Early Worcester, MA, Hay Weight Tickets -- 1814 - 1818

Three hay weight tickets from Worcester, MA, including one involving William E. Green, likely a member of the prominent Green family.  One for Captain J. Reed. The tickets are dated between 1814 and 1818.

Until Thaddeus Fairbanks invented the platform scale in the 1820s, the only method of weighing a wagon load of goods was to use a steelyard balance. This type of scale consists of a balance beam suspended from a pivot that is near one end of the beam. A load to be weighed is hung from the short end of the beam. The other end is graduated and has a counterweight that can be moved along the arm until the beam is balanced over the pivot. The weight is then indicated by the position of the counterweight on the graduated arm.  The weights on these tickets are recorded in “cwt” (hundered weights or one hundred-pound units).

Very nice receipts for payment on the verso of two.

Overall in very good condition with expected wear.  Superb early Americana.

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