This boxwood and brass brewer's dip rod was made by W. R. Loftus L^TD, London, who traded in London from around 1859 until 1919, the firm became a limited company around 1900.

The rod has a five-fold structure which when fully open is 60" long. It has a square cross section and all four sides provide measuring information.

The scales provided are:

- 60" measure calibrated in tenths of an inch.
- A scale for measuring Imperial Gallons in a receptacle of a specific shape, ranging from 0 to 450 gallons.

- Scales for measuring the ullage in the following cask sizes either standing (ST) or lying down (LY):
    - Wine hogshead (lying) - 56 galls. (Hogshead capacity is usually 54 galls?)
    - Wine half hogshead (lying) - 28 gal.( Hogshead capacity is usually 27 galls?)
    - Pipe (lying) - 113 galls. (Alternative name for a Butt, capacity is usually 108 galls?)
    - 8 Qts.
    - 3 Galls.
    - 4 Galls.
    - 5 Galls.
    - 6 Galls.
    - 8 Galls.
    - 10 Galls.
    - 12 Galls.
    - 16 Galls.
    - 20 Galls.

N.B. In order for the dips to be accurate each cask size must have had a consistant shape or perhaps the rod was made for a particular brewery whose casks were always the same sizes.

This rod would have been used in conjunction with a hydrometer which measured the specific gravity of the liquid in the cask to enable its alcohol content to be calculated and hence the duty payable. Duty calculations on beer were done in this simple way because of the huge volumes when compared to the wine and spirit industry which used a more complicated gauging process. Around 1900, British breweries produced 37 million barrels of beers a year and the Bass brewery alone had over a half million casks and employed 400 coopers.