Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-11-02
WONDERFULLY DELICATE
SCALES.

In the Assay Office on Wall street
they have scales thlt are so sensitive to
weight that the smallest strand of hair
plucked from the eyebrow can be accu-
rately weighed. Two white pieces of
paper of equal weight can be placed in
The scales, and ones autograph written
IN pencil on either piece will cause the
side with the autograph to go down a
little, and the needle, which indicates
the divisions of weight, even to the ten
milhonth part of pound aud less, will
move from its perpendicular. These
fine little scales are triumrhs of mech
anism, and are closed in glass cases,
so the wind cannot reach them. The
glass cases have a sliding door, and as
soon as the weight is placed in the bal
Rnces the door slides down. By pres
sing a button the beams are raised a
little and the balances are clear and
ready for action.
Expert Assayer Warner has luxuri-
ant sllken moustache, apd consented to
sacrifice Just one strand for the scales,
but in trying to pull it out by the roots
it broke off near the end, leaving a
piece of hair not One-tenth of an inch
in length. SeiZing it with a pair of
w liucI uIOppSu IL lulO Iuc
little weighing pan. Shutting the lit
tie glass door, the sensitive perpendic-
ular needle swayed and indicated that
the hair, or moustache strand, weighed
one-half of a milIigramme.
A milligramme is the thirty-one
thousandth part of an ounce, therefore
the moustache strand weighed the
sixty-two tn ,ussndth part of an ounce
-
pound. Mr.. Wilder, having declared
the exact weight of Mr.. Warmers
piece of moust2che, told something
about the work of the sensitive little
balances. Whichever way the beam
falls, even If only pin pOint, the per
pendiculqr needle sways from its
plumb, and, somewhat like magnetic
needle, registers the division of
weight. One division is the forheth
part OF a milligramme, and a milli-
gramme being the thirty-one thous.
andth part of all ounce, It can be seen
that Mr.. Warmers hirsute adornment
was rather heavy weight. 1t was too
small to be picked up by hand, and yet
it weighed the computable part of an
ounce Troy.
Before weighing any little trifie like
house-hy's wing, or a hair from a
baby's eyebrow the glass door is opened
and the weigher takes a small brush
and carefully dusts away any particle
that might, perchance, get on one end
of the balances and cause the perpen-
dicular needle to oscillate, Then the
door is carefully closed, so tn It not
one Eolian breath of air can sing with
heavy tongue against any portion OF
the delicate scales. They generally
call them beams in the Assay Office.
One peculiar fact is that the scales, or
beams, when not at work, rest. Both
of the little weighing pans rest on
small blocks, and the crossbeam, by
clever mechanism, is permitted to come
down from Its pivot, so to speak, and
repose in neglige style. When the
button on the outside is pressed, the
beam ascends and lifts the two little
pans from their rests. The indicator,
! or needle, settles to zero, aud the in.
strument is ready. 1t is supposed that
if these delicate little machines were
left ready for use they would wear
more and not be as sensitive to weight.
These scales are used in making as.
says. Mr.. Wider said that in making
an assay the weight had to be absolutely
correct, or else thA result would loot
up wonderfully in the long run. If a
mistake In an assay, say, OF the weight
of Mr. Warmers moustache strand,
should be made, when the total result
on a sum OF one hundred and twenty
five thousand dollars came out, there
would be deficiency of over a hun
dred dollars. That is why such fine
calculations in weights have to be made.
Some signatures, he said, were heavy,
especially if written in ink. He re-
quested the reporter to write his sigma
ture in ink, So it could be weighed.
Down went one of the little pans, and
the perpendicular needle showed that
the signature of nine letters weighed
exactly two milligrammes, or the fif-
teen thousand five hundreth part of an
ounce Troy. And yet the lettering was
not heavy. - Yankee Blade.