The history of the scale

The oldest evidence of the existence of scales dates from 2400 to 1800 BC in the Indus Valley (in present-day Pakistan). Prior to this, there was no standard or accuracy for measuring body weight. In Egypt, scales date back to about 1878 BC, but their use probably extended much earlier. The scale in the true modern sense was improved and invented by Leonardo da Vinci.

By the 1940s various electronic devices were connected to these designs to make readings more accurate. These are not true electronic scales, and the actual weight measured still relies on the load cell, the little node that converts pressure into a digital signal. Only recently have real electronic scales appeared.