two pan Roberval balance
Date1900-1930
Inventory Number1998-1-0092
ClassificationBalance
Subject
Maker
Henry Troemner Company
1838-present
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensions21.3 x 31.6 x 9.3 cm (8 3/8 x 12 7/16 x 3 11/16 in.)
Material
DescriptionA red painted cast iron balance with a rectangular base that raises to a rectangular block with beveled edges to a higher platform on which a vertical iron column stands. This column is the pivot for a cast iron beam with a weaving shape that supports at each of its ends a tray holder above it. The tray holders are empty except for having a metallic plate attached to the innermost arm of each holder. Below each tray holder, the beam extends downward to enter a hole on the base of the balance. The beam also has a metallic plate attached on front that has a scale and a sliding weight.
On the base the "No. 7" has been embossed and painted (original to the balance) and later the "ME2" was added in paint.
On the base the "No. 7" has been embossed and painted (original to the balance) and later the "ME2" was added in paint.
Signedon base, embossed: HENRY TROEMNER PHILA. PA.
FunctionA balance, likely to compare the weight of objects on its two sides rather than just find out absolute weights. For this purpose one would place an object on each of the trays and use the sliding weight or additional weights to balance the two sides, the difference in weight being the total weight that one put on the trays plus the sliding weight. The holes at the base into which parts of the beams enter are likely dampers.
Christian Becker, Inc.
Date: 1930-1940
Accessories: thin paint brush; small round metal box containing square of metal; thin wire; pans (2)
Object number: 2006-1-0111
Keller Manufacturing Company
Date: 1900-1920
Accessories: two tweezers; a small box of fractional weights; two colored carboard boxes; a small metallic case; four small cylindrical boxes; a convex circular piece of glass
Object number: 2004-1-0332
Henry Plympton
Date: circa 1835
Accessories: troy weights (1998-1-0038b); instruction manual (1998-1-0038c)
Object number: 1998-1-0038a
E. Mettler AG
Date: 1955-1965
Accessories: instruction manuals
Object number: 1996-1-0203
Carl Zeiss Jena
Date: circa 1926
Accessories: wooden box with two hook-and-eye latches to fasten front opening; in instrument file: instruction book (photocopy); Geissler tube labeled "H2"; carboard tube containing German thermometer C in stainless steel holder that screws into instrument; glass bottle with cork stopper labeled "Monobromnaphthalin, Germany nD=1 658"; small round cardboard box labeled "For Pulfrich Refractometer" containing one tubulure
Object number: 1996-1-0229