Producer unknown to us
Beam balance / Steelyard
Asia, China, Jinan
2nd half of the 19th century
Wood, iron, leather
Eduard Wagner (engineer)
Purchased by the museum from Wagner in 1911
OAs 07449 a, b
The Chinese beam scale works on Archimedes' law of levers. It consists of a rod divided at the suspension point into a short load arm and a long force arm. The object to be weighed is suspended from the end of the load arm. A weight is then moved over the longer force arm until the load and force arm are in equilibrium. At this point, the scale indicates the weight.
Among the collectors who were active for the museum in China, Eduard Wagner was undoubtedly foremost among those who studied the cultures prevalent in China in the greatest depth. He also spoke Chinese himself. As an engineer working on railroad construction in the German colony of Kiautschou, he was particularly interested in things that had to do with technology, such as working tools or vehicles, as well as measurements and weights. He had numerous technical and agricultural devices made for the museum as scaled-down replicas.
Dietmar Grundmann