Joseph Williams Lovibond Introduces the Tintometer

In 1887, Salisbury brewer and maltster Joseph Williams Lovibond introduced the Tintometer, an instrument that compared a sample with combinations of calibrated colored-glass standards. His work began with a brewery quality problem: judging beer color by eye was subjective, yet consistent color was a useful sign of consistent materials and process. Lovibond secured a British patent in 1886 and a corresponding United States patent in 1887 for apparatus that standardized and measured color intensity. His glass standards and instruments helped turn color comparison into a repeatable measurement used well beyond brewing. The later brewing notation °L descends from Lovibond standards, but it should not be confused with every feature of his original three-color Tintometer system.