Balance

My aunt visited the other day.  She lives in Vancouver.  She brought with her a Cenco Scientific Triple Beam Precision Scale.  It had belonged to my grandfather (her father); he had used it to mix chemicals for his [film] developer.  He was a chemist and thus was capable, and interested in collecting all the various ingredients and combining them according to ancient and secret recipes to create his developer solution.  He also liked to cook.  

As I have been preparing developer myself, rather than from concentrate, she thought the scale would be useful. 

I’m not sure how old the balance is, however, there are some clues.  The label includes two patent numbers, the first dating from 1923 and the second from 1932.  These then suggest an earliest date.

I have completed some test to determine the accuracy of the scale.  Initial findings suggest it is 10 grams under at 1 kg or 1%. I expect that most things I’ll do will continue to be successful within that tolerance.  I completed two tests.  The first involved weighing the same object on this scale and a second electronic scale.  There was a difference between the two.  For the next test I measured out 1 litre of water.  The benchmark scale reported exactly 1 kg; the Cenco scale reported 990g.  

I’ll move the scale down to my darkroom.  It will bring back fond memories.  

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