December 13, 1884

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Joel Byers

On This Date in TWISTED-HISTORY.com! in 1884, Percy Everitt received a patent for the first coin-operated weighing machine. He had them installed in places that women frequented, such as the grocery store, salon parlors, and tea shops, as he thought women would be more inclined to want to know their actual weight. He lost money on them until he had another idea and attached a small sign to each weighing machine. The sign advised the user to subtract 13 pounds for clothes and sundry items. He became wealthy almost overnight.

[Facebook] [MySpace] [Twitter] More »

About Joel Byers

Born in North Georgia and educated at some very fine public institutions. Real education started after graduating from college and then getting married and raising two boys. Has the ability to see the funny and absurd in most things and will always remark on it, even if it means getting the stink-eye from his victims.
This entry was posted in 19th Century, Historical Facts and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *