Although Ernest Child in his Tools of the Chemist relates that Christopher Becker was the pioneer American balance maker, it may be more correct to state that he was a pioneer in the United States in the making of scientific balances and to a certain extent, other scientific instruments. Henry Troemner began making scales and balances in Philadelphia in 1844, at least eleven years prior to Christopher Becker's introduction to analytical balances in 1855. Becker was, nonetheless, one of ten balance manufacturers to begin making assay balances in the United States. The Becker companies contributed to the development of not only the assay balance, but also to the analytical balance, the bullion balance, as well as other specialized and general scales and balances.

Christopher Becker was born at Filsum, near Hannover, Germany in 1803. He attended school in Filsum and became an apprentice to Mr. Humboldt in Hannover. There he acquired the early training that resulted in his becoming an outstanding manufacturer of balances, scales and scientific instruments. Around 1828, he moved to Groningen, The Netherlands where he made many accurate instruments of great variety: airpumps, dividing machines, heliostats, pendulums, and balances. He later moved to Arnhem, The Netherlands where he established an instrument factory in 1836 and became well-known for balances, electrical instruments and barometers.

It was in Arnhem that he met and married Louisa J. Marius, which marriage resulted in five sons: Christian (b. August 16, 1844) , Ernst, Jule, Henry and a fifth son whose name is unknown. (The authors were not able to determine if the fifth son was August Becker who apprenticed to Herman Ausfeld in Gotha, Germany and to Wilhelm Apel of Gottingen, Germany in approximately 1868. August later owned the establishment of Moritz Meyerstein in Gottingen, which in turn was purchased by Florenz Sartorius, the famous balance maker. As another possibility, was the fifth son was the late nineteenth century balance and instrument maker F. E. Becker of London? It is hoped that future research will determine if there is a connection between the Christopher Becker family and these last two Beckers.)

In 1854 or 1855, the Beckers and four sons emigrated to America, where Christopher began manufacturing nautical and astronomical instruments in an observatory at 54 Columbia St., Brooklyn, New York. From here "he gave the correct time to ships in the harbor by means of a ball on top of the observatory. The ball was controlled electrically and coordinated with an extremely accurate temperature-compensated clock that Christopher had built. The accuracy was checked periodically by astronomical observations." (Biographical History of Westchester Co., New York, 294)

Sometime in 1855, "the precision capabilities demonstrated by Christopher attracted the attention of Prof. J. Renwick of Columbia College, who asked him to manufacture an analytical balance to supplement several British and German ones that he already had." (Carley, 1002) Using design suggestions from Professor Renwick and his own experience since 1836, an instrument was built that carried a distinct advantage in precision construction. The beam arrest was so constructed that the arms were pivoted about a common axis of the center knife edge and moved through the same arc as the supporting points of the beam. The success of this project resulted in Christopher's devoting his entire business time to the manufacture of analytical balances and weights. Together with Christian and Ernst he formed Becker & Sons.

It was also during these early years that Christian Becker attended Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, which later became Polytechnic University. Records from the school show that he attended the third grade in 1857-58, was in the senior academic department in 1859 and the junior collegiate department in 1860. There is no evidence from those records that he graduated. He eventually entered his father's factory, and, one by one, mastered every department and detail of the business, thus becoming a practical workman in the manufacture of scales and balances.

The Brooklyn, New York city directories classify Christopher an instrument maker living at 25 Hicks in Brooklyn from 1856 to 1859. From 1859 to 1862 the directories show that he lived at 54 Columbia. Shortly after the beginning of the American Civil War, the family returned to The Netherlands, where they established a balance factory in Antwerp. Here they were joined by other sons who had not accompanied the family to America in 1854.

After the Civil War in the United States, Christopher, along with his wife and Christian and Ernst, returned to the United States and established a new factory in Hudson City, New Jersey. (The other two sons stayed on the continent and established Becker's Sons in Rotterdam and Delft, Holland and H. L. Becker Fils, in Brussels, Belgium.)

Meanwhile, after 1865, Christopher moved his factory twice, first from Hudson City, New Jersey to Newark, New Jersey and then in 1875 to New Rochelle, New York. "(Christopher's) excellent workmanship and his honest dealing soon won him a liberal patronage, and his trade constantly increased. This enabled him to employ a considerable force of skilled workmen, and his scales gained a wide reputation for accuracy, durability and fineness of finish." (Biographical History of Westchester Co., New York, 295) As further evidence of this increasing reputation as a balance maker, the 1878 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica refers to a "very excellent instrument (i.e., balance) made by Messrs. Becker and Company of New York . . ." In addition to the statement, the article includes a drawing of a Becker balance and a drawing of the end of the beam. - FOUND ON THE INTERNET