A platform balance is any kind of balance that has a platform upon it for placing the object or objects to be weighed. While some balances require placing the object upon one pan and the counterbalancing weight on the other, a platform balance only requires that you place the object on the platform and note the indicated weight reading. This makes for a greater time savings and less effort on the part of those who have to use the balance. Platform balances are excellent for high-volume activities.

One area where platform balances play an important part is in the delivery of mail. Postal officers deal with a gigantic quantity of mail and packages every day; a balance that required constant adjustment and other attention would lead to long, frustrating waits for post office customers. Though in previous centuries weights were required for weighing mail and packages, the electronic platform balance has made processing mail much quicker and easier.

Or consider the needs of the butcher. Butchers need the ability to weigh cuts of meat of all shapes and sizes, and to do it quickly, lest customers grow weary of waiting and leave the store. A platform balance makes this possible. The butcher simply places the requested meat on the scale and, in the case of supermarket butchers, prints out a label with the pertinent information and a bar code for scanning at the register.

Another kind of platform balance is one that we keep in our homes: the bathroom scale. Imagine if you wanted to weigh yourself, and to accomplish this you had to stand on one pan while someone else placed weights on the other pan until the scale was in balance. Ridiculous, right? The advent of the platform balance makes it possible for an individual to simply stand on a scale and get an instant result. While we still see the older style balance – where you stand on the scale and slide a marker along a beam – in gymnasiums and doctor’s offices, electronic platform balances are pretty much the standard around the world.

We have just scratched the surface of how platform balances can be used, but it is clear that they are going to play an important part in commerce and medicine for many, many years.