Mettler single-pan analytical balance
Balanza analítica monoplato de Mettler
- Date
- 1946 · confidence medium
- Place
- Küsnacht, Zurich, Switzerland
- Credited to
- Erhard Mettler
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
An analytical balance with a single pan and internal weights that are removed until the load is balanced (substitution weighing), keeping the beam under the same load at all times. It reduces errors from unequal arms and speeds up work compared with two-pan balances.
Erhard Mettler patented the idea in the 1940s and founded his company at Küsnacht; the first commercial single-pan balance (the H16) came out around 1947. The exact date of the first prototype varies by source.
What it led to
- fast analytical weighing in laboratories and pharmacy
- electronic electromagnetic-force-compensation balances
- standardisation of precision weighing down to the milligram and microgram