Weighing up the importance of history

The Avery Historical Museum houses what is probably the finest collection of weighing artefacts in the world. Located at the Soho Foundry, the headquarters of Avery Weigh-Tronix in Birmingham, this private museum was first opened in 1927.

Exhibits date from weighing equipment used by the ancient Egyptians right up to the first price-computing scales introduced in the 1970s.

The museum contains a wealth of fascinating information. For instance, and perhaps this is not a great surprise, medieval taxmen were among the first in modern times to standardize accurate weighing. Many towns had a Tron; a giant public scale that was used to weigh bales of wool for taxation purposes.

For those in the quarrying industry, there is also a working model of the first public weighbridge. Invented in 1745 in response to the Road Toll Act, it was used for weighing goods carried in carts. The cart was driven on to the weighbridge and then weighed using a counterbalance lever.

The museum is a member of the International Society of Antique Scale Collectors (ISASC) and members can obtain information on old weighing machines from a large collection of product catalogues that go back to 1830.

Well worth a visit, the museum is open by appointment only. Contact the curator, John Doran, at [email protected] to arrange a convenient time, or visit: www.averyweigh-tronix.com/museum.