BALANCE AND SPRING BALANCE Dear friends,
Today I was taking my afternoon siestaor in better words - sleep. I woke up with the memory of old spring balanceused by merchants mostly in weekly markets which has practically disappearedtoday. I thought my posting today can beof those disappeared weight measuring items. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 4-12-2011 Reposted on 25-3-2021 after editing and updating. R. Gopala Krishnan 1. The brass spring balance To describe it is sleek tinybrass front equipment with a pointerattached to a steel metal spring which would move on the marked scale on thebrass frame through a straight 3 mm gap facilitating movement of thepointer . The item to be weighed is attached to one side of the spring having abigger hook mostly in a cotton container, The equipment hold using hand on thetop hook( slightly smaller) , connectedto the spring and depending on weight ofthe item the needle would move on the pre-marked brass frame, indicating weight of the hooked item. The equipment used to be about3”x1” with a depth of about half an inch normally. Normally pepper dealers, cashewnut dealers and other spice items dealers had a specially stitched cotton clothbag with a convenient hooking arrangement for weighing the item placed init. The zero weight would be indicated after the weight ofthe bag hooked. Since the spring balance workedon the expansion of the metal spring and the spring balance is hold by handthere was an upper limit of about 10 kg to be weighed. The spring was made of qualitysteel which retained the proper expansion and contraction for a pretty longtime. The tiny balance was normallykept by the vendors in the waist are on the dhoti worn by them. We could seethe brass scale shining in the sunlight while holding and weighing by them. Normally these merchants would procureonly the items and on the same day they would hand over to whole sale merchantsafter transporting to cities. 1. Weighing pepper and cashew nuts. Having pepper creeper and cashewtrees in my ancestral home, it was a practice for us to sell them taking in bagto weekly market. Depending on the size of the item the price was fixed. Therewas no question of selling surplus only. Except one kg of pepper or cashew kept for use, allremaining were compulsorily sold. Most important- We had to payPanchayat Tax to enter with our item for selling and very often as a tactic; a subordinate of the merchants wouldpay tax with a smile. So we were obliged to sell our item to the personwhom he direct. Normally we used tosort out and pack the items before taking to market to get best price. 2. Story of getting green pepper. It was in 1994. I was working aslecturer at Trivandrum. We were conducting a seminar and I was the chiefcoordinator of the same at that time. One of the directors fromCoimbatore attended the seminar desiredto have some green pepper. He knew meearlier while I was working in Kodaikkanal in 1973. I have told him earlier wehave pepper plants in our home in native and used to sell in market. I LEAST EXPECTED HE WOULDRECOLLECT AND ASK ME AFTER SO MANY YEARS FOR GREEN FRESH PEPPER. Going over to my native andgetting was not possible since all our plants were in the land already sold bymy elder brother before 10 years on partition. Green pepper was least availablein Trivandrum. One of my staff said, itcan be at Vamanapuram (30 KM away from Trivandrum) area. He was correct. I went to Vamanapuram on the coming holiday.One merchant there arranged a person to pluck green pepper from his house and Igot it for him a few hours before starting for his flight to Coimbatore on thatholiday- Saturday. 3. T Nagar and Green pepper During season it is a commonsight to see platform vendors keep green pepper with thiri, Manga inchi, (A varietyof ginger with no hotness) and big gooseberry selling. There is no price belowRs 50-00 in T Nagar for anything like this now a day. Many in Tamilnadu usegreen pepper for pickles. In Kerala dried pepper is only used. However I likegreen pepper pickle for the smell and taste. I am not sure from where they getgreen pepper. 4. Measuring Balance or the scientific balance During my Physics experiments inLaboratory, one of the items was finding out the mass of an item using measuring balance.For this the balance with scale is used in a glass enclosure with more accuracythan the one used by Gold merchants earlier. Here milligram measures are addedor subtracted to measure mass. 4a. Difference between mass and weight. For those not familiarise to thedifference between mass and weight, MASS IS A CONSTANT, but weight would vary(slightly) with height for the same item. The spring balance measures weight and not mass. The jewellery shops used to weighmass using measuring balance. Now everywhere digital balance is there (inenclosure) 5. Weighing 5 grams salt. After hospitalisation about 3years back, I was instructed to take NOT MORE THAN 5 GRAMS OF SALT in their report as futureinstruction. But how to weigh 5 grams of saltappeared as a Himalayan problem to me then onwards. My wife just pinched some salt and said it is 5 gramsas if she has so much mental weighing capacity. I could not challengeher that it was not even 2 grams. Noprovision shops can weigh 5 grams. But for that purpose no gold shopwould weigh salt in their balance. Finally I suggested we would go to ourfamily doctor. Reluctantly she agreed. She had some body ailment which I tookas a reasoning for meeting the doctor. On my problem of getting weighed5 grams of salt told after her ailment treatment, he smiled and took 5 pinches of salt and said ITIS APPROXIMATELY 5 grams. He neither said it is above or lesser. (I hadtaken table salt with me) I showed my wife thequantity. It appeared a good quantity.Though she nodded in front of the doctor, immediately on reaching the home,told as I expected- Doctordoes not know correct measurement. He is only doctor. I did not askwho know then correct measurement. I felt in mind- Mounam Vidwanu Bhooshanam (Learnt will keepsilence) 6. Weight machine The weight machine used anexpanding and contracting spring to measure our weight while standing on aplatform in the front. Olden day’s railway stations,restaurants used to keep them in plat forms or in front. They used to have apointer which indicated the weight. By dropping the coin and standing for a minute, a printedweight docket will come out of the machine outlet. The docket used to be somewhatsimilar to train ticket of yester years. 6a. our future On one side of the ticket thereused to be a forecast about us like – You will deliver a child in two months. ITMAY MOSTLY COME FOR A MALE. The forecast printed depended on the print out ofthe docket coming. 7. Weighing machine in homes The weighing machine in the houseused to measure our weight just standing on it in a circular scale provided inthe measure. When I gotone from Dubai, it was called Bath room balance. How it was called so, I am notso sure. Now this also has come digital.This weighing machine is much used now by my son and daughter in law forweighing their luggage for flight limit while going abroad. For this a plank isfirst weighed on the machine and luggage is placed on it for weighing and plankweight is subtracted fromthe weight shown. As I read elsewhere in a memberposting, about his aluminium ladder, I too am mostly avoid giving to othersunless not possible to refuse. It should not be a case of “Ullathum pochuda Nallakkanna” (We use rarely and carefully andkeep the bathroom scale in working condition. If anybody keep excess weight andbreak the spring… Canwe ask for replacement for such an old machine?) 8. Small weighing machine. As a fancy from a domestic itemseller about ten years back I purchased a small weighing machine of mechanicaltype weighing 5 kgs maximum. Now its best use is for disposing old newspaper byweighing and a show piecein store room. Many times I have weighed soaps to check the loss of weight in soaps duringstoring, it was observed slightly reduced as told in the soap cover. 9. Reduction in the use of balance Old balance having one beam andpointer and two thras, shown in courts hold by a person eyes closed, haspractically not available in shops now. Some scrap merchants only carrythem now. Most merchants use digital or mechanical weighing system. In themechanical weighing system of today, has two pointers shown in a level whenthere is no weight and measure. The weight area is a wider one than measurearea. In streets we can see still fruit vendors using them. With shop fruitmerchants it is digital now. 9a. Provision stores Practically in provision shopstoo there is less weighing now a days. Most of them items are premeasured and packed.The items measured are like potato, onion and jagerry in the weighing machine. 9b. Supermarkets In super markets too exceptvegetables, all others are pre measuredand packed to save time. Only ordinaryvegetable and fruit merchants measure on scale during purchase. 10. Jewellery shops Maximum weighing using digitalweighing machine is done in jewellery shops. Any item sold is at least weighed three times, though theweight is marked in it already to ensure accuracy on both sides and beforefinal giving. 10a. Hardware and metal shops There is good use of balance forweighing hardware items and metal items. I am not so clear about themethod of operation of the plat from balance used to weigh rice, paddy etc. inrice mills. I have not included it. Learnt members can supplement about it. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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