An instrument to find the weight of an object or objects “scales”. This device simple balances two opposing objects that have an equal weight this can vary depending on the mechanical advantage that an arm may have over its counterweight. This is my concept for my Design development module at college.
We have been asked to create work in response to a location. I have chosen to use Berrington Hall and an idea that talks about social divide. I have some strong ideas about humanity and what and who we are I’m not going into it now cause I have done so in an earlier post but basically together as one we are better. This work will allow me to talk about my ideas in quite a literal way. I originally wanted to make a bench that was going to at one end have a 3 meter diameter but I have come to the conclusion that this might be a little ambitious and hard work in a none academic and vocational way.
The bench was going to be based on the arms of a balance type scales but one arm would be disproportionally longer than the other in fact 6 to 1. This ratio represents the number of staff to house members at Berrington. People were saying how the staff members had money and jobs but I don’t believe that these people were given lives to live but forced to survive. Yes they were paid but just enough to keep them alive and satisfy the idea of having been paid. As for the type of work well it’s not like they had satisfaction. So what if this place allows them to survive that’s not living and if these people had their own community and worked as a village they could do so much. They would still be surviving but they would have a quality of life that you can’t get when you are owned.
That’s why I’m at Hereford College of Arts I want something more, something better. Give a man a job so that he can feel accomplished and he will be happier than any rich man. I don’t want to work for the man so that I can buy their homes and car so that they can keep me in a job to pay for them. It means nothing to me and I hate it, I want to create, design and make so that I can feel alive; A sense of self accomplishment from start to finish.
This piece will let me talk about the way I feel in my style aesthetically and conceptually it can use the social structure at Berrington to reinforce these ideas. The miss balance of the arms must be compensated for a massive influx of weight. This will represent the weight of money and how without it the scales don’t work. In a balance beam type scale there is an even distribution of load and the weighing of objects isn’t constrained to the usage of fixed measures. In fact two items of equal weight work just as well. Or trading for goods that have come from open communities that have quality of life not just survival.
1. Trader’s steelyard, French, 18th century
11. Candy scale by Henry Troemner, Philadelphia,1926
2. Chondrometer or grain scale by Payne of London, c1820
12. Letter steelyard by unknown maker, English, c1880
3. Bread scale by W. & T. Avery, Birmingham, patented in 1885
13. Coin steelyard, as advertised by John Joseph Merlin, London, c1780
4. Guinea scale, known as “folding gold balances” by T. Houghton, England, c1780
14. Double-beam steelyard by Fucoma, Berlin, Germany, 20th century
5. Unusual steelyard by A. Prutscher, Sonthofen, Germany, 20th century
15. Jeweler’s estimating balance by W. & T. Avery Ltd, Birmingham, 1916
6. “Shelf-edge” type of coin balance by Bradford, Derby and Hulls, England, patented in 1753
16. Coal scale by J. White & Son of Scotland, c1910
7. Sovereign balance by F. Sheldon, Birmingham, c1845
17. Westphal laboratory balance to determine specific gravity
8. Letter scale by unknown maker, British, marked S. TURNER’S PATENT, postage rates for the period 1871 to 1897, patented in 1871
18. Counter scale by E. & T. Fairbanks & Co, St Johnsbury, Vermont, 1919
9. British steelyard by T. Beach of Birmingham, c1780
19. Prescription scale by E. & T. Fairbanks & Co, St Johnsbury, Vermont, c1910
10. Letter balance marked H.B. WRIGHT No. 130 LONDON Dec. 20th 1839
20. Laboratory scale marked CENCO Triple Beam Balance by the Central Scientific Co. Chicago
No comments:
Post a Comment