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pocket steelyard maker

Jill

master brummie
One of my ancestors made scale beams and pocket steelyards Anyone know what these are please?
 
For many years the UK's No.1 brand for domestic weighing scales has been Salter Housewares Ltd (with currently around 40% market share). They have become renowned for their quality, and with a 10 year guarantee on all their scales, Salter certainly go further than the rest showing their confidence in just how good Salter scales are.



Salter Housewares itself began life in the late 1700S in the village of Bilston, England. At this time Richard Salter, a spring maker, began making 'pocket steelyards', a scale similar to the fisherman's scale of today.



By 1825 his nephew George had taken over the company, which became known as George Salter & Co. and later established a large, well equipped manufacturing site in the town of West Bromwich.



From here the company produced a wide variety of scales including the UK's first bathroom scale. Other items were added to the range, including irons, mincers, potato chippers, coin-operated machines and another 'first' for the UK, the typewriter.



Then a major employer in the area, the company offered advanced social facilities to its staff, including a works football team, from which developed the club known today as West Bromwich Albion!



The business thrived throughout the 1900s and by 1950 employed over 2000 people, still in the same area and owned by the same family. Then, in 1972 the company was purchased by Staveley Industries Plc and was split into separate subsidiaries, housewares, industrial etc. relocating as required.



In the late 1980s, and early 90s Staveley acquired more businesses world-wide to form a new 'weighing group' including the Weigh-Tronix company of America, and in 1998 after a management buy out, this became the Weigh-Tronix Corporation, with Salter Housewares a part of that. The focus of the new corporation however was increasingly towards industrial or commercial weighing, so on February 7th 2002, the management team at Salter Housewares Ltd, backed by Barclays Private Equity, bought the company out from the group, to concentrate on it's consumer businesses.



So rapid was the growth over the next two years that the company became an attractive acquisition target, and consequently on 31st March 2004 was sold to the US-based HoMedics company, leaders in the "personal wellness" product category.



Located in the UK, USA, & Canada, with distribution to over 100 countries world-wide, and now part of the highly successful HoMedics group the company is now set for continued global growth and product extension towards its "Living with Salter" concept.
 
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Classic iron steelyard mounted on a rectangular base holding a wooden pillar terminating in a bracket-shaped arm. The support is probably a later addition. The counterpoise is missing. There are two hooks for weighing commodities using different capacity ranges. The square-shaped rod is graduated on all sides with several scales. A special curved metal rod, attached to the top of the bracket, keeps the longer arm horizontal when the steelyard is at rest. Provenance: Lorraine collections.


Type Steelyard into Google images, youll be amazed at the results  O0

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Thanks for the tip - I'll do that and thanks for your help. What interesting looking thingys!
 
Jill the items I imagine could look really nice if displayed properly in the right kind of property dont you think. Look at Flat Irons, and Shoe Trees painted buckets and the like? all quite domestic and business like items. Some of them are very ornate too!!
 
One of these steelyards would probably be worth something today. Wish I could actually see one - especially one made by my ancestor.
 
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