Balance
date: label: date made
content: ca. 1900
name: label: maker
content: E. and T. Fairbanks and Company
notes: label: Description
content: A trip scale is a rugged and relatively inexpensive Roberval balance in which the load is superimposed on the beam rather than suspended from it, and the two pans remain level and in the same orientation as they move up and down. It uses external weights for rough weighing, and a sliding weight on the beam for precision. The term “Harvard trip scale” was introduced around 1890, and pertained to an apparatus that might be used by students preparing for Harvard College. Instruments of this sort were soon to be had from most apparatus makers and dealers.
label: Description
content: This example has a cast-iron base marked “FAIRBANKS” on front and back, and two square porcelain pans marked “FAIRBANKS STANDARD.” There are nine small brass weights, and a graduated beam that reads to 5 grams, in tenths of a gram.
label: Description
content: Ref: Deborah Jean Warner, “The Harvard Trip Scale,” <i>Equilibrium</i> (2005): 3092-3096.
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: Physical Sciences
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2007.0119.01
label: catalog number
content: 2007.0119.01
label: accession number
content: 2007.0119
objectType: label: Object Name
content: balance
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 18 cm x 15.75 cm x 15.75 cm; 7 3/32 in x 6 3/16 in x 6 3/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 7/8 in x 15 in x 7 in; 17.4625 cm x 38.1 cm x 17.78 cm