Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-07-15
EVERY MAN A FOOT RULE
Our Metric system stated In Terms
of Thumbs and Fingers.

H AEA 1 w tA' VI Nih
opening, said ono man to another, "bu,
l have no rule with me. I guess I'll have
to come back again this afternoon and
measure it."
The opening was a rectangular hole in
the ground that had been cemented To
the top and which needed a cover.
why don't YOU measure it now. said
the other man, and save yourself the *
ira trip
why. as | tell you.' was the reply. II
nave no rule with me. I might pace it
of. but you can't tell that way to with
in a few inches and the measurement
must he accurate"
We'll, don't let a little thing like that
bother you. | have no rule. either. but
III give you the dimension Of each side
within half an inch, anyway. Will that
be near enough"
1t would, and so the man measured 1t.
MY shoe is exactly II Il inches long"
he said. Make a memorandum Of what
] do and We can verify the measurements
when we get to a rule"
Placing his heel to n line drawn from
the angle Of the corner and putting the
heel of one foot to the toe OF the other.
he measured off 10 shoe lenths and mad
a mark at the foremost toe. Then he
stretched his right hand In a span. thumb
at the toe mark, and scratched another
mark at the tip Of his middle finger. To
this latter mark he placed the side Of
his thumb and noted that the opposite
side Of this digit Just touched the
parable mark. indicating the end Of the
side he was measuring.
Nov" he said. you have 10 times
II IA inches. which is 112 l2 inches. ]
span exactly 9 inches. making 121 10
inches, and my thumb is Just an inch
wide at the first knuckle. making lo l2
inches, and that is the length of the
opening. Now for the width"
Following the same process. he meas
ured eight shoe lengths and marked down
distance. Then he laid his hand down
fiat, the heel Of the palm touching the
mark he had just made. called off : L.
inches for the other to note down. marked
that and placed his hand again. palm
down, but this time measuring with its
width at the knuckles. The side Of his
hand came exactly to the end of the
narrower of the two sides.
Put down four inches more" he said.
that is eight shoe lengths. or % inches,
plus : l-2 inches, plus -four inches, 1Ol -
inches. The opening is therefore 10 feet
; II inches, and you'll be perfectly safe
in going ahead on those measurements
Testing the result when they arrived
where they had access to a two-foot rule
it was found to he correct within one
eighth Of an inch, which was near
enough.
Long ago" volunteered the unique
measurer, more as a matter Of curiosity
than anything else, | suppose, 7 made
measurements of several members Of my
body and remembered them. Here is the
schedule. 1t has helped me out many a
time"
Length of first joint Of forehnser, one
inch.
Length of first Joint of thumb, l j.
inches.
Width of palm at knuckles, pressed
fiat, 3 l2 inches.
Across palm from second thumb knuck-
les, four inches.
Around aim at knuckles. S l-2 inches
Length of middle finger from third or
palm knuckle to tip, four inches.
From heel of palm TO tip of middle fin
ger, : IL inches.
Span, from tip Of thumb to tip of mid
die finger, nine inches.
Length Of forearm from tip Of elbow
to tip Of middle finger. arm bent to form
a right angle, 10 inches,
Length of forearm from elbow 10 heel
of palm, II l2 inches.
From heel to top Of knee. leg bent to
form a right angle, % "a inches.
Length Of shoe, heel to tip, Il Ia inches.
Height. 3 feet 6 10 inches.
Tip to tip of fingers, with arms out
stretched, 8 feet 5 1-2 inches.
Extreme reach, standing on heels, one
arm extended upward, to tip of middle
finger. seven feet.
with your W measurements in
mind" he continued. you can not only
measure short spaces, but YOU can quick
ly construct n l0-foot pole, or ono of any
length, for that matter, and measure a
plot of ground. a building, a floor. the
walls Of a room or almost anything else,
even IL you haven't a rule with you. OF
course IL wouldn't do for surveying ran
other process that requires absolute ac-
curacy, but for general work 1t isn't at all
a d.'-Boston Transcript.