The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-06-24
The 4nilg 8nlletiN,
WEDNESDAY, JUNE "a, 1855.
A HAIRS THICKNESS.

n HAMS lHlGkNtSS,
a curious little machine in the of
flee of the Chief of the Stamp Blu
reau of the post-oilice Department
is the cause of the cancellation of
the contract of the New England
firm with the Government for fur
nishing envelopes to the Post-otlce
Department. 1t is q queer looking
contrlvancc, q cross between n set
of butchers scales and ordinary gro
GERS scales, or rather a combination
of the two. There is large dial,
like the face of clock, with the
little hand that flies around the face
pointing to the figures at the side,
which are arranged like the figures
on the clock face, with little dots
between. tIou see these dots!'
said the gentleman in charge, in
quiringly. "Well, the space be-
tween these indicates one sixteen
thousandth of an inch. Getting it
down pretty fine, isn't it? You see
this movable piece of iron here
which comes down with a smooth
surface upon this other solid sur
face? Well, the raising or lowering
of that moves the pointer which
runs round the dial. To test the
thickness of q sheet of paper we
simply place it between this NOV
able piece and the solid surface be-
low, and when the movable piece
of iron comes down upon the paper
the hand registers the true thick
ness of the paper. Delicate instru
ment? Well, | should think so.
Just give me hair from your head,
will your
Then he took hair and slipped it
deity between the two pieces. The
hand on the dial followed the
motions of the screw until it stopped
at the figures 20. "Just 20 16-1,-
900 of an inch in diameter" he
said. ''Now let me try hair of
your moustache. They are generally
much larger, especially if you are in
the habit of shaving" He took up
apair of scissors, clipped off hair
from the moustache and placed it in
position. The hand stopped at 80.
"Fifty sixteen-thousandths of an
inch thick he said; "that shows
the effect of shaving. | measured
hair from the hand of gentleman
q few minutes ago which was 40
16-l, O00ths thick, but those in his
moustache were precisely the same
thickness, the reason being that he
never shaved. Yes, that is the ma
chine that proved that the firm
making our envelopes was not full
filling its contract" he said, as he
fell back admiringly.
''By this dial we can see Just the
thickness. By this lever, which is
very much like a pair of grocer
scales, we can tell just what pres
sure the paper will stand. You see
we have two other movable pieces
of iron here, with hole entirely
through both, and a plunger which
passes through that hole. Well, we
pun lne paper between IlOSe pieces,
which, when they are pressed tightly
together by this lever, hold it firmly
The plunger which passes through
the opening in the two pieces of
iron, encounters this paper thus
firmly held. To know what the
pressure is, we have the plunger at
tached to scale lever with weight
attached like an ordinary pair of
scales, and by moving this weight
out along the lever until the paper
breaks, Of course we can see what
the weight is that makes it break.
See? Very simple after you under
stand it. Well, that is what the
paper-malers thought after they had
lost an $4,000 contract by it. 1t
was new thing to them, but they
acknowledged that they were beaten
when they saw it"
This delicate instrument, only re-
Gently invented, is companion
piece to the scales in the Assayer' s
office of the Treasury, by which the
weight of hair is accurately tested.
Washington Post.
.-.---.--.--.---
A fashion item says: GA very