Dr. Nooth's Apparatus for preparing medicinal waters, solutions of carbon dioxide in water (aerated or soda), c. 1775.

Dr. Nooth's apparatus for preparing medicinal waters, c. 1775. This apparatus was originally designed by Dr. Nooth, as suggested by Joseph Priestley, to prepare water containing carbon dioxide. The bottom vessel contains chips of marble to which dilute sulphuric acid was added. Carbon dioxide was given off and this passed into the middle vessel which contained water in which some of the carbon dioxide dissolved. A valve arrangement allowed the gas to move upwards but did not allow the water to move downwards. When the water was needed, it was drawn off using the tap in the middle vessel. Nooth's apparatus was superseded by a new process invented by a German immigrant in London called Schweppe.