Object Details
- Toledo Scale Company
- Description
- In the late nineteenth century, Allen DeVilbiss, Jr., of Toledo, Ohio, invented a new form of scale that lacked the usual springs in such instruments and included a printed table for computing the price of the object weighed, given the price per unit weight. DeVilbriss soon sold his patent rights and they passed to a firm run by Henry Theobold, a former employee of the National Cash Register Company. Under Theobold’s leadership, the Toledo Scale Company became a leading manufacturer of scales for industry, transportation, and stores. This is a small model of the Toledo Model 728, a computing scale used in retail stores during the 1930s.
- The instrument has an iron frame painted red, a metal lever and indicator, and a paper multiplication table. The table gives multiples of 2 cents, 4 cents and 6 cents by 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Instead of a weighing pan, there is a circular ring about the size of a penny.
- A mark on the front reads: TOLEDO. A mark on the back reads: NO (/) SPRINGS (/) HONEST (/) WEIGHT. A mark on the inside of the base reads: TS729.
- For a much larger Toledo scale, with related references, see 2005.0100.140.
- Online source suggest that toy Toledo scales were made and sold by the Kilgore Manufacturing Company of Westerville, Ohio.
- References:
- Toledo Scale Company, Toledo Scales for Retail Stores, Toledo: Toledo Scale Company, 1934, Form A-1384.
- Bob Terry, Honest Weight: The Story of Toledo Scale, XLibris Corporation, 2000.
- The website www.antiquetoysandautomata.com, accessed July 18, 2017.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Edith R. Meggers
- ca 1935
- ID Number
- MA.335276
- catalog number
- 335276
- accession number
- 314637
- Object Name
- toy
- Physical Description
- metal (overall material)
- paper (table material)
- Measurements
- overall: 10 cm x 10 cm x 3 cm; 3 15/16 in x 3 15/16 in x 1 3/16 in
- place made
- United States: Ohio, Toledo
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Weights & Measures
- Record ID
- nmah_694573
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b3-1590-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
