C.O.C.A. Times

''NATIONAL'' Circa 1900
WEIGHING MACHINE SCALE
by JIM AND MERLYN COLLINGS
This handsome cast iron scale found
its way throughout the United States
(photo 1 ). It was commonly seen at
railway stations, street corners, outside
stores or near any high traffic areas.
The segmented column resembles a
tum-of-the-century sidewalk clock or
lamp post. This historic scale was one
of the first coin-operated scales used
throughout the country.
Leroy Baldwin from Rutland, Ver-
mont invisioned the potential of mar-
keting this fine scale. He was a ski llful
promoter who set up scale franchises
and issued stock from hi s National
Weighing Machine Co. in New York
City. The class ic "National" design was
established when Baldwin joined forces
with a designer named Herman E. Pat-
terson of Passaic, New Jersey. Patter-
son got some of hi s ideas by studyin g
the earlier Fairbanks and other scale
designs into the 1880's and 1890's. His
patent for the National Weighing Machine Co. in 1891
was issued for a case design. By 1900 the scale was
available for distribution.
A height and weight chart dial was invented by Leroy
Baldwin in 1900. This new innovation promoted greater
sales as potential patrons noticed the
health charts and used the scales more
frequently (photo 2). The height and
weight chart table was furnished by
the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. of
New York City.
The "National" scale pictured in
photo l was also called the "visible"
scale. It is 72 inches high and 16 inches
wide at the base. There were some dif-
ferent dials or faces used on the National
scale, such as, blue and white porcelain,
red and white porcelain, the semi-cir-
cular "visible" and the "curves ahead"
(photo 3). The "curves ahead" dial was
often used at railroad stations. It reads:
Curves Ahead - Watch Your Weight.
Which probably meant the train met
with curved tracks and overweight pa-
trons might develop their own curves.
Charles B. Trickey an I 890 franchise and operator
from Norwood, Ohio is mentioned
on our scale dial (photo 2). This same
scale is pictured in Rich Penn's Mom
and Pop Stores book, page 268, where
it resided in a barber shop setting
(photo 4).
The
National
scale was usually
painted in silver and
sometimes had a
bronze-like appear-
ance and also had
other color combi-
nations as well. The
scale features a built
in marquee that says:
Correct Weight / One Cent (photo 5). A
small white cameo on each side of the
column (that resembles a Greek god) is
shown in (photo 6). There are also scat-
tered embossed leaves on all four sides
of the column. There is one panel on each
side on the head that is removable, that al-
lows the operator to serv ice and adjust the
spri ng mechani sm. This was a clever way
to maintain the scale. The
cash box is located on the
left-hand side of the column even though
the coin entry is on the right. There is a
double lock assembled to safeguard the
coins. The footplate or platform reads:
National Weighting Machine/ New York
(photo 7).
When we acquired this wonderful
scale we found an original
vendors record envelope
inside the cash box (photo
8). The envelope reads:
Lee's Bar New Richmond,
Ohio which later became
Bischoff's Bar. The record information
kept indicates the following: starting in April 1952 thru
August 1957 the monies were picked up three times a
year, spring, summer and fall. Over a six-year period
only $39.35 was co ll ected. How times have changed!
This illustrates how this scale still attracted patrons for
over 50 years.
This National scale should be an absolute must for coin-
op collectors since this is the grand-daddy of them all.
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