Skip to main content
Collections blog

Old Set of Scales From Storage

By April 28th, 2023No Comments
Salter Scale

This item is a scale from around the 1940’s or 50’s and has been sitting in the Museums store for a while.

Salter Scale

It is a Salter No.50 scale which was made by Salter Housewares which was formed in 1760 in the village of Bilston, England. At this time Richard Salter, a spring maker, began making ‘pocket steelyards’, a scale like the fisherman’s scale of today.

Salter Scale

The business thrived throughout the 1900’s and by the 1950’s employed over 2000 people, still owned by the same family in the same area. Then in 1972 the company was purchased by Staveley Industries Plc and was split into separate subsidiaries, housewares, industrial etc. relocating as required.

Salter Scale

In the late 80’s and early 90’s Staveley was purchasing more businesses worldwide from a new ‘weighing group’ which became the Weigh-Tronix Corporation. The focus of the new corporation however was increasingly towards industrial or commercial weighing, so in February 2002, the management team at Salter Housewares Ltd, backed by Barclays Private Equity, bought the company out from the group, to concentrate on its consumer businesses.

Salter Scale

The company then grew rapidly over the next two years and was then acquired in March 2004 by US based HoMedics company, leaders in the “personal wellness” product category. In 2006, Salter Housewares USA and Taylor Precision Products Inc (also owned by HoMedics) merged together to combine sales, marketing and distribution efficiencies to be more reactive to their changing retailer environment.

Translate »
BOOK NOW