This exciting new book, the result of five years of research and writing, is the first-ever in-depth study of the leading vessel in the European glassmakers repertoire between 1650 and 1950. In presenting the subject on a wide stage, The Decanter provides the reader with a history of European and American glassmaking from a decanter perspective. Illustrated by photographs, patterns and drawings of thousands of examples drawn from numerous public and private collections, the text encompasses the stylistic and technical evolution of fine glassmaking and its influences and social uses. Drawing from hundreds of documentary sources and benefiting from the knowledge and experience of scores of experts in Britain, Europe and the United States, The Decanter is the most comprehensive and current history of fine glassmaking ever published. It provides a glossary of the names of all familiar shapes for the first time and dispels the innumerable myths surrounding the subject. Written by a former journal

Scope of Publication A reference work for process designers and users of decanters, this book aims to bridge the information gap in this field - that between academic theory promoted in student textbooks and case study data in manufacturers sales literature. Design It includes information on design and specification, preparing the reader to select and correctly size equipment. Purchase As a design or project engineer working with vendors to make final equipment selection, this work provides the readers with the full facts before they start talking to product vendors. Supply In an environment of industry consolidation, the handbook allows you to track suppliers old and new, providing a basis on which users can find the new relevant company for the parts/service he/she wishes to purchase. Operation Once an equipment purchase is made, the user needs to be made aware of how to optimally operate decanters. The Decanter Centrifuge Handbook covers relevant (process) operating issues such as instrumentation and control and the use of flocculents.

The first book to chronicle the rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr., the world's most influential and controversial wine critic, who, over the last twenty–five years, has dominated the international wine world and embodied the triumph of American taste. This is the story of how an American lawyer raised on Coca–Cola caused a revolution in the way wines around the globe are made, sold, and talked about. To his legions of fans, Parker is a cross between Julia Child and Ralph Nader –– part enthusiastic sensualist and part consumer crusader. To his many enemies, he is a self–appointed wine judge bent on reducing the meaning of wine to a two–digit number. The man who now rules the world of wine has been the focus of both adulation and death threats. He rose to his pinnacle of power by means of the traditional American virtues of hard work, determination, and integrity –– coupled with an unshakeable ego and a maniacal obsession with a beverage that aspires to a seductive art form: fine wine. Parker's influential bimonthly newsletter, The Wine Advocate, with more than 45,000 subscribers across the United States and in more than thirty–seven countries, exerts the single most significant influence on consumers' wine–buying habits and trends in America, Europe, and the Far East, and impacts the way wine is being made in every wine–producing country in the world, from France to Australia. Parker has been profiled in countless magazines and newspapers around the world and most of his dozen books have been best sellers in the United States and abroad. Yet, despite the world's attention and unending acclaim, Robert Parker stands at the center of a heated controversy. Is he a passionate lover of wine who, more than anyone else, is responsible for its vastly improved quality, or is he, as others claim, waging a war against centuries of tradition and in the process killing the soul of wine? The Emperor of Wine tackles the myriad questions that swirl about Parker and reveals how he became both worshipped and despised, revered as an infallible palate by some and blamed by others for remaking the world's wine industry into a single global market, causing prices to skyrocket, and single–handedly reshaping the taste of wine to his own preference. Elin McCoy met Robert Parker in 1981 when she was his first magazine editor, and she has followed his extraordinary rise ever since. In telling Parker's story, McCoy gives readers an unmatched, authoritative insider's view of the eccentric personalities, bitter feuds, controversies, passions, payoffs, and secrets of the wine world, explaining how wine reputations are made, how and why wine critics agree and disagree, and tracking the startling ways wines are judged, promoted, made, and sold today. This fascinating portrait of a modern–day cultural colossus shows how a world that once was the province of gentlemen's clubs and the pastime of stuffed shirts turned into a sensual hobby for the middle class, creating a luxury industry bent on making money on a worldwide scale –– and how one man has revolutionized the way the world thinks about wine.

Scope of PublicationA reference work for process designers and users of decanters, this book aims to bridge the information gap in this field - that between academic theory promoted in student textbooks and case study data in manufacturers sales literature. DesignIt includes information on design and specification, preparing the reader to select and correctly size equipment. PurchaseAs a design or project engineer working with vendors to make final equipment selection, this work provides the readers with the full facts before they start talking to product vendors. SupplyIn an environment of industry consolidation, the handbook allows you to track suppliers old and new, providing a basis on which users can find the new relevant company for the parts/service he/she wishes to purchase. OperationOnce an equipment purchase is made, the user needs to be made aware of how to optimally operate decanters. The Decanter Centrifuge Handbook covers relevant (process) operating issues such as instrumentation and control and the use of flocculents.

This book is about the military Sea Service Mess Night, the Sea Services consisting of the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. Mess Nights are traditional, time-honored events going back to at least the 18th Century. Formal military dining has historically been a way to communicate, to celebrate special events and a way to promote unity and camaraderie. The Mess Night, although a military formation and a formal event, is also a great deal of fun. Some of today's protocol and script is not exactly matching the past. Today's Mess Night is a bit more regimented and programmed but basically reflects all that was included in the old days and also reflects some of procedures used during the days of sail. This book is written because there are no books on Mess Nights, this is a first. Like many Sea Service customs and traditions, this custom has been handed down from generation to generation unwritten. Scripts and instructions were not necessary as Mess dinners were common. The British Navy can claim a continuous, unbroken tradition and they are basically the providers of the American tradition. They host Mess dinners much more frequently than the Americans do and the entire Navy traditionally celebrates the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. Americans have no set celebration and also have fewer Mess Nights. Many officers are not even aware of Mess Nights. This is because of several factors covered in the book. Hopefully, this book will stimulate greater interest in this important event. As the alcohol rule for ships rule has been loosened, it is particularly hopeful that shipboard Mess Nights can again become an event. It would be most appropriate to celebrate the event for which the ship is named or to begin the tradition of celebrating Navy Day or other famous event such as those listed in this book.