St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1904-04-13
Scales for st. Louis.
II. s. n. Fairbanks & Ce. ship their
Last Lot of Goods for she LSuisiana
Purchase RxuOsftiou.


Il. & It. Fairbanks & Ce. ship tleir.
Last Lot of Goods for she Lsuisiana
Purchase Exposition.
The final two cars of scales for the st.
Louis Exposition has left the factory and
they will be set up in the building of
varied industries as soon as they arrive
at their destination. The exhibit con-
sists of a full line, from the delicate pre-
scription scale to 1OO-ton track scale.
The latter will be set up on the floor of
the building, with sort of skeleton
framework, illustrating both the scale
irons as they are shipped from the fac
tory and the material which forms a
part of the completed scale when ready
for use. Several types of the wagon scale
class will also be set up in this manner
to illustrate the steel and wood of which
they are made.
Some of the scales deserve special men,
tion and this includes 5-ton suspension
copper scale, all metal, for weighing
expensive ores; dormant sugar scale,
finished in native ash: dormant scales
finished in native birch and birds eye
maple where the grain takes a high poll
ish; personal scales of several sizes and
types for use of insurance companies,
physicians and bathrooms. The exhibit
OF charging scales range in size and
capacity from those used by potters in
making small bits of pottery up to those
built into cars to be run about the tracks
in the big iron furnaces. The abattoir
scales illustrate how weighing machines
are used in packing houses and whole
sale markets; the freight scales have a
quick weighing attachment SO that the
weight may be read from dial; the type
registering beams show the weight is
indelibly impressed upon a card; and
there are testing scales of various sorts
and sizes for determining the strength of
materials like a sheet of paper, paste
board or cement, also the amount of
moisture in wood pulp, the quality of
grain per bushel, and so on.
Perhaps the most interesting object in
the exhibit is an old portable platform
scale which was in continuous use from
1884 to 1898. The following is the his
tory of this interesting 7Oyear-old scale.
Sold February II, 1884, to Bracket &
Bacon, general store, Passumpsic, VT.
Sold with Store in 1889 to Farmers
Grange, Nathaniel Bishop, clerk.
Sold with Store to William Lawrence.
Store burned in 1S4o. Scale rescued and
taken to Mr.. Lawrence's farm in St.
Johnsbury.
Sold with farm to Hiram Russell in
1862, and used on farm by Mr.. Russell
until sold to E. & T. Fairbanks & Co.,
in March, 1898.
There is also reproduction of the
original wagon scale designed by Sir
Thaddeus Fairbanks, a model about
one-fourrh the size of the original but
capable Of weighing person accurately.
The exhibit includes show cases enclos-
ing pivots and loops, highly polished,
and a case of nearly 60 medals which
have been received at previous exhibi-
tions in the United States and Europe.
A picture of the scale works as they were
in 1880 is surrounded by rustic frame
such as were used in the early part of
the last century. There is another of
the works as they appeared in 1850 in
frame similar to those used in framing
old-fashioned mirrors of that date, and
large picture of the scale factory of the
present day.
The exhibit as a whole will give one an
excellent idea of one of Vermont's lead
ing industries and Of the products of
the largest scale factory in the world.