Sheryl,

Regarding your question of March 19th @ 11:26 a.m.

‘’Has anyone ever made up a list of the advantages and disadvantages of weighing scales in the kitchen as compared to the use of fluid measures.’’

Sheryl, before 1988 your question would have been a no-brainer.

Before 1988 the only way the housewife could get a reasonably priced electronic scale, was to attend a sheriff’s auction. Most of the interest there was in the narcotic dealers’ cars and guns, and often the expensive electronic scales used for their narcotics could be bought for a reasonable price, and sometimes for almost nothing.

Maybe a housewife is going to put up with a gun or even a car that has been used by a syphilis infected dope addict, but she’s not going to put up with any such weighing scale that’s going to be touching her family’s food.

Any spring scale or balance scale used in the kitchen situation should be intimately cleaned every day. That’s impracticable. The balance scale is more accurate than the spring scale, but there is no where to place it in the kitchen where it will not be subject to drafts. Many stores do use balance scales without too much trouble, but such scales are for 1 av.oz. or heavier weights, and store conditions are not usually as harsh as household kitchen conditions.

But the biggest strike against spring scales and balance scales in the kitchen is that they are both so slow as compared to fluid measures.

After 1988 the price of electronic scales tumbled down, and today they cost only a little more than either spring scales or balance scales.

Also, electronic scales can better put up with the conditions present in the kitchen than spring scales or balance scales, but not all. If you somehow spill liquids into the electronic scale, it may not survive like a spring scale or a balance scale would. Furthermore the electronic scale is more susceptible to power surges than any other appliance. You will have to plug it into a power surge protector that’s plugged into an outlet.

And, also, electronic scales are much faster to use than spring scales or balance scales. O.K., not as fast as fluid measures, but fast anyway.

In summary, fluid measures still hold the advantage over electronic weighing scales for the housewife in the kitchen, despite the cost of electronic scales being within her range since 1988.

Here’s a tip, Sheryl, if you do decide to get an electronic weighing scale. Get the one for av.scr., not av.dp. The av.scr. scale will fit more easily into kitchen fluid measure.

Info @

http://www.weights-and-measures.com

And topics:

old Avoirdupois Weight
New Avoirdupois Weight
Common Fluid Measure & Common Dry Measure

What planet is he from.

In the 1950's my Mum had a kitchen scale that measured to the nearest ounce.. When I was abuot 10, I did a calibration and found that there were 4 wooden clothes pegs in an ounce.

WHen I was in my mid-20's I bought my mother a set of metric weights. (South Africa had just gone metric). She still has her scales and all her weights.

I'm sure glad he is on the side of the imperial users.

And who's "side" do you think you are on?

I mean "really" ?

With luck, the scale will be good enough to show
1 fl.oz. != 1 av.oz. wine,
but rather is 3.5-4% heavier.