Weighing scales are used to measure the weights of both humans and objects. They come in a plethora of sizes, designs, load capacities and specifications. Both analog and digital models of weighing scales are available in the market. The wide variety of weighing scales can be grouped into three categories; Domestic, Commercial and Industrial.
Domestic scales
Domestic weighing scale can either be a simple bathroom scale used to measure your weight or a kitchen scale to weigh food items or ingredients. Bathroom weighing scales are platform scales which measure the weight of the person when he/she stands on it. Apart from traditional analog bathroom scales, modern digital scales are also available which display the weight reading on a screen and also have extra features such as calculating BMI, body fat percentage, etc. Kitchen scales are also flat platform scales but smaller in size as compared to bathroom scales. They can also have containers to keep the food items or ingredients. Kitchen scales are useful for people either wanting exact sizes of food portions as per their diet plans or preferring exact amount of ingredients for various recipes.
Commercial scales
Commercial weighing scales, as the name suggests, are used to weigh objects in commercial establishments. Some examples of commercial weighing scales are as follows.
- Jewellery scales are used to measure gold, silver, platinum and other valuable metals besides precious and semi-precious stones. The weighing unit can be carats, grams, etc. Such scales need to be highly accurate because the weight of precious metals and precious and semi precious stones determine their exact prices.
- Postal weighing scales come in both small and large sizes. Small sized weighing scales are used to weigh light items such as envelopes and small packages. Large sized weighing scales are used to weigh large and heavy consignments such as crates, boxes, etc. Such weighing scales are used by both postal departments and courier offices.
- Luggage weighing scales are large platform scales usually found in commercial airports. Passengers can check the weight of the their luggage using the luggage weighing scales in order to ensure that the weight is in accordance with the prescribed weight limit of the airlines.
Industrial weighing scales
Industrial weighing scales are heavy duty weighing scales used for weighing very heavy objects for industrial applications. Some of them have been discussed here.
- Truck scales are huge weighing scales designed to weigh trucks, lorries, trailers and other heavy vehicles. The best quality truck scales can even handle as much as 36,000 kgs of weight in day. Truck scales are made of steel and concrete. Weight of a truck determines the tax charged on it.
- Cargo scales are used to weigh cargo containers and a host of other objects used in industries. Modern cargo scales have sloping sides to enable easy loading, overload protection and rollers.
- Checkweigher scales weigh the finished products at the end of production line of a factory. They ensure that the weight of the products are within the specified limit and there are no overweight or underweight products.
