SPRINGLESS letter scale
maker: IDL MFG. & SALES CORP. New York, U.S.A.
springless letter scale
| This ugly tin box is a letter scale made by IDL MFG. & SALES CORP. New York, U.S.A. My specimen was made for use in Canada. The range is 1 Lb. Curiously, the chart is subdivided into ¼ ounces. The -for America special- feature of this design is indicated at the front: SPRINGLESS. It's a pendulum scale of which the weight can be moved by rotating a bolt. This regulating is difficult to perform because it has to be done through small round holes in the walls without actually seeing the bolts. For temporary locking of the mechanism during transport, a separate strip is provided. This strip is put through the hole in the side-wall.
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side-wall of scale
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frontview, partly in cut-away view
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cross-section + detail of pendulum
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animation of the
weighing mechanism
click to start |
a lot of postal rates information
on the front of the scale
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copyright applied for
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With one of the screws [81], left and right in the bottom plate of the housing, it's possible to compensate for an inclined position and adjust the indicator to zero again. It's hard to call this is a clever design. The front of the housing is printed obtrusively with international postal rates information. The layout of the american version is slightly different: the IDL-logo is placed top central, the canadian-version has logos at the left and the right. At he bottom the text: PATENT APPLIED FOR is stamped in blue ink. At the front down left is printed in small characters: copyright applied for. A patent is applied for at June 4, 1948. The US patent with number 2,607,580 was finally granted on August 19, 1952. It was granted to Morris W. Romig of L.F. Grammes & Sons, Inc., Allentown, Pennsylvania. My specimen is, because of the stamp patent applied for at the bottom, probably from the period 1948-1952. Below some more photos of this letter scale.
top and front
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side and rear
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front and side-view
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the Canadian version
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Canada in red
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a lot of text at the front
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the packing of the IDL no.750
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the American version
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U.S.A.: letters 3 c, air mail 6c
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