a set of NAAFI kitchen scales for the Roman circus centre…

On Tuesday (25th October), a Trust member of staff happened to be in Wiltshire and was able to call in at Castle Combe near Chippenham and collect a special online purchase for the Roman circus centre… The purchase is a vintage set of NAAFI kitchen scales (counter-balance scales) and a set of eleven weights, which is probably not a complete set. The scales are stamped N.A.A.F.I. on the front and CHAYNEY & CO. LTD. / SCALE MAKERS/ CANTERBURY on the back. We plan to renovate the scales and weights and then put them on display in our cabinet of NAAFI artefacts in the Roman circus centre. The Trust’s HQ and the Roman circus centre are, of course, housed in what was the NAAFI of the former Artillery (Le Cateau) Barracks of the old Colchester garrison, and our building was completed in 1937. The kitchen here would probably have been equipped with an identical set of scales for the weighing of ingredients for all the food which was prepared here. Our two NAAFI recipe books include very precise quantities and, also, precise instructions on portion sizes and prices! For example, in our NAAFI wartime recipe book of 1945, the recipe for ‘Bread and jam fritters’ requires a 4-lb. loaf of bread, 1-lb. of jam, batter made with 2 lbs. of flour, etc, and fat for frying, to produce 36 portions to be sold at 2d. per portion.

Some of our weights are marked with the name of ‘Avery B’ham’ and one with the name of ‘W & T Avery Ltd Birmingham’. The weights range from 14 pounds through 4 pounds, 2 pounds and 1 pound, to 8 ounces (half a pound). Chayney & Co made sets of scales and also produced sets of weights for their scales. W & T Avery also seem to have made sets of scales and sets of weights. We have done a little research on the scales and the weights, but we don’t yet know their date of manufacture or if the scales and the weights represent the same item of equipment. On the internet, we have seen a photo. of a boxed set of seven brass weights made by Avery for use with kitchen scales, which range in weight from 1 pound to a quarter-of-an-ounce. Our weights are heavier than that, which suggests that they would have been used in a catering kitchen. We would expect a full set of imperial weights to consist, perhaps, of an even number of weights: our weights are in multiples of two and we have duplicates of some weights, especially the 4-pound weights.

In 1917 , ‘Chayney & Co scale makers’ occupied premises at 50 Burgate, at Canterbury in Kent:
‘… Chayney, Maker, Ramsgate
Chayney, Maidstone
Chayney & Co, Ramsgate Dover & Canterbury
Thomas Sinclair Chayney, scalemaker at 7 Mkt Bldgs, Maidstone [1882 Kelly]. Chayney & Co [1913 Kelly] at:
145 High Street, Ramsgate
50 Burgate Street, Canterbury
37 High Street, Dover
33a Hawley Street, Margate …’ – at http://home.clara.net/brianp/namesad.html .

However, it is W & T Avery which provides the real surprise in our purchase – we have discovered that it is a huge company with a long history, and this even includes the historic Soho Foundry in Smethwick. From 1927 until 2015, the Soho Foundry also housed the Avery Museum, which held the Avery company archives and a collection of artefacts relating to the history of weighing.
(From Wikipedia: ‘… W & T Avery Ltd. is a British manufacturer of weighing machines. The company was founded in the early 18th century and took the name W & T Avery in 1818… After the take over by Weigh-Tronix in 2000 the company was again renamed to be called Avery Weigh-Tronix. The company is based in Smethwick, West Midlands, United Kingdom …’.)

The history of W & T Avery is also presented in Grace’s Guide on the internet: ‘… W. and T. Avery of Soho Foundry, Birmingham …
Averys Ltd was the holding company for the 32 operating companies in the Avery Group. The Group’s main activity was the design, manufacture, sale and servicing of a wide range of weighing machines, physical testing machines and fluid measuring equipment.
The company’s history can be traced back to 1730, and the manufacture by hand of steelyards and beam scales in a small workshop in Birmingham.
In the early part of the nineteenth century the business passed to the Avery family. It was developed from a purely Midlands concern into a nationwide, and finally, under the family’s successors, into a worldwide organisation…’ *.

Curiously, Castle Combe is near a village called ‘Tiddlywink’. But, extraordinarily, we have discovered that the friend of a Trust member of staff has a brother who is an engineer and works for Avery Berkel in Birmingham which is part of Avery Weigh-Tronix!

With thanks to Mr Morgan, the seller of the set of scales and set of weights to the Trust.

The images show the scales and weights in the Trust’s HQ above the Roman circus centre, yesterday.

* ‘… 1813 The business passed from Joseph Balden to William Avery and Thomas Avery …
1854 A new factory was built at the Atlas Works in West Bromwich, and from there the company expanded …
1895 The Soho Foundry at Smethwick was purchased and rebuilt as the company’s main factory. When legislation was introduced at the turn of the century requiring the stamping of all weighing machines used for trade Avery branches were set up in some 100 towns in the United Kingdom. This was the beginning of the sales and service organisation that expanded to cover not only every important town in the United Kingdom but was also established in many overseas countries …
1937 British Industries Fair Advert for Weighing, Counting and Testing Machines for all purposes; Petrol Meter Pumps; Scientific Seating; Shop-fittings; Architectural Wood and Metal Work; Dairy Machinery. Recorder Weighing Machines (heavy capacity). Large Automatic Grain Weigher. New Continuous Liquid Weigher …
1937 Weighing, testing and counting machines …
Although Averys’ business was, for many years, based primarily on high quality mechanical engineering, it also adopted developments in other fields of technology where they could contribute to its activities. It was the first in the United Kingdom to produce electrically operated weighing recorders in the 1930s. After the Second World War it employed such technologies as optical projection, digital encoding and, from 1963, electronic weighing …
2000  The company was sold to American company Weigh-Tronix Inc. of America. After the take over by Weigh-Tronix in 2000 the company was again renamed to be called Avery Weigh-Tronix …’ – at www.gracesguide.co.uk/W._and_T._Avery .

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