Import duties were a major source of revenue for the United States Government prior to the establishment of a tax on personal income. Custom-houses were the places where these revenues were collected, and they sprung up wherever water facilitated the flow of commerce. Although the Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) began providing standards of length, mass, and capacity to the custom-houses in the 1830s, the custom-house at Cincinnati did not receive its standard gallon until 1882. In the 1850s, OWM commenced studying methods of gauging the capacity of casks of imported liquids by weighing sample casks at various temperatures as the seasons changed.
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