Apter-Fredericks

A George III Period Personal Weighing Machine or 'Sanctorius's Balance'

Height: 53" 135cm

The scales veneered in satinwood with tulipwood bandings. The column has a sliding height adjustment and recessed folding brass height marker with a suspended copper weight bowl. Below are two hinged weight trays. The box below with a leather inset platform which is counter-balanced. The scales retaining their original cased set of graduated brass weights and stamped Made at Week's R'L Museum, Tichborne Street.

English, Circa 1790

The Personal Weighing Machine was invented by John Joseph Merlin, although the mechanism itself was invented by Wyatt all be it on a grander scale for the weighing of vehicles after the enactment of the Turnpike Act of 1741, Merlin was responsible for scaling it down.

A number of scales are known and some are stamped Merlin. Others like this one were made by Thomas Weeks and sold from his museum in Tichborne street.

The idea of weighing one's body seems to have been due to the Italian Physician Santorio Santorio ( 'Sanctorius') 1561 - 1626, who used a large steelyard for the purpose. In Paris in the mid-eighteenth century a public weighing machine was maintained for people to weigh themselves and it was likely that Merlin knew of it from his time spent in Paris.
Sanctorius' work was known in England, but the use of a convenient weighing machine suitable for household use was novel.

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