KNEIST'S
BRIEF-WAAGE

Kneist's letter scale up to 500 grams

This letter scale bears the name Kneist's Brief-Waage on the dial. It also shows German postal rates for letters (Briefe) up to 15 grams 10 Pfennig, and up to 250 grams 20 Pf.; for samples (Waarenproben) up to 250 grams 10 Pf.; and for printed matter (Drucksachen) up to 50 grams 3 Pf., up to 250 grams 10 Pf., up to 500 grams 20 Pf. and up to 1000 grams 30 Pf. These printed matter rates were valid in the period from 1 January 1875 to 1 June 1890, this is the shortest period of validity compared to that of the letters from 1 January 1875 to 1 April 1900 and that of the samples from 1 January 1875 to 1 October 1918. Otto Kneist started making household and table scales in 1872. On April 1, 1875, together with the merchant Louis Mühlhan, he started the open trading company Mühlhan & Kneist for the production of Druckwaagen. Very quickly, on July 6, 1875, all rights were transferred to Otto Kneist, and on July 1, 1875, the open trading company was closed down again. It is still unclear to me when exactly the company Wunder & Kneist was founded. From advertisements it seems to be possible to deduce that this collaboration already existed in 1872. There have been various factory names over the years: Wonder & Kneist Wagenfabrik in 1878; erste deutsche Wirtschafts-Waagen-Fabrik Wunder & Kneist in 1891; Waagen- und Schreibmaschinenfabrik Wunder & Kneist in 1898; Schreibmaschinen- und erste deutsche Wirtschafts-Waagen-Fabrik Wunder & Kneist in 1898; Schreibmaschinenfabrik Wunder & Kneist in 1901; erste deutsche Federwaagenfabrik in 1922; Wirtschaftsgerätefabrik Wunder & Kneist in 1927. In the 1920s Wunder & Kneist entered into a partnership with other scale manufacturers and Widewag GmbH (WIertschaftsgemeinschaft DEutscher WAagen- und Gerätefabriken GmbH) was founded, primarily to market their products more efficiently. Wunder & Kneist is said to have existed until 1950.

back of the letter scale

A product that was advertised relatively heavily was the Kneist typewriter (Typenschreibmaschine), which was originally invented by Otto Ferd. Mayer and J. Funcke in 1893 and was protected by patent DE78296. Otto Kneist made some changes to the design and patented it in Germany in 1896 with patent DE90952, in Switzerland in 1897 with patent CH14884, and in England with patent GB18971576 also in 1897. That typewriter was not a great success. In 1930 Wunder & Kneist patented a bread slicing machine DE529998. Letter scales or household scales were not patented by Kneist, or by Mühlhan & Kneist, or by Wunder & Kneist. According to information from 1878 the annual production was 2500 household scales (Familienwaagen), also indicated with Wirthschafts-Waage on the dial. The weighing range was usually 10 Kilo / 20 Pfund. Also made were diet scales, herb scales, the "Mignon" scale in a cast stone casing, and a wall-mounted coffee grinder.
I have not found a production figure for Kneist's Brief-Waage. Kneist letter scales are available with weighing ranges of 250 grams, 500 grams and 1000 grams. I also saw a specimen specially made for use in Sweden weighing up to 500 grams with the Swedish postal rates valid in the period 1 October 1907 to 1 June 1918. The Kneist letter scales are identical in terms of relief, the painting of the specimens I saw differs. Green and gold were used on more scales from this period. My specimen was painted streaky gold, underneath there was a dark green layer. I removed these layers of paint. The central cast iron part of the weighing mechanism appeared to be broken. With a plate and two pins and drilling two holes, and a lot of patience, the fracture zone is splinted and glued. The letter scale is 19.0 centimeters high, the foot is 10.8 cm wide and 9.2 cm deep, the letter plate is 8.3 cm round. The enamel dial is 7.9 cm round, the diameter of the round cast iron scale housing part is 9.5 cm.
Below are some more images of this Kneist letter scale from the short period 1875-1890.

side view

animation: put 20 grams on the letter scale [move the pointer over the photo]

side view

animation: from 300 grams to 500 grams [move the pointer over the photo]	the weighing range of 500 grams is divided per 5 grams the letter post weight limit of 15 grams is indicated separately	animation: from 500 grams to 400 grams [move the pointer over the photo]
there is also a Kneist for use in Sweden	The Kneist has an enamel dial	the postal rates for letters and samples
the cast iron weigh house has a floral relief	the letter scale has three support surfaces	four weight classes with rates for printed matter
the rear support surface	view of the bottom and the stand of the mechanism	in the conical part there is an arm of the mechanism

the purchased Kneist was painted ugly in gold color, and the cast iron part of the mechanism turned out to be broken

the gold color has now been removed from the purchased Kneist and the cast iron part has been repaired

the streaky gold color on the purchased Kneist

from: Deutschen Reichs-Anzeiger issue no. 126 of June 2, 1875 the company Mühlhan und Kneist was registered in the trade register as of April 1, 1875, the company started producing compression scales (Druckwaagen) as an open trading company. Louis Mühlhan is a merchant, Otto Kneist is a manufacturer.	advertisement for a Familienwaage by Mühlhan & Kneist in Kladderadatsch: das deutsche Magazin für Unpolitische Jahrgang 28, 1875 ## Beiblatt, 11.07.1875	advertisement for a Familienwaage by now only Otto Kneist in Kladderadatsch: das deutsche Magazin für Unpolitische Jahrgang 28, 1875## Beiblatt, 29.08.1875
from: Officieller Katalog mit geschichtlich-statistischen Einleitungen 1878 these are combined parts of pp145-146. Wunder & Kneist, Schlosser, Wagenfabrik (locksmith, scale factory) was founded by Otto Kneist in 1872, had 10 to 18 employees, an annual production of 2500 household scales (Familienwaagen) and 4-600 decimal scales (Decimalwaagen)	advertisement from Wunder & Kneist in: Internationales Handbuch für den reisenden Kaufmann, 1891 on pp167	Wonder & Kneist are mentioned in: Hankes Export-Adressbuch, 1897 on pp78

advertisement in Über Land und Meer, No.47 Band 80 from 1898 Waagen- und Schreibmaschinenfabrik Wunder & Kneist

advertisement in das Echo 41, 1922, on pp2868 for Wunder & Kneist Waagen since 50 years in 1922, so it started in 1872

in the Buch der alten Firmen der Stadt Hannover im Jahre 1927 pp443 Wunder & Kneist is mentioned as Wirtschaftsgerätefabrik