Monday, November 27, 2017

Roman Steelyard Scales

I bought two scales recently to go with my roman scale weights and cast bronze (that had to be weighed). The first arrived today. It is not ancient, but is old by US standards. The first pics are from the seller. The 3rd one is what arrived today.

The seller's description - Surrender Dorothy. Unexpected Vintage Finds Fresh Every Day.
Scale 22 1/2" long. Three 3 1/2" hooks plus one for hanging. Light surface rust.
Condition / Good. Works great. This handsome must-have vintage farm tool is in good working order and has been pre-used and pre-loved, Some wear to the finish. It's all ready to go to work again in your own shop... 
NOTE - the scale can be hung two ways. The light weight mode has a long lever arm to the hooks holding an item being weighed. This range is 5 - 26 pounds. The heavy weight mode has a shorter arm to the load and has a range of 25 - 130 pounds.



The scale and some other items that arrived today. I will post the coins and 2.5 Kg bronze currency bar later.

I bought this partial Roman Steelyard Scale last weekend. I hope it arrives soon. I want to look at the two scales side by side.

The steelyard weight above is from the Getty Museum. The one on my scale is not so fancy.


I am building a stand for my scale. You can see the two ranges (sides) below by looking at how far the weight is from the hanger for the same weight. When I looked at the vendor's pictures, I wondered why there were so many hooks. There are two hanging hooks, on opposite "sides". 
The gallon and a half of water is below the minimum weight mark on the high range scale, above. I could not move the weight close enough to the center to balance (level) the bar.

The gallon and a half of water on the low range scale, above, sets the weight near the middle of the balance bar.