Small electric scales can be found in a great number of modern homes, and are not necessarily being used in the way that most people may first guess. Today people are using scales for more than tracking how much they weigh. Although bathroom scales that measure in pounds are still the most common household scale, many people are also using small electric scales in the kitchen as part of their daily food preparation routine. These scales, which are sometimes referred to as dietary scales, measure in either grams or ounces, although many newer scales have a built in conversion function. Dietary scales are a must-have tool for people who want to know exactly how much food they are preparing or consuming in the home.

But the small electric scale is not only used in the kitchen. It is used in the home office as well. They are also frequently used by people who own their own small businesses. Scales are an almost unavoidable part of the process of sending mail and packages. If you’re mailing it, then chances are that it’s going to be weighed at least once before it reaches its destination. Many business owners and home workers are streamlining the process of sending mail by weighing it themselves in their offices. This way they can either immediately affix the appropriate amount of postage, or they can find out how much it will cost them to send the mail and plan accordingly.

The small electric scale is also often used by businesses for which consistency in product portion size is important. For example, an entrepreneur who makes, packages, and sells her own line of bath products might use a scale to ensure that each bar of soap that she sells is of an acceptable and somewhat uniform size. In weighing her product before she sends it out, this businesswoman is making sure that neither she nor her customer is getting cheated. Her scale will help her build her product’s reputation.

Small electric scales which are being used by businesses and in the home are well-suited for their respective uses when properly calibrated; however, unlike some other small scales, they are not known for their extreme accuracy. Ultra precision scales are used in laboratories and in other settings where accuracy in measurement is of the utmost importance. These types of scales, which can be quite expensive, are made using some of the very latest technology in scale manufacturing. They are very sensitive and can give readings that are accurate down to mere parts of the increments that other small scales use.

Digital scales manufacturers have had a choice of two prevalent technologies. The most common has been industrial scales that use one or more strain gage type load cells. Smaller bench scales and parts counting scales use a single load cell mounted in the center of the scale platform. Larger platform scales and floor scales use one load cell under each corner of the scale platform. Depending on the size of the scale platform, intermediate sized scales, such as cylinder scales and drum scales may use either a single load cell or four. The accuracy of this type of scale is quite good, often delivering error levels of only one tenth of one percent. Using modern electronics, some of the other error terms, such as temperature effects and non linearity, have been improved with smart algorithms. But there is still a limit of accuracy that cannot be exceeded.

The second technology is known as force restoration. Industrial scales using this method can achieve accuracy levels up to twenty times better than strain gage electronic scales. Unfortunately, the cost is generally two or three times higher.

Arlyn Scales has invented a third technology for precision scales called Surface Acoustic Wave scales. Semiconductor transducers provide digital weight values that are equal to force restoration, but at costs that are similar to strain gage digital scales. These precision scales are also much more rugged than the other technologies.

All of these standard electronic scales share similar user interfaces. Generally, the weight will be shown on a digital display with numeric characters. Small indicators or legends may also be present to note the units of measurement, such as pounds or kilograms. A few buttons on the front panel perform standard functions, such as zeroing the scale, accepting a tare weight, or changing the units of measurement. In these cases, there is no need for further expense or complication in the user interface.

But there are other situations where there is a need for more complex interaction with the scale. For parts counting scales, it may be convenient to recall the piece weight of an item from memory. Control of external devices may be required, with target weights determining the type of control. The data may need to be stored for future evaluation, or immediately shown as a graph on the digital scale display. A large number of control buttons may be needed, such as an alphanumeric keypad, and alternate functions.

For these situations, and any custom weighing applications, Arlyn Scales provides an advanced color touch screen for the user interface. The large screen will show only the information required for the specific task desired, so extraneous details do not clutter the image. When the task changes, the information shown on the screen will also change. Control buttons will also appear on the screen for just those functions which are called for. Again, the buttons shown will change as the industrial scale changes its mode of operation.

A primary requirement is that the number of pieces be very accurately known since the post office charges for each piece sent. The weight of an individual item must be determined, the total weight of a particular batch of pieces, and the calculated number of pieces are all reported.

Precision scales are used to collect this information. These industrial scales must have very high resolution, in order to weight the individual piece to a number of decimal points. It must also have a large capacity, to weigh large batches of pieces. And it must be quite rugged, to withstand the shock load of batches being roughly placed on the scale platform. An excellent sample of this type of electronic scale is Arlyn Scales line of Ultra Precision bench scales. A scale with a capacity of 100 pounds has a resolution of one thousandth of a pound. The accuracy is greater than one hundredth of one percent. The overload capacity is five times the rated load, giving it a very high level of ruggedness.

Another important feature is the ability of the postal scale to communicate with a printer or computer system. This allows the data to be stored in a database or spreadsheet. It may also be used to report information to the post office.