page_title: Weighing scale
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Weighing scale / Force-measuring (weight) scales / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A Simple Balance.
context_page_description: A Beam balance is a device to measure weight or mass. These are also known as mass scales, weight scales, mass balances, weight balances, or simply scales, balances, or balance scales.
  The traditional scale consists of two plates or bowls suspended at equal distances from a fulcrum. One plate holds an object of unknown mass, while known masses are added to the other plate until static equilibrium is achieved and the plates level off, which happens when the masses on the two plates are equal. The perfect scale rests at neutral. A spring scale will make use of a spring of known stiffness to determine mass. Suspending a certain mass will extend the spring by a certain amount depending on the spring's stiffness. The heavier the object, the more the spring stretches, as described in Hooke's law. Other types of scales making use of different physical principles also exist.
  /Some scales can be calibrated to read in units of force such as newtons instead of units of mass such as kilograms. Scales and balances are widely used in commerce, as many products are sold and packaged by mass.
context_section_description: Although records dating to the 1700s refer to spring scales for measuring mass, the earliest design for such a device dates to 1770 and credits Richard Salter, an early scale-maker. Spring scales came into wide usage in the United Kingdom after 1840 when R. W. Winfield developed the candlestick scale for weighing letters and packages, required after the introduction of the Uniform Penny Post. Postal workers could work more quickly with spring scales than balance scales, because they could be read instantaneously and did not have to be carefully balanced with each measurement.
  By the 1940s, various electronic devices were being attached to these designs to make readings more accurate. Load cells – transducers that convert force to an electrical signal – have their beginnings as early as the late nineteenth century, but it was not until the late twentieth century that their widespread usage became economically and technologically viable.
caption: A simple balance from the 19th century
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