Balance
date: label: Date made
content: 1929-1934
name: label: maker
content: Central Scientific Company
notes: label: Description
content: The triple beam balance—essentially a platform scale that can sit on a laboratory bench—has been enormously popular for well over a century. The form originated with Frank Aronson, the long-time chief designer for the Central Scientific Company. In his patent of 1906, Aronson explained that he aimed “to provide a laboratory-balance of simple and inexpensive construction adapted to weigh accurately and having a considerable degree of sensibility.”
label: Description
content: Paul Klopsteg, a physicist who joined the firm in 1921, made further refinements to the form. This example is of that sort. It was made between 1929 when Klopsteg applied for a patent, and the issuance of that patent in 1934. The inscription on the stand reads “CENCO.” That on the beam reads “PAT. APPL’D FOR / CENTRAL SCIENTIFIC CO. / CHICAGO, U.S.A.” That on the base reads “CENCO AGATE BEARING / TRIPLE BEAM BALANCE / CENTRAL SCIENTIFIC CO. / LABORATORY APPARATUS / SUPPLIES CHEMICALS / TRADEMARKD CENCO REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. / CHICAGO, U.S.A. / NEW YORK – BOSTON – TORONTO – LOS ANGELES.”
label: Description
content: The word CENCO was introduced in 1906, registered as a trademark in 1925, and designated objects that were designed in-house.
label: Description
content: Ref: Frank Aronson, “Balance,” U.S. Patent 837,374 (Dec. 4., 1906).
label: Description
content: Paul E. Klopsteg, “Balance,” U.S. Patent 1,949,721 (1934).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
topic: label: Subject
content: Weights & Measures
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Colorado State University
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0297.03
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0297.03
label: accession number
content: 2005.0297
objectType: label: Object Name
content: balance
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 1/2 in x 16 1/2 in x 4 1/2 in; 29.21 cm x 41.91 cm x 11.43 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 1/2 in x 16 1/2 in x 4 1/2 in; 29.21 cm x 41.91 cm x 11.43 cm