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Tom's Amazing File Cabinet of Mechanical Rarities
Tom Peterson, Rice Lake’s mechanical scale expert, has grown up with the scale industry. Over the past 35 years, he has seen scale technology evolve from mechanical levers to electronic load cells. Tom’s cubicle is a veritable library, shelved and stocked with probably every scale parts catalog printed since 1940. There are rows of three-ring binders thick with scale drawings in plastic sleeves. There are several stacks of long metal drawers packed with neatly penciled index cards recording part numbers, casting numbers, phone numbers, and the number of calls Tom has taken requesting that part.
“Some of the companies that made these parts are out of business. Some original scale manufacturers are still in business, but no longer make older parts. So parts are hard to find.” Tom smiles. “Actually, they’re easy to find—if they call me.”
Tom began his Rice Lake career as an apprentice machinist; then he became shop foreman. Now he is in Inside Sales, the mechanical scale parts archivist. Tom explains, “I took notes. I kept sketches. We made lots of special parts that were no longer available. When we had enough calls for that part, it became a new part with a part number.
“People say mechanical scales are dying out, but they’re still out there. There are still mechanical scales in service from the early 1900s—rail scales, even wagon scales. Cattle scales don’t last as long because of the corrosive environment.
“Rice Lake started buying old scales years ago. We ran an ad in WAM [Weighing & Measurement magazine] for a year or two. We haven’t run an ad for a couple of years and we still get calls from it. Les Gunderson [more than 60 years with Rice Lake] takes the old scales apart and refurbishes the parts. We have enough parts out there for a good many years.”
Tom gets a call. A customer needs a fulcrum stand made by a company now only a card in Tom’s file. “Take a picture of it or send me a sketch. We’ll make anything you need like that. We might have something that will fit. We’ll take a look at it and figure it out.”
Another call. This time, when Tom consults his amazing file cabinet, he comes up empty. “No, we don’t have that in stock, but let me call a buddy of mine.”
Not only does Tom get the part, his buddy emails the manual! Which will be duly filed in Tom’s amazing cabinet of mechanical scale rarities.