A SIMPLE PLAN OF WEIGHING LETTERS.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1199, 4 March 1880, Page 3

A SIMPLE PLAN OF WEIGHING LETTERS.

Many of our readers reside in back settlements and selections, some distance from any centre of population, and doubtless some of them are in the habit of occasionally making use of the postoffice for the transmission of letters and small parcels. For such, a few hints as to a simple and thoroughly efficacious way of ascertaining the weight of a letter or other small article would probably not come amiss. Place a pencil or penholder near the edge of the table parallel to its side. Next procure a straight smooth walking-stick or a deal lath or a wand about two feet six inches long, lay the stick across the pencil so that the end shall project over the edge of the table, and attacli a double sheet of paper to the projecting end of the stick by a pin. Next make a set of weights. This would appear to be the most difficult part of the whole business, but in reality it is the easiest. Many people do not know that three ordinary English pennies are equivalent in weight to an ounce. Consequently three pennies may be taken as the standard weight. Put them in the sheet of paper on the stick and move until it shall just balance on the pencil. Then carefully take out the pennies and replace them by the letter you wish to weigh. If the letter causes the stick to balance evenly as the coppers did, then it must weigh just an ounce, and so on with other weights. A halfpenny is also of use as a standard of measurement, it being just an inch in diameter. Thus anybody possessing a few coppers need never be at a loss in measurements of weight and length.