torsion-balance

The Holy Inquisition never invented a device that was more truly an instrument of torture than Coulomb's torsion-balance was that session for Bob Radford; and if either of the two instructors ventured to say a kindly word to him or offered a bit of advice, all the thanks he got was a look of hatred such as might have flashed from the eyes of John Randolph of Roanoke towards one of his adversaries.

In the days of my youth when I was a student in the University of Virginia, 1888-1893. James Powell Cocke 1947

All I know is that long before he desisted and gave it up in despair, he was haggard and woebegone, and Coulomb's torsion-balance was so completely out of adjustment that we had to send to Messrs. Queen & Company in Philadelphia for an entire new set of levelling screws.

In the days of my youth when I was a student in the University of Virginia, 1888-1893. James Powell Cocke 1947

Cavendish, who, in 1798, brought into use the "torsion-balance" constructed for the same purpose by John Michell.

A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century Fourth Edition 1874

It was thus when Cavendish's torsion-balance experiment determined the specific gravity of the earth, and so gave a datum for calculating the specific gravities of the sun and planets.

Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects Everyman's Library Herbert Spencer 1861