Chainomatic Balance
date: label: Date made
content: ca. 1941
name: label: maker
content: Christian Becker, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: Analytical balance in a wood case with glass sides and drawer in the base. One inscription reads: “Christian Becker, Inc. New York, N.Y. . . .” That on the white index plate reads: “Chainomatic / Christian Becker, Inc. / New York / B 26493.”
label: Description
content: By using a chain weight instead of several small weights, the Chainomatic design permitted rapid weighing. Christian Becker’s son, Christopher A. Becker, did not invent the form, but he obtained a patent in 1916, and received the Edward Longstreth Medal of Merit from the Franklin Institute in 1917.
label: Description
content: Ref: C. A. Becker, “Weighing Scale,” U.S. Patent 1,203,686 (Nov. 7, 1916).
label: Description
content: John T. Stock, “Victor Serrin and the Origins of the Chainomatic Balance,” <i>Bulletin of the History of Chemistry</i> 3 (1990): 12-15.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Weights & Measures
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Willis L. Fairbanks
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1984.0981.01
label: catalog number
content: 1984.981.01
label: accession number
content: 1984.0981
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Analytical Balance
label: Object Type
content: analytical balances
label: Object Type
content: Balances
label: Object Type
content: balances
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: each pan: 60 mm; x 2 3/8 in
label: Measurements
content: each bow: 20.3 cm x 10.1 cm; 8 in x 4 in
label: Measurements
content: beam between knife: 15.2 cm; 6 in
label: Measurements
content: box of weights: 48 mm x 160 mm x 101 mm; 1 7/8 in x 6 5/16 in x 4 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 48.2 cm x 45 cm x 24.1 cm; 19 in x 17 11/16 in x 9 1/2 in