Milk Scales Provided Proven Results

By Utz Schmidt
Published on August 23, 2011
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Push the button: Cow no. 3 is milked and the pail, full of milk, hangs on the spring balance. The dial arm with knobs descends. Now the farmer pushes the knob of column 3, perforating the card, recording the result of that milking. The spring, wrapped around the knob, reverts to the neutral position as pressure on the knob is released.
Push the button: Cow no. 3 is milked and the pail, full of milk, hangs on the spring balance. The dial arm with knobs descends. Now the farmer pushes the knob of column 3, perforating the card, recording the result of that milking. The spring, wrapped around the knob, reverts to the neutral position as pressure on the knob is released.
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The mounted scale hanging in its protective cabinet. Behind and above the scale are four sheet metal pockets for record cards. Two cards were inserted at each milking. In the middle is the spring balance, with a thumbscrew for tare weight adjustment with an empty bucket. On each side of the spring a card is inserted for the recording process.
The mounted scale hanging in its protective cabinet. Behind and above the scale are four sheet metal pockets for record cards. Two cards were inserted at each milking. In the middle is the spring balance, with a thumbscrew for tare weight adjustment with an empty bucket. On each side of the spring a card is inserted for the recording process.
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The Meloney scale is painted in a terra cotta shade with a gold line. This decal and the one on the front of the cabinet are yellow with a green cloverleaf in the center, red ink for the company name and blue for the address. The scrolls are gold with green backgrounds.
The Meloney scale is painted in a terra cotta shade with a gold line. This decal and the one on the front of the cabinet are yellow with a green cloverleaf in the center, red ink for the company name and blue for the address. The scrolls are gold with green backgrounds.
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Patent No. 587,100: Ottocar Lindemann’s controlling and registering scale, patented in the U.S. on July 27, 1897.
Patent No. 587,100: Ottocar Lindemann’s controlling and registering scale, patented in the U.S. on July 27, 1897.
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A trademark illustration from Lindemann’s Belgian patent application shows a stable with two rows of cattle. In the left corner, a farm hand makes records on a control chart; on the right a maid milks a cow. The inscription at top translates to “Cow-Controller.”
A trademark illustration from Lindemann’s Belgian patent application shows a stable with two rows of cattle. In the left corner, a farm hand makes records on a control chart; on the right a maid milks a cow. The inscription at top translates to “Cow-Controller.”
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Original record card (dated June 19, 1903) with graduated chart and columns for 10 cows and weights from 4 to 40 pounds. The enlargement in the center shows six genuine prick marks.
Original record card (dated June 19, 1903) with graduated chart and columns for 10 cows and weights from 4 to 40 pounds. The enlargement in the center shows six genuine prick marks.
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The Meloney Double Deck. Meloney scales were produced into the 1920s.
The Meloney Double Deck. Meloney scales were produced into the 1920s.

The first time I saw a Meloney Automatic Registering Milk Scale was in 1999, when a collector friend brought his latest trophy to a “show and tell” gathering at my home. You can understand the excitement I felt: to see such an unusual scale, totally intact, even including the cabinet, the original record cards with punch marks and handwriting from 1903. Recently, I was able to add the Meloney milk scale to my own collection.

The Meloney milk scale’s history is related to the rise of industrial development in the middle of the last century, the rapid growth of cities and a big demand for food, including dairy products. Between 1850 and 1900, the population of cities in America multiplied by a factor of seven.

Measuring production

The developing dairy industry searched for higher output with a higher quality of milk, which meant more pounds of milk per cow and higher butterfat content (the main ingredient of cream). What a coincidence that in 1859, Darwin published The Origin of the Species, which now allowed breeding of superior dairy cattle, the Guernsey and Jersey, for milk with high butterfat.

The challenge for the farmer was to breed, feed and select cows for his herd according to their productivity. In the process, he recognized that the nutrition and feeding of the cattle, plus the quality of hay and composition of silage, impacted success. But there was still the unanswered question of how to measure production.

It had long been known that the specific gravity of milk changes with the fat content. The most logical step was to weigh the milk and define its specific gravity. This second step was later replaced with a more accurate method of defining the fat content, because temperature and composition of solids could lead to faulty results. And that’s the reason why producers today still measure milk in pounds and not gallons.

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