Salter Public Weighing Scale

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G Salter & Co

c. 1900

Overview

The Salter Public Weighing Scale No 308 was manufactured by G Salter & Co from West Bromwich in the United Kingdom and were distributed in Australian and New Zealand by the Australasian Automatic Weighing Machine Company.

Historical information

Established in 1760, Salter developed precision products for over 260 years that spanned a wide range of core product categories, including scales, electricals, cookware and countertop. It is a market leader in kitchen and bathroom scales and one of the UK’s oldest consumer brands.

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. 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.

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.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2023.82

Item type

Objects

Material

Cast Iron

Glass

Width

700 mm

Height or length

1800 mm

Depth

800 mm

Weight

200 kg

Themes

Medicine & Health

Popular Culture

Social History

Inscriptions and markings

"308"

"AUSTRALASIAN AUTOMATIC WEIGHING CO LD"

Contextual Information

Machines like the Salter Public Weighing Scale once sat in train stations around the world, as well as post offices, shopping centres and other public locations. For a penny, anyone could stand on the machine and measure their weight. As many people didn't have household scales, they would insert a penny, step on the scales and see how much they weighed. The scales revealed the weight in pounds and ounces.

The machine weighs about 200 kg and according to the late coin-machine historian and author Dick Bueschel, the "very elaborate nickel-plated cast-iron cabinets”, were in fashion by the early twentieth century and a popular attraction for families. In Antiques Weekly he wrote "Men and women and children rushed to get weighed and watch the mechanism whirl and spin a pointer to indicate their weight on a large round dial.”

These scales were installed at the current Busselton Post Office on the corner of Prince and Stanley Streets. This site was chosen for the Post and Telegraph Office in 1897 due its proximity to the Railway Station and the building was completed in 1898. It is unknown when the scales where installed here or how long they served the community before they found their way into the Museum collection.

Keywords

Busselton -- Western Australia

Busselton Post Office

Instruments-weighing

Place made

West Bromwich
West Midlands
United Kingdom

Year

c. 1900

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Social or spiritual significance

Comparative significance criteria