Nadeau Installs Hydrostatic Scale

by AJ de Saint Phalle

JOHNSON - Nadeau has announced the installation of an Emery Winslow
Series 40 Hydrostatic Load Cell scale at their gravel and sand pit
located on Route 15 in Johnson. The new 60 foot scale cost nearly
$100,000 and will take over primary duties from the 45 foot Winslow
scale they installed in 1963. Nadeau's first scale, an 18 foot Winslow,
was installed in 1947 when the state mandated that aggregate sales no
longer be measured by the yard, but by the ton.
According to company founder Albert Nadeau, trucks in the 1940s
typically carried four yards. His son Andre said that today's trucks can
carry up to 16 yards which translates to nearly 25 tons, for a combined
vehicle weight of up to the legal limit of 73,000 lbs.
Previously, Nadeau used mechanical scales which suffered a lot of wear
and tear. The new scale is virtually indestructible and is made up of
three 20 foot sections. It is especially suited to dealing with the
concentrated loads prersented by tandem axle trucks. In case you were
wondering how it works, Winslow's "Summing Totalizer" converts the
output pressure of each of the eight hydrostatic load cells to a force,
sums the forces and converts the sum of the forces to a millivolt output
signal, which in turn drives the scale's digital weight indicator.
Andre estimates that the company sells approximately 125,000 tons per
year and that they should be able to continue production at that rate
for at least another 15 years. Asked what he would do with the scale at
that point he said that it is very portable and could thus be removed
and sold. "The boys plan to turn the site into a small industrial park
when the sand runs out," he added.
Nadeau's bounty is the result of a terminal moraine left by glaciers.
Andre noted that they had paid cash for the new scale.