maximum of risks with a maximum of precautions”. The trading activity (purchase/resale operations) has been taking a more and more significant place until reaching more than 60 % of our sales since 2014.

Despite these figures, production still plays an important part in our growth strategy. Our manufacturing resources enable us to offer sustainable, quality products and to absorb additional volumes to export all over the world.

Thanks to the automation systems we have developed internally, our production processes are quite advanced compared to our competitors’. The low cost manufacturing countries like China are beginning to experience social progress, which goes hand in hand with payroll increases, leading to reduced price differences .

Our long experience is the result of a permanent compromise between know-how and modernity, the main guarantees of which are a competent staff and regular investments in R&D, that represent more than 5% of our turnover.

In addition, the history of the company and the management still held by the Alla family are not only a guarantee of independence, but also the guarantee of a coherent and stable development strategy that favours the long term while preserving our strong industrial vocation.

Alla France hydrometer Products

• Alcoholometers – Hobby line
• Alcoholometers ISO 4801 -OIML R44 type
• Alcoholometers – OIML R44 type – displaced range
• Alcoholometers – Precision Line
• Alcoholometers – small size
• Alcoholometers with thermometer – Precision Line
• Animal husbandry and Agriculture
• A.S.T.M. E100 & A.S.T.M. D28 Equivalent
• Battery and Antifreeze testers
• Baumé scale
• Catering
• Draft Survey ECE / ENERGY/19
• Fishkeeping
• General Purpose – 100 g/ml series
• General Purpose – 100 g/ml — shifted series
• General Purpose – >2000 g/ml
• General Purpose – 200 g/ml series
• General Purpose – 300 g/ml series
• General Purpose – 60 g/ml series
• General Purpose – 70 g/ml series
• General Purpose -g/ml – Range Finder
• General Purpose – g/ml – with red spirit thermometer
• General Purpose – Precision line – 100 g/ml series
• General Purpose – Small size – 60 g/ml series
• General Purpose – Sp.Gr
• General Purpose – Tropical Countries – 27.5°C
• General Purpose – Tropical Countries – with red spirit thermometer
• Milk – g/ml
• Mustmeter (control of the must) – Precision Line
• NF T 60-101 Equivalent
• Petroleum industry – g/ml – with thermometer
• Saccharometers
• Saccharometers – Precision Line
• Saccharometers with Thermometer – precision line
• Saccharometers with Thermomter
• Specific uses
• Standardised ASTM E100
• Standardised ASTM E100 ° API
• Standardised A.S.T.M. E100 – Canadian Gouvernment Agreement
• Standardised ASTM E100 D422
• Standardised A.S.T.M. E2995 °API – Blue Spirit Thermometer
• Standardised A.S.T.M. E2995 – BLUE SPIRIT Thermometer
• Standardised BS 1377
• Standardised BS 734 – NFB 35 522
• Standardised ISO 387
• Standardised ISO 649-BS 718-DIN 12791
• Standardised ISO 649SP-NF B35511SP-BS718SP-DIN12791SP
• Standardised ISO 650
• Standardised NF 41008 – DIN 12804 – ISO 3993
• Sugar
• Sugar -Twaddell
• Wine, Beer & Cider – Hobby line
• Wine – Precision Line

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