The earliest evidence of the use of balances can be traced to 2400-1800 B.C. There are also many convincing traces which suggest that weighing system was broadly used by the Egyptian civilization. The first recorded form of a weighing device other than the balance occurred in 400 B.C. and was known as the Bismar.

Its construction included a rod of wood with a large weight fixed at one end. The Romans invented the steelyard in 200 B.C.Originally known as the statera, the English word steelyard comes from the German Stalhof, the name of the London base of the Hanseatic merchants of the Middle Ages, who used the instrument extensively in their businesses. A historical figure who designed the first self-indicating scale was Leonardo Da Vinci.

The next step in the evolution of the balance was the focus on the knife-edge as a pivot of the scale.Illes Personne de Roberval. Roberval discovered the Static Enigma, which was to defy explanation for the next hundred years. Machines to weigh large loads began to develop during the eighteenth century towards the end of the 19th century, the technology of weighing machines began to develop into the type of machines we would recognize today.

In 19th century inventors began to consider and implement the types of scales which would be programmed to estimate the value of goods. In the late 1940s mechanical weighing began to combine with electronics.