Rare Antique George Salter English Iron Station Platform Penny Scale Northwind

Description

WHAT YOU ARE BUYING/BIDDING ON
#32491
Exquisite museum quality English Imperial penny scale, circa early 20th century.  Attributed to Australasian Automatic Weighing Machine Co. Ltd.  Made from heavy cast iron with a gunmetal finish featuring high relief scalloping, acanthus leaves, florets and a beautiful North Wind Face in-front of the lattice grate. The North Wind face is a design that became popular in England in the 18th and 19th century as whimsical furniture began to sweep through towns as it made its way across the Atlantic. The North Wind face is said to be seen whispering through furniture as it blows wooden tendrils of wind from its mouth.
The dial of the scale is neatly mounted between roman inspired columns.  It features a hand painted enameled face with brass bezel and beveled glass.  The face is marked in stones the Imperial measuring system which was later customized with markings for pounds.  1 stone is equal to 14 pounds.  The center of the face reads "Place One Penny In The Slot".  The scale is labeled via brass plate #287.
This is an automatic public weighing machine, No.287, was most likely made in England by George Salter and Co. of West Bromwich, which would have been used on a railway station platform during the first half of the twentieth century.
The Australasian Automatic Weighing Machine Co. Ltd tendered 'for the right to place Automatic Weighing Machines on railway and tram premises throughout New South Wales' in 1923 and subsequently for five-year terms in return for a fixed payment per machine and a portion of the revenue to the NSW Government. The company also made arrangements with the Postmaster General's Department to place machines outside post offices across the country. Weights were measured in stones and pounds up to 20 stone (127 kg) and average weights were shown separately for men, women, boys and girls by various heights in feet and inches.
At the time, most people did not have scales at home to measure their weight so these machines in public places served the purpose. Users paid with a 'penny-in-the-slot' and could compare their weight with the average weights indicated on the face of the scale according to Dr Hutchinson's Table.
John Hutchinson (1811-1861) was a pioneer in the investigation of pulmonary physiology and pathology and an early Fellow of the Statistical Society of London. He had invented the spirometer to determine lung function (which he called 'vital capacity') by measuring the volume of exhaled air from fully inflated lungs. In the course of his research he measured over 2,000 people as he believed that height and weight were a factor. These careful observations formed the basis of his table of averages used on the weighing machines.
This weighing machine, installed by the Australasian Automatic Weighing Machine Co. Ltd at Maitland railway station in New South Wales, was made by the firm, George Salter and Company, in West Bromwich, England. Salter advertised that these machines were suitable for hotels, pleasure gardens, theatres, exhibition halls, clubs, baths and places of public resort. The company had been established in 1760 by the brothers, Richard and William Salter, manufacturing springs and pocket steelyards (spring balances). After several generations the company was taken over by a nephew, George, and in 1884 the Salter trademark was registered showing a Staffordshire knot pierced by an arrow. The company's expanded range of products included the first coin-operated public weighing machines in the 1880s and in 1895 the first English-made typewriter, the British Empire.
When the last George Salter died in 1917, the company passed into the hands of other relatives but continued to grow before being bought out by Staveley Industries in 1973. Despite several subsequent mergers, the Salter name continues today on homeware products such as digital scales.
History
The firm began life in the late 1760s in the village of Bilston, England when Richard Salter, a spring maker, began making the first spring scales in Britain.[2] He called these scales "pocket steelyards", though they work on a different principle from steelyard balances.
By 1825 his nephew George had taken over the company, which became known as George Salter & Co. George later established a manufacturing site in the town of West Bromwich, about 4 miles (7 km) from Bilston. West Bromwich Albion football club was formed from workers at this works site. From here the company produced a wide variety of scales including the UK's first bathroom scales. Other items were added to the range, including irons, mincers, potato chippers, coin-operated machines and the first typewriters made in the UK.
The business thrived throughout the 1900s, and by 1950 it employed over 2000 people, still in the same area and owned by the same family.
CONDITION
Good antique condition, wear and distressing commensurate with age and use, staining and oxidation.
DIMENSIONS
26" x 33" x 67"h
PAYMENT
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SHIPPING & HANDLING
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