Reliable Egg Scale - 3rd generation Red nameplate, James Mfg
Subject
Description
Reliable Manufacturing Co. of Los Angeles made three generations of horizontal rocker scales on metal or wooden bases. This is a third-generation chicken egg grader since it has a red, printed metal label and was made by James Manufacturing Co.
The beam is pot metal. The scale could grade a variety of sizes through a combination of a flip weight on the beam and loose weights that hung on a notch in the beam or sat on the egg holder. It was tested for 21 and 24 ounces per dozen. Instructions show the flip-, hanging-, and cup-weight combinations to get 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30-ounce settings, thus covering small through jumbo sizes.
Most varieties were also made in a 30–44 ounce version to weigh turkey eggs.
Instructions could be stored inside the base of the red-label version.
The metal label reads: RELIABLE MFG. DIVISION OF RELIABLE EGG SCALE / SEE WEIGHT CHART / JAMES MFG. CO. / LOS ANGELES, CALIF., U.S.A. The Reliable Manufacturing Co. of Los Angeles, California, became the Reliable Mfg. Division of the James Manufacturing Co. in early 1949.
References:See Exhibits > What Is an Egg Scale?
For more information about company history, go to Maker Histories > Reliable Mfg.
Charley Amsbaugh, North American Egg Scales from ABC to Zenith, ECKO House Publishing, 2011, scales 60–62.
Comments
Greg Moss
File date 1/19/2021
Announcement in "Western Metals," vol. 7, No. 4, April 1949, p50. James Mfg bought Reliable Mfg.
Therefore, dates in the Reliable Mfg's Maker History, 2nd generation, and 3rd generation items were adjusted to 1949 from the previous date of 1963. 1963 was based on the dates that the Los Angeles postal zones were in effect.
Greg