07/30/2025
Antique Toledo scale. Measures  69 T x 43W x 26 1/2L
Among the most recognized brand names of the twentieth century is Toledo Scale, a company whose headquarters and primary design and production facilities were located in its namesake. One of the greatest achievements of the Toledo's Attic Committee (especially its point man for collections, Ernest W. Weaver, Jr.) during 1998 was securing possession of the corporate papers of Toledo Scale from the Mettler Toledo Corporation. Along with many cases of documents, ledgers, photographs, and other archival materials, the Toledo Scale Collection includes a series of paintings by Georges LaChance of the skilled artisans of the company. In this exhibit, Toledo's Attic Virtual Museum presents a few of the items from this vast collection.
"The First Fifty Years" A Company History by Toledo Scale Company, 1951
HENRY THEOBALD founded Toledo Scale Company in 1901. He had seen opportunities for development in a scale invented by Allen DeVilbiss Jr. that for the first time combined the accuracy of the age-old gravity principle of weighing with the speed of an automatic indication of the weight and computed value. Mr. Theobald was a man of amazing energy, ability, and imagination, as was proved many times in the nearly twenty-five years that he headed the company. He was an "alumnus" of the National Cash Register Company and served there as general manager before coming to Toledo.
Mr. Theobald was immediately faced with the two characteristic problems of most young companies: the raising of the necessary capital and the marketing of the product. He was successful on both counts, but it is a testament to the rapid growth during the succeeding years of his regime that the sales and manufacturing requirements sometimes ran a close race with the need for additional capital.
The original directors of the company were Henry Theobald, Lenox S. Rose, J. B. Rose, and C. E. Young. The inventor, Allen DeVilbiss Jr., was the first factory manager.
Within five years of the founding of the company, Toledos were appearing on grocery counters in all parts of the country. This was all the more of an achievement when it is recalled that the Toledo salesman was asking the grocer to invest from six to ten times more than the price of the simple balance scale he had been using.
While the early Toledo Fan Scale was excellent for grocery weighing, it soon became apparent that a scale with a cylinder-type chart, giving more computations and added capacity, was needed for the meat markets. In 1906, the first Toledo cylinder scale was placed on the market glorified with a bright blue finish and encrusted with gold filigree. As with the first Toledo, this cylinder scale was also a pendulum-type (no springs) scale. It was also distinguished from some scales then on the market in that its price computations were meticulously accurate. These characteristics eventually evolved into the now famous slogan "No Springs Honest Weight."
Under the continued vigorous leadership of Henry Theobald, the name Toledo "No Springs Honest Weight" was becoming known beyond the borders. Toledos were being shipped to several countries in Europe, and a Canadian subsidiary was established. Sales records were made only to quickly be broken, and it was in 1911 that the 100% Club, now one of the oldest sales-quota groups in the country, was formed.
In 1912, the first Toledo double-pendulum industrial portable scale was introduced. This scale brought very great advantages to industrial weighing, which had previously been limited to the tedious operation of beam-type scales. The now-famous Toledo “800” became the foundation of the Toledo industrial line, which first came into its own due to the increased demand for speed and accuracy incident to World War I.
This period also found the company engaged in an Honest Weight campaign that was to have far-reaching effects in the nation's food stores. There were some scales then in use with prices on the computing charts so arranged that meat could be sold at the same price at which it was purchased and still show a profit. Mr. Theobald, in the interest of both merchants and consumers, did much to focus public attention on the importance of accuracy in weighing and computing. Through these efforts, substantial impetus was given to the enactment of weights and measures legislation in the various states. At the same time, the many dramatic efforts used in promoting sales did much to establish lasting recognition for Toledo and its famous slogan. There were impromptu parades featuring new installations, special signs and banners, sales conventions in elaborate settings . . . and a flood of printed material written with missionary zeal.
As the use of Toledo Scales spread widely, Mr. Theobald gave very early recognition to the importance of adequate installation and maintenance service. He phrased this in the statement, "We are not obligated to make more scales, but we are morally obligated to maintain the scales that we have built." As early as 1908, the company had set up service facilities at the factory, and shortly after that trained the first men to render service in the field, starting a service organization that is today present wherever Toledos are sold throughout the world.
In January 1926, Hubert D. Bennett became president of Toledo Scale Company following the death of Mr. Theobald, introducing another period of important development for the company and its products. Additional capital was brought in, commensurate with the volume of business being done.
By the mid-20s, the long-familiar gold lacquer of food store scales was giving way to white porcelain, and the company organized a porcelain enamel subsidiary to assure a high quality product.
