Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 261, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1912 — How Scales Are Made to Cheat [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

How Scales Are Made to Cheat

«| mm AGAZINES and newsM A papers have given JAA much space in late to the ques- /* Uon of weights and rtn measures, which has | resulted sh the passage of legislation in many states putting g§ the supervision of |this particular branch of work under a defined depart-

went of state government. There are numerous ways of cheating In the use of scales, regardless of the size or make. The art .of scale building has advanced rapidly in the last quarter century, but investigation by various departments of weights and measures, both national and state, has disclosed the fact that the inventive minds of those whose unfortunate mental arrangement leads them to defraud their fellow men, has kept pace with this advance. The most astounding fraud ever perpetrated was that of the famous sugar trust fraud, in which the United States government was robbed of many millions in import tax duty, by the use of a small piece of umbrella steel to throw the scales out of balance. But with most cases of deception, the perpetrator becomes over confident, and through carelessness leaves a slight clue, which eventually leads to discovery. Rubber bands have been employed to throw scales off correct balance, but as these are hard to apply they are not so commonly used. A common method of cheating is to overload the scale counter weights with lead and throw the balance to the credit of the scale owner. But the most pernicious and ingenious of these is a device recently discovered by the department of weights and measures which is under the jurisdiction of the railroad and warehouse commission of Minnesota. This is a small piece of tempered •teel weighing 1-32 of an ounce, and is used In scaleß for the purpose of adding to or shrinking the weight of an article. It can be carried in the vest gmcket and placed in position on the scale in a few seconds. It has the advantage to the user of being reversible, that is to say, he can take more in buying or give less in selling, than the just and proper weight. The device is In the nature of a false %nlfe-edge or pivot. It has a small projection on one side, which when applied to a scale with the projection towards the back end of the scale beam the effect will be to make a load weigh less than correct, and the reverse Is true when applied with the -projection toward the front end of the scale beam. These devices are made so that the use ot them on a scale does not affect the beam action whereby an observer could tell that the scale was not weighing correctly, as they allow the beam free action. The percentage of error in the use of this device would differ, depending upon the make of scale and the multiplying power of the scale beam. All scale beams have not the same measurements, and on one scale the effect was 2% per cent either in excess or deficiency, depending upon how the device was placed, and on another scale the effect was 5 per cent either way. On some of the new type stock scales with full capacity beams, having no counterweights, the effect would easily be 10 per cent of the load. These figures are based upon the assumption that the scale would be put into perfect balance after the de : vice was inserted, but if by neglect or desire the scale should not be balanced after the device was put under the fulcrum pivot of the beam, the effect .would be to give a false weight of about 200 pounds on any size load in addition to the 214, 6, or 10 per cent as the case might be. If one of these devices were used on a scale beam for fraudulent purposes, it would undoubtedly be inserted in the loop from the rear of the beam, and thus could not be seen from the position in which one stands to do the weighing, hence the necessity of looking into the beam loops from the rear of the beam to prove that such a device is not being used. At a large stock shipping point in Minnesota many complaints had been received relative to the weights over a certain stock scale. On investigation of the scale it was discovered that one of these “shrinkers” was in use. The commission Immediately started its special agent out to trace it up. The remarkable part of the investigation is that in the endeavor to find the origin of this device, the trail led through the states of Minnesota, lowa, Illinois, South Dakota and Wisconsin, and going on the old theory, “where there is much smoke there

must be some fire,” it is safe to assume that when continual rumors of "shrinkers” were prevalent, the shrinker device must have been doing some shrinking, and in the case of this particular form of shrinker, which could be used on heavy scales, such as stock scales and grain scales, it has been the farmer and producer who were the victims. The evidence obtained by the agent of the Minnesota commission disclosed the fact that'the mau who had made these devices had procured from $8 to $75 each for them.

The following precautions will be of assistance in helping to detect these, or similar fraudulent devices and prevent the seller of any commodity which may be weighed over a scale from being victimized: 1. See that a scale is in perfect balance before any weighing is done. 2. See that scale beam swings freely, that is, without a stiff jerking motion. 3. See that there is ample, clearance about the scale platform, if it is a w r agon, stock or dump scale.