The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1885-01-21
A Hair. Thickness.

A curious little machine in the Office Of
the chief Of the stamp bure au of the post
office department is the cause of the can
collation. of the contract of the New Eng
land firm with the government for furnish
ing envelopes to the postofice department
1t IS queer looking contrivance, a cross
between a set Of butchers and ordinary
grOcers' scales. or rather a combination Of
the two, there Is a larger dial, ike the face
of a clock, with the Gttle-hand that flies
around the face, pointing to the figures at
the side, which are arranged like the fig
ures on the clock face, with little dots be
tween. You see three dots7' said the
gentleman in charge inquiringly well.
the space between these indicates one six
tenth thousand 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 surface2 Well. the raising or
lowering of that moves the pointer which
runs round the dial. To test the thickness
of sheet Of paper We simply place it be
tween this movable piece and the solid
surface below, and when the movable piece
of iron comes down upon the paper the
hand registers the true thickness Of the
paper, Delicate instruments? Well,
should think so. Just give me hair from
your head, viii Your
Then he took hair and slipped it deity
between the movable pieces The hand
on the dial followed the motions of the
screw until II stopped at the figures twenty
| Just 20 10-l000th of an inch in diameter,
he said Now let me try hair from your
mustache. They are generally much lar.
ger, especially if you have been in the
habit Of shaving" He took up pair Of
SCISSORS and clipped off a hair from the
mustache and placed 1t IN position. The
hand stopped at fifty Fifty sixteen
| thousanths of an inch thick he said
That shows the effect of shaving. Imeas
ured a hair from the hand Of gentleman
/ a few minutes ago which was 40 16-OOOOths
thick but those In his mustache We're pre-
clsely the same thickness. the reason be
ing that he had never shaved. Yes, thai
Is the machine that proved that the tirn
making our envelopes was not filling 1t:
contract" he said. as he fell back admir-
ingly.
by this dial we can Just see the thick
/ ness, by this lever, which Is very mucl
like pair Of grocers' scales, we can tel
! just what pressure the paper Will stand
You see we have two other movable piece
of iron here, with a hole entirely through
both, and a plunger which passes through
that hole. Well we put the paper between
those pieces, which, when they are presse,
tightly together by this lever, hold
firmly. heplunger, which passes through
the opening in the two pieces of iron, en-
counters this paper thus firmly held I
know what the pressure Is we have tn
plunger attached to q scale lever with
weight attached like an ordinary pair q
scales, and by moving his weight out alon
the lever until the paper breaks, of cours
We can see what the weight is that make
it break. See? Very simple after 70
understaned it. Well, that Is what the pi
per makers thought after they had lost a
$4,000 contract by it. 1t was new thin
: to them, but they acknowledged that the
|, were beaten when they saw it
This delicate instrument, only recent
. invented, is a companion piece to the scale
! in the assayers office of the treasury,
which the weight of hair is accuratel
: +az4nI