LOUIS-ALEXANDRE FAUVEL
letter scale

letter scale by Louis-Alexandre Fauvel

This is an old and special letter scale. The scale was invented and manufactured by the French instrument maker Louis-Alexandre Fauvel from Paris. In the original patent of August 1854 with the number 20623 there is a drawing of the first original design -see below- presenting a letter scale with a different look. That letter scale design is actually produced and is for example on the cover of the journal of the Société Métrique de France titled Le Système Métrique, number 93/2, on page 795, and is discussed briefly on page 807. In October 1859 that patent 20623 received an addition with text and new drawings, describing and picturing the letter scale photographed here. Below is the most important part of those drawings. In Pèse-lettres ou Balances postales, the book of Williams Archambaud is this letter scale as no.89 on page 39. The featured letter scale has a letter clip instead of a letter holder made of metal wire. The patent and the patent addition are partly in the book on pages 127-132. In Le Système Métrique, number 97/3, both Fauvel letter scales are shown on the pages 1116 and 1117, namely the patent drawing of the first design and a

back of the letter scale

picture of an incomplete copy made in accordance with the patent-addition. I bought my also incomplete and quite polluted Fauvel letter scale from someone in Belgium. By measuring the wooden base and thereafter scaling up the patent drawing such that the diameter of the base on the scaled drawing became equal to the measured size, I got a 1 to 1 construction drawing for creating the missing part: the letter holder. The wooden dial tells clearly this letter scale was made for use in Belgium. The scale acts as an equal-armed balance with a letter holder on the free side and on the other side protected behind glass four small weights in a cylindrical container. One weight hangs permanently as a counterweight on the balance beam. In an increasingly demanding letter-load successively one, two, or three extra weights are picked up by the permanent counterweight. The letter scale has on the front and on the back as the logo of Louis-Alexandre Fauvel the letters LF in a circle. On the letter scale made in accordance with the first patent drawing the letters LF stand in a diamond. My letter scale also has the text: BREVETE and S.G.D.G. BREVETÉ means: patented. S.G.D.G. is the abbreviation of Sans Garantie Du Gouvernement and means: without government guarantee, in other words not calibrated, and therefore no guarantee by the government. The company of Louis Fauvel was active from 1857 to 1865 in Parijs. This letter scale intended for use in Belgium dates probably from the period 1859-1865.
Below some more pictures of this rare letter scale.

animation: thee unloaded and loaded scale and the movement of the four counterweights and the pointer

animation: the unloaded scale and the Fauvel letter scale loaded with a letter

detail of the drawing of the addition of the patent 20623 weight in grammes with five postage levels 7½, 15g and 100g to January 1, 1862 after January 1, 1862 10, 20g en 100g the latest classification was valid until January 1, 1871

the first drawing from the French patent 20623 this design has a permanent counterweight D and only one additional weight C which is picked up by an increasing letter load

part of the drawing of the addition of patent 20623 with next to the permanent counterweight three additional weights that are picked up successively at an increasing letter load

for BELGIUM in GRAMMES five weight classes

detail of front upper part of the Fauvel letter scale

the logo LF and the text: BREVETE and S.G.D.G.

front of uncleaned still incomplete letter scale as purchased	seen from above	back of uncleaned still incomplete letter scale as purchased
seen from above the lower part the base with weights in the central part, all with lots of dust and dirt	the central part with 3x3 cutouts for 3x3 protuberances of the 3 additional weights that can be lifted by the permanent counterweight	the four weights in a row at the table edge, everything is disassembled for the big cleanup

seen from the side	the cleaned and fully restored Fauvel letter scale weighs a letter	obliquely seen from above
bottom with rest of a sticker the decal is too vague to be determined	the cleaned central part with 3x3 different sized cutouts in which the 3 protuberances of 3 additional weights rest or move	the logo LF and the text: BREVETE and S.G.D.G. at the back