Fairbanks Scale Circa 1900

On display is a Fairbanks Scale from around 1900, that was manufactured by Fairbanks, Morse and Company. This black scale was mainly used for weighing products in agricultural settings, warehouses, or any industrial environments that required weight products. There are two beams of numbers that signified weight (top beam is measured in hundreds, the bottom beam is measured in tens), with sliding weights (aka poises) on each of the beams, the two hooks at the very end hold the product; this scale use a pivot (on the left side) to measure the weight so when a product is being added to the scale, the right side will go up. To operate, thai scale you, first to place a product to be weighted, then adjust the sliding weight along the beam, the next step is optional, is to add large or smaller counter-weights to balance out the scale, then finally, you read the numbers to on the bema to find out the weight.

Founded in 1823, as a manufacturer of weighing scales, the Fairbanks, Morse and Company was created by Thaddeus Fairbanks, who was an American businessman, mechanic, and engineer, who invented and manufactured the first platform scale, the Fairbanks scale, that allowed the accurate weighing of large objects. The company later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, coffee grinders, radios, farm tractors, feed mills, locomotives, and industrial supplies. It was purchased by the Penn-Texas Corporation in 1958. In 1988, the scale business was sold off by Colt Industries and became Fairbanks Scales, still an independent company.

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