Roberval balance
Balanza Roberval
- Date
- 1669 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Credited to
- Gilles de Roberval
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A top-pan balance with an articulated parallelogram mechanism that keeps horizontal equilibrium regardless of where the object is placed, presented by Gilles Personne de Roberval to the French Academy of Sciences.
What it led to
- the basis for modern top-pan commercial scales
- simplified weighing since the object no longer needed centering
- widely used in commerce and pharmacy into the 20th century