WHEN WEIGHTS ARE WEIGHED.

Northern Advocate, 19 January 1920, Page 4

WHEN WEIGHTS ARE WEIGHED.

STANDARD WEIGHTS GROW HEAVIER WITH AGE.

Among offences committed by tradesmen there are few so sharply and swiftly punished as the use of incorrect weights or measures.i

A curious case of the kind was dealt with only the other day when a Welsh draper was fined because an assistant had used his walking-stick with which to measure ribbon. The stick, reputed to ibe a yard long, turned out to be only 35 £ inches.

British weights and measures are in the keeping of the Steward's Department of the Board of Trade, the officials of which have in their charge not only the Imperial standards, but also models of all the weights and measures that may be used in trade.

The Weights and Measures Act of 1878 requires that all local standards shall be sent to the Standard office to be verified, the weights nob less than once in five, and the measures at least once in ten years.

It's a queer thing, but a weight sent up for verification is frequently found to weigh more at the end of five years than it did when it was made. This is probably due to the action of moist air and a certain rusting, ONLY ONE CHANGELESS METAL. There is only one metal known which will not so change. It is an alloy of iridium and platinum, but is far too costly to be employed for all the thousands of weights required by local authorities. The administration of the Weights and Measures Act is in the hands of the county and borough councils, and "by these are some seven hundred inspectors, who are constantly at work all over the country. Some idea of the work that falls upon these inspectors my be gathered from the fact that in one year they verify and stamp well over ten millions of weights f measures, spring balances and the like. Very little error is allowed, and that must be on the right side so far as the customer is concerned. For instance, on a four pound iron weight the maximum error permitted is only twelve grains.