Balance
date: label: Date made
content: 1900-1950
label: Date made
content: early 20th century
name: label: maker
content: National Scale Company
notes: label: Description
content: The National Computing Scale Company began in business in Cleveland, Ohio, in the late 1890s, to capitalize on the ideas of William Harley Sanderson (1844-1911). A machinist who had spent many years with the Howe Scale Company in Vermont, Sanderson obtained two patents for balances that could estimate the number of pieces in a load by determining the weight of that load. The firm moved to Beaver Falls, Pa., in the early 20th century, and was renamed the National Scale Company. It moved again, in 1909, to Chicopee Falls, Ma. It is now trading as the National Scale Co. of New England, Inc.
label: Description
content: This heavy and ornate platform scale is marked “NATIONAL SCALE CO. CHICOPEE FALLS, MASS. U.S.A.” and “NATIONAL / SCALE CO. / NO. 34309 / PAT. OCT. 16 / 1900.” According to company literature, it had a load capacity of 100 pounds, a shipping weight of 150 pounds, a double weighing beam, and it “Accurately counts pieces weighing 1-4 Ounce and over.”
label: Description
content: Ref: William H. Sanderson, “Platform Scale,” U.S. Patent 601,881 (April 5, 1898).
label: Description
content: William H. Sanderson, “Weighing and Counting Machine,” U.S. Patent 659,830 (Oct. 16, 1900).
label: Description
content: National Scale Company, <i>National Factory Systems</i> (Chicopee Falls, 1917), p. 11.
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: Gift of City of New York
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1983.0514.02
label: catalog number
content: 1983.0514.02
label: accession number
content: 1983.0514
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Balance
label: Object Type
content: Scales
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 67.3 cm x 80 cm x 52 cm; 26 1/2 in x 31 1/2 in x 20 1/2 in
label: Measurements
content: overall; scale: 26 1/2 in x 31 1/2 in x 19 1/2 in; 67.31 cm x 80.01 cm x 49.53 cm