Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/417

 Popular Science Monthly

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���These two measures have the same capacity, but the tall measure, which has no bottom, has so small a diameter that a proper heap cannot be obtained. Note the overflow

and yet actually receive more for his goods. As an example, it was esti- mated that the consumers of the country lost annu- ally more than eight mill- ions on short-weight de- liveries of one staple ar- ticle of food.

The methods of cheat- ing and the types of false apparatus exhibit great variety. Among the dif- ferent types of false ca- pacity measures may be mentioned those having movable or false bottoms ; measures having a por- tion of the height cut away from either the top or bottom : measures with staves removed arid the hoops and bottom adjusted accordingly ; "bottomless" measures which have rela- tively small diameters and high sides, and which — although they may contain the proper number of cubic inches — give incorrect quantities, as they do not per- mit a proper heap ; measures with false interiors, such as have been found in milk cans and measures for selling gaso- line ; and liquid measures used for dry commodities. This last expedient is in use to some extent in practically all parts of the country and results in a shortage of about fourteen per cent. It

��The purchaser of gasoline sees only the five-gallon measure, but the three-gallon measure inside is the one really filled

��This straight-face spring scale has a fraudulent sliding face. The left one is used in buying. The seller slides the face down- ward, as on the right, thus greatly decreasing the indicated weight and defrauding the unsuspecting buyer

is one of those practices which has come into use largely through "trade custom."

The use of correct measuring scales of high quality is not always in itself a guarantee that cor- rect amounts will be given, for it is pos- sible for the user of correct scales to manipulate them to his advantage. A type of scale, which was formerly com- mon among certain classes of dealers, is the straight-face scale, designed to be held in the hand, with the graduated face made movable, so that the dealer might lower or raise it so as to make the point- er indicate an amount less or greater than the true weight, according to whether he was buying or selling. Many other forms of false scales have been used for years.

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