Analytical Balance
name: label: u.s. agent of manufacturer
content: Arthur H. Thomas Company
label: business predecessor of maker spoerhase
content: C. Staudinger
label: maker
content: Wilhelm Spoerhase
notes: label: Description
content: Analytical balance with a 5-inch beam, agate bearings, and wooden frame with glass sides. The inscription on the ivory scale reads: “SPOERHASE SUCC. TO C. STAUDINGER GIESSEN / A. H. THOMAS CO AGENT PHILADA 3481.” The “GESETZ GESCH.” inscription on the rider lift housing is German for legally protected.
label: Description
content: Carl Staudinger of Giessen began making balances in 1842, showed his wares at international exhibitions, and was succeeded by Wilhelm Spoerhase in 1888. Arthur H. Thomas began bringing Staudinger / Spoerhase balances into the United States in 1899, and soon had supplied them to “practically every University, College and Technical School” in the country; in some institutions there were upwards of 75 instruments in actual use. The importation of these balances ceased with World War I.
label: Description
content: Ref: German Educational Exhibition, <i>Scientific Instruments</i> (Berlin, 1904), p. 185.
label: Description
content: Arthur H. Thomas, <i>Laboratory Apparatus</i> (Philadelphia, 1914), pp. 46-47.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: Germany: Hesse, Giessen
topic: label: Subject
content: Weights & Measures
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1980.0597.03
label: catalog number
content: 1980.597.3
label: accession number
content: 1980.0597
objectType: label: Object Name
content: analytical balance
label: Object Type
content: Balances
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: each pan: 70 mm; x 2 3/4 in
label: Measurements
content: beam: 13 cm; 5 1/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 51.8 cm x 40.3 cm x 33.8 cm; 20 3/8 in x 15 7/8 in x 13 5/16 in