Platform Scale
name: label: maker
content: E. and T. Fairbanks and Company
notes: label: Description
content: Erastus and Thaddeus Fairbanks, both of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, obtained two U.S. patents on June 13, 1831, both describing “an Improvement in the Machine for Weighing Heavy Bodies, usually called the ‘Platform-Scale’.” These patents were canceled because of defective specifications, and new ones granted, on March 6, 1834. These patents, in turn, were canceled because of defective specifications, and newer ones (#118 and #119) were granted on February 10, 1837.
label: Description
content: Platform scales made by E. & T. Fairbanks were on the market by 1833. And they contributed to the silver medal that the Fairbanks brothers won at the 1837 exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association.
label: Description
content: This is a model of an early Fairbanks platform scale supporting a hay wagon. The weighing mechanism is a steelyard of the sort that Benjamin Dearborn, of Boston, had introduced in 1799, and that he termed a “vibrating” steelyard.
label: Description
content: Ref: Erastus Fairbanks and Thaddeus Fairbanks, “Improvement in the Machine for Weighing Heavy Bodies,” U.S. Patent 118 (February 10, 1837).
label: Description
content: Erastus Fairbanks and Thaddeus Fairbanks, “Improvement in the Machine for Weighing Heavy Bodies,” U.S. Patent 119 (February 10, 1837).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Vermont, Saint Johnsbury
topic: label: Subject
content: Weights & Measures
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: E. and T. Fairbanks
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CH.309902
label: catalog number
content: 309902
label: accession number
content: 109993
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Platform Scale
label: Object Type
content: Scales
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 36 3/4 in x 27 3/4 in x 13 in; 93.345 cm x 70.485 cm x 33.02 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; base: 3 in x 35 1/4 in x 26 1/2 in; 7.62 cm x 89.535 cm x 67.31 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; platform: 3 in x 16 1/4 in x 7 1/2 in; 7.62 cm x 41.275 cm x 19.05 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; scale: 2 3/4 in x 13 in x 1/2 in; 6.985 cm x 33.02 cm x 1.27 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; lightbulb box: 1 1/4 in x 4 1/8 in x 3/4 in; 3.175 cm x 10.4775 cm x 1.905 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; lightbulb card: 3 in x 5 in x 1 in; 7.62 cm x 12.7 cm x 2.54 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; bag of weights: 5 in x 3 in x 1 in; 12.7 cm x 7.62 cm x 2.54 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; wagon: 6 1/4 in x 8 3/4 in x 19 in; 15.875 cm x 22.225 cm x 48.26 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; stand: 10 in x 13 1/4 in x 5 1/2 in; 25.4 cm x 33.655 cm x 13.97 cm