Beautiful certificate from the Howe Scale Company issued in 1879. This historic document was printed by Graphic Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of a small town and one of the company's scales. This item has the signatures of the Company's President, G. Merrill and Secretary, W. H. Bryant and is over 130 years old. The certificate was issued to John Boardman Page and signed by him on the verso.
Certificate Vignette
Certificate Vignette The invention of the Howe scale dates from the year 1855, when F. M. STRONG and Thomas ROSS, two young men of energy and mechanical genius, began studying the problem of how to make a perfect weighing device. Their success was ample and in 1856 their first patent was secured. In the fall of the same year they put up their first scale in Vernon, N. Y. About the same time they finished and exhibited specimens of their hay scales and other smaller styles at the fair of the American Institute, in New York, where they attracted favorable attention. In the spring of 1857 John Howe, jr., then of Brandon, Rutland county, became impressed with the value of the invention, purchased the patent of the inventors and began their manufacture at Brandon. A stock company was subsequently organized and the business continued until 1877; but the works at Brandon were not conveniently situated relative to railroad shipments, and it was determined in 1877 to remove the entire plant to Rutland. In making this change Hon. John B. PAGE was largely instrumental and has ever since held the office of treasurer or president of the company. Eleven acres of land, a tract triangular in shape, situated at the junction of the Central Vermont and the Bennington and Rutland railroads, was purchased and during the years 1877-78 commodious and convenient buildings were erected for the works; to these various additions have since been made. A careful study was made to adapt the buildings to their several purposes in the best possible manner. A thorough watch service was instituted, and for protection from fire hydrants were located on the gounds, supplied by a powerful pump and furnished with ample hose. The buildings are all of one story, wood, lined with brick and supplied with the best apparatus for carrying on all of the various branches of the work. We cannot go into a detailed description of the advantages which the Howe scale possesses over others; but, in brief, their chief advantage (and it is a most important one) rests in the placing of chilled iron balls between the platform and the bearings which rest upon the delicate knife edges which contribute to the accuracy of the scale. The principal effect of these balls is to relieve the knife edges, upon the preservation of which depends the wear of the scale and its continued accuracy, from all possibility of injury from the inevitable oscillation of the platform when placing goods upon it. No other scale uses this feature, which is covered by patents. The Howe Scale Company is one of the institutions of Rutland and has contributed much to its growth and prosperity. From two hundred and fifty to four hundred hands are employed on the average. The annual value of the product of the company is now from $1,000,000 to $1,250,000. Howe Scale History In the years before the Civil War, Frank M. Strong worked for the Sampson Scale Company. In 1856 he took out a patent on a system that eliminated as much friction as possible when weight is transmitted from the platform where something rests on the scale when something is registered. Platform scales had been in use for a couple of decades before, but they were clumsy and inefficient. Strong took Thomas Ross, a friend, as a partner. They were looking for someone with a plant big enough to turn out the devices they were designing. They met John Howe, Jr., who had a foundry in Brandon. Howe took Strong and Ross into partnership. Strong's patent of what was known as the "cup and ball" method produced scales that won top prizes and much praise nationwide, and remained a feature of scale making for years to come. Howe bought out Strong and Ross in 1864, and by 1869 the Brandon shops and equipment were bought by Nathan T. Sprague, Jr. of Brandon, thus founding the Brandon Manufacturing Company. The name "Howe" was so well known nationally that Sprague continued to use the name on the product. One of Sprague's partners was John Boardman Page of Rutland, who was also a director of the Rutland & Burlington Railroad, and had always been interested in promoting Rutland business. In 1872, the Brandon plant was severely damaged by fire, and although it recovered, Page increased the pressure to move to Rutland. Next to Strong's Avenue in Rutland, the railroad line to New York went south and the line to Boston branched off to the east. It was in that angle that Page and others decided the scale company should be located. In 1877, the Howe Scale Company came to that railroad angle, and the Howe name has remained