1813-1979, manufacturer, Birmingham

William and Thomas Avery were relatives of Joseph Balden, and inherited his scalemaking business when he died in 1813. The firm was known as W&T Avery from about 1818 onwards. By 1885 they had three factories: the Atlas Works in West Bromwich, the Mill Lane works in Birmingham, and the Moat Lane Works, Digbeth, also in Birmingham. The firm became a public limited liability company in 1894, and moved to the famous Soho Foundry in 1897. They set up branches in many towns and gradually took over many other firms in the scalemaking trade, in some cases retaining the original name. The business was itself taken over by GEC in 1979. In 1993 GEC also aquired the Berkel company, and the Avery-Berkel name was introduced. In 2000, the business was aquired by the US company Weigh-Tronix, who already owned Salter, and became known as Avery Weigh-Tronix; Avery weights referring to places other than Birmingham are scarce.