Nouveau Système de Balance de Précision a Rapides in Comptes Rendus, Tome CXII, No. 23, 8 Juin 1891, p. 1299

Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1891. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF THE FIRST ACCURATE BALANCE FOR MEASURING CHEMICALS, the invention of the chain balance. Complete original issue.

The history of scales and balances dates back to Ancient Egypt when a simplistic equal-arm balance on a fulcrum was used to compare two masses. The weighing of chemicals required something more exact, however.

The chain balance was an ingenious attachment to the ordinary chemical balance. First conceived and patented in 1890 by Louis Marie Victor Serrin a French inventor who, in search of a more accurate way to measure chemicals, employed a light chain. One end of the chain was "attached to one arm of the balance, and the other to a movable arm sliding on the case of the machine. By raising or lowering this arm, the fraction of the chain carried by the balance arm is diminished or increased. In using the device the weighing is made approximately by weights in the usual way, and when nearly in balance the final adjustment is made by means of the chain. It is claimed that a great saving of time can thus be effected" (Engineering, Volume 63, 1891, 450). CONDITION & DETAILS: Complete original issue, June 1891. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. 4to (11.25 x 9 inches; 281 x 225mm). Original string bound printed wrappers with spine and cover edge scuffing; spine professionally repaired. Mild toning to the covers and first and last pages. Very good condition.