What do Salter Scales and West Bromich Albion Have in Common?

Salter was established in the 1760s in Bilston, England, by Richard Salter. Salter was a spring maker by trade and is credited with inventing the first Spring Scales in the UK. He called them pocket steelyards.

Spring balances were used from the 18th Century as they proved easy to use with no need to balance the goods. They were quickly adopted by the service industry including the postal service, fishing, farming, groceries/ fruit shops, butchers, and custom/ excise. In fact, for accurate weighing of all sorts of large and unwieldy objects or even use for hanging Garden flower wall baskets!

George Salter, Richard’s nephew, took over the company in 1825. George Salter & Co. established a larger manufacturing site in West Bromich.

The Salter trademark, a Staffordshire knot pierced by an arrow, was registered in 1884 and used on all balances. 

Workers from the Salter factory founded a football team in 1878 called the West Bromich Strollers. Legend has it that they adopted the name 'Strollers' as they had to walk 2 miles from West Bromich to Wednesbury to buy a football!  The team was renamed as West Bromich Albion in 1880.

They initially adopted the Salter’s logo, the Staffordshire knot, for use on their football kit (see image below). This is thought to be the first use of advertising on football shirts!

Albion were one of the founder members of the English Football League in 1888.

Check out our spring balances in the Mullard Antiques shop.