I'd long vaguely wondered why the large gas-storage towers you see dotted around the UK and other countries were called "gasometers" (or, it turns out, the equivalent in other languages) - yes, the height of the tower shows you how much gas is in it, but that's not their primary function, surely? Turns out it was! They were originally invented as lab equipment (by Lavoisier, no less!) and scaled up for industrial use by the Scottish engineer William Murdoch. People have apparently been complaining about the name since the late 1700s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_holder