At the International Conference of Weighing 2023 in Hamburg, we heard about the latest metrological developments from experts such as WELMEC, VDMA, PTB, and the European Commission.

While not related to the conference the city of Hamburg is an industrial city with many museums. We visited the Speicherstadt Museum which has a Decimal Scale (pallet jack scale) that was used to move coffee bags around the warehouses in the old area of Speicherstadt Hamburg. These warehouses were built with external pulley systems to move goods from barges on the canal below up to the warehouse level. Interestingly, the introduction of palletization impacted the warehouse function, and the need for forklift scales remained vital.

Today, Rinstrum offers indicators that can do the job when teamed up with a pressure transducer, providing a reliable weighing solution for forklifts. We have worked with clients across Europe, the USA, and Australia to develop specialized solutions for their various forklift solutions.

Contact us today if you have a similar requirement!

Decimal scales (circa 1897)

A decimal scale is a beam scale where the ratio of the load to be weighed to the weights is 10:1. For a coffee sack weighing 60kg, a counterweight of 6kg is sufficient. This offers the advantage that you can weigh the sacks together with the cart, the weight of which is of course deducted beforehand after the weighing. These scales are from the time when the granary was built.