Platform Scale
date: label: Date made
content: 1832
name: label: patented by
content: Fairbanks, Thaddeus
label: patented by
content: Fairbanks, E.
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. The model shown here pertains to one of these later patents.
label: Description
content: Platform scales made by the Fairbanks brothers were on the market by 1833. And they contributed to the silver medal that the Fairbanks won at the 1837 exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association.
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CH.251177
label: catalog number
content: 251177
label: accession number
content: 48865
label: patent number
content: 121
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Platform Scale
label: Object Name
content: platform scale, model
label: Object Name
content: Platform Scale
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
label: Object Type
content: Scales
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/2 in x 15 1/2 in x 15 1/2 in; 21.59 cm x 39.37 cm x 39.37 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/2 in x 15 1/2 in x 11 in; 21.59 cm x 39.37 cm x 27.94 cm