Weighing machine with ruler for height, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1831-1910
Hospital patients were weighed and measured by this machine. The weighing machine is made from oak and boxwood. The fittings and weights are brass. Monitoring a patient’s weight can indicate their health. Accurate weight information also ensures the correct dose is given of any medication. It was made by J. Gardner and Son in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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Glossary: weighing machine
A machine (sometimes referred to as a scale) for weighing persons, objects or large weights.
Measurement is the process of estimating the magnitude of some attribute of an object, such as its length or weight, relative to some standard (unit of measurement), such as a meter or a kilogram. The act of measuring usually involves using a measuring instrument, such as a ruler, weighing scale, thermometer or speedometer which is calibrated to compare the measured attribute to a measurement unit. Metrology is the scientific study of measurement.
Glossary: personal weigher
weighing machine or device specifically for determing the weight of an individual person, usually but not always in a domestic environment. Characterised by weighing platform or chair, based on the steelyard lever principle (Distinct from bathroom scales)