Weights and scales used in shops in the early 1900s

At the time of my mother's childhood recollections of the early 1900s, relatively few goods came ready packaged from manufacturers. Shopkeepers weighed or measured out their goods themselves.

To speed up sales shopkeepers weighed out frequently requested goods into bags while the shop was closed. There were always, though, customers who needed goods weighed out to order while they waited. Consequently waiting around and queuing to be served was a normal part of shopping. No-one seemed to mind. The women - as it was invariably women who did the shopping - knew nothing else, and it gave them the opportunity to indulge in social chit-chat without feeling guilty that they ought to be at home doing housework.

Shop-bought goods were sold by weight, volume, length, or per item, depending on what they were. Foodstuffs were generally sold by weight, measured in pounds (written as lbs) where 1 lb = 0.453592 kg. Larger units were used for heavy items like coal (which was delivered to the door), and smaller units were used for lightweight items like the powders dispensed by chemists.

The principle of weighing out goods in shops in Victorian and  Edwardian times

The goods were weighed on weighing machines (scales) which all worked on the simple principle of balancing the goods on one side of an arm against standard weights on the other side. There were, though, different styles of weights and scales for different purposes. The photograph on the right shows scales for relatively light-weight use, for weighing letters to establish the correct postal rate. Probably all Post Offices in the late 1800s and early 1900s had something similar.

Shopkeepers needed to work out prices in their heads, but the calculations were not particularly arduous because it was normal practice to sell in simple fractions or simple multiples of a pound (or whatever was the appropriate unit of weight for the goods).

It was necessary for the scales to be set to balance properly, so that the shop was not seen to be selling under-weight. Equally shopkeepers would not want to be giving away more than they were charging for. So there was an arrangement on all scales whereby a small weight could be moved slightly one way or the other along the arms of the scales to balance up each side. Unfortunately it tends to be rather difficult to see in the photos.

In practice, shop scales were normally too rough and ready for perfect balance, or maybe the shopkeepers had to work too fast to bother. Either way, it was normal practice for them to give customers the benefit of any doubt by putting just too much on the customer's scale pan and giving the customer time to register that this was happening. Presumably there was a skill in making the 'just' as small as possible.

Weighing machines based on extending or contracting springs were not used much, if at all, in shops in the early 1900s. They were probably not thought necessary as customers always bought standard weights at standard prices per pound or per ounce. However scales based on springs were in general use in shops by the 1950s.

types of scales for specific purposes

The following photos show more types of scales. All are designed for specific purposes, with their pans specially shaped for efficient use.

The pan of these scales is ideally shaped for digging into a sack of loose material, like grain, and would have been used by corn chandlers. Photographed at Tilford Rural Life Centre.	A tea merchant in the early 1900s carrying the pan of scales suitable for digging out tea from a sack. Detail from a photograph in Farnham Museum.

The 'goods' pans of both these scales (above and below) are flat and easy to clean, making them suitable for weighing out fats and cheese - although in practice a fresh piece of greaseproof paper was placed on the pan for each customer in which their purchase was later wrapped. The pan shown above is marble and the one below is china. Photographed at Milestones Museum in Basingstoke and the Museum of Nottingham Life.

Scales ideally shaped for tipping out goods into a much smaller receptacle. Such scales would be suitable for greengrocers when selling vegetables directly into customers' bags and for women when weighing out ingredients for baking. From the private collection of Angela Leahy.

Scales using a sliding weight system as well as standard weights. The sliding weight could be moved along its own arm fitting into notches, as a quick way of weighing out smaller weights like ounces. From the private collection of Angela Leahy.

 

Types of weights

Most of these photos of scales also show the weights that were used with them - generally round brass or iron ones that stacked for tidy storage.

There were also heavy duty weights that incorporated handles for lifting, and there were extremely delicate weights which were used by pharmacists for making up prescriptions. The delicate weights were stored in air-tight boxes to avoid contamination from the air. They were shaped with 'necks and heads' so that they could easily be grasped with the tweezers that were stored with them to prevent greasy fingers from altering their weights. The following photographs were taken at Milestones Museum in Basingstoke.

Heavy duty brass weights

Weights for delicate work, like weighing out powders in a pharmacy. These weights were kept in an air-tight box with special tweezers for handling them.

A 56 pound iron weight, perhaps not surprisingly used as a door stop..

Scales suitable for weighing out sweets are on the sweet shops page.

This website Join me in the 1900s is also known as Join me in the 1900's and is © Pat Cryer.