What is this ?

At the site of Haldon (Teignmouth )aerodrome today I found the object pictured below.

It was found at the location where ,as far as I could ascertain, the original hangar stood in the 1930s.

It is a solid brass plate,5.75 x 4 inches and about .2(2 tenths) of an inch thick.
Obviously originally screwed to a steel backing of some kind as some of the stell is fairly solidly adhering to the back of the plate.

After removing some of the crud .....
The wording on it reads....

(around the edge)
Mail & Telegraph Construction Co Ltd

(In centre)

No.5. 2 CWT or Less
LONDON

Some kind of scales at a guess -
Googling "Mail & Telegraph Construction Co Ltd" in various ways produced nothing.

Could this be anything to do with the old aerodrome- weighing luggage perhaps (There were airline services in the 30s) or is it just something that has found it's way there by chance?

Any suggestions very welcome.

Dave

I always associate CWT with coal

Fair comment , butremember that back in the 30s , 112lbs made a cwt and everyone knew it.
Nearest railway is 4 miles away and about 750 ft lower.Nearest coalman - no idea !

I don't think there is much doubt the plate is from some kind of weighing machine ....and in the 30s it was common practice to weigh a passenger together with his luggage before loading the aircraft...which easily allows one to add 2 +2 and get 5!

However - it would be nice to track down the makers of this and find out exactly what a No.5 was and if it did have aeronautical connections

Hi dave,

It might be something to do with these guys perhaps?

www.porthcurno.org.uk/html/telcon.html

Or dropping them an email they may be able to help??

If you are ever in that part of the world its a fascinating place to visit, and has a great beach too!!

Graeme

Got a feeling that it is to do with weighing etc.

But from what I can see of the pic it looks kinda wrong to be
Mail & Telegraph Construction Co Ltd
Don't know how they design these plates, but guessing you would start the name on lefthand side in the middle of the plate and work round, so does the company read so
Telegraph construction London & Mai..... Ltd (unable to make out any more letters)

May be right off the mark , but only trying to help.

DG1 - I've tried all possible(logical ) combinations of the wording but drawn a blank so far.

I've removed a bit more of the muck than the picture shows and it is definitely "Mai* Co.Ltd" along the bottom. .... possibility that it could be "Maint."(See Granite's post and the link).

Granite - you may be on to something there...The Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Co Ltd is very close to what I can see....there is some very hard muck over the end of "Mai*" at the moment - hopefully it can be removed after softening up.