Bismar
Bismar
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- Description
- A bismar (or desemer) is a simple balance with a weight at one end of the beam, a load hook at the other end, and a moveable fulcrum in between. This example is made of steel. The side of the beam is stamped in a circle “MARIEFORS + KELLOKOSKY +” and the weight is stamped with a crown and “1946 2.”
- Kellikosky is the name of a village in the Finnish municipality of Tuusula; Mariefors is its Swedish name. An axe factory was established there in the early nineteenth century.
- Ref: Herrmann Sökeland “On Ancient Desemers or Steelyards,” Smithsonian Institution Annual Report (1900): 551-564.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Bismar
- bismar
- Date made
- 1946
- maker
- Kellokoski-Marifors Forge
- Associated Place
- United States: New Jersey
- Measurements
- handle: 16 cm x 35 cm; 6 5/16 in x 13 3/4 in
- overall: 79 cm x 3.8 cm x 17.8 cm; 31 1/8 in x 1 1/2 in x 7 in
- hook: 10 cm; 3 15/16 in
- overall: 34 in x 3 3/4 in x 2 1/4 in; 86.36 cm x 9.525 cm x 5.715 cm
- ID Number
- CH.336574
- accession number
- 1978.0410
- catalog number
- 336574
- subject
- Weights & Measures
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Chemistry
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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