page_title: Calipers
section_title: Divider caliper
hierarchical_section_title: Calipers / Types / Divider caliper
caption_attribution_description: Pair of divider calipers
context_page_description: A caliper is a device used to measure the distance between two opposite sides of an object. Many types of calipers permit reading out a measurement on a ruled scale, a dial, or a digital display. But a caliper can be as simple as a compass with inward or outward-facing points. The tips of the caliper are adjusted to fit across the points to be measured and then the caliper is then removed and the distance read by measuring between the tips with a measuring tool, such as a ruler.
  It is used in many fields such as mechanical engineering, metalworking, forestry, woodworking, science and medicine.
context_section_description: In the metalworking field, a divider caliper, popularly called a compass, is used in the process of marking out locations. The points are sharpened so that they act as scribers; one leg can then be placed in the dimple created by a center or prick punch and the other leg pivoted so that it scribes a line on the workpiece's surface, thus forming an arc or circle.
  A divider caliper is also used to measure a distance between two points on a map. The two caliper's ends are brought to the two points whose distance is being measured. The caliper's opening is then either measured on a separate ruler and then converted to the actual distance, or it is measured directly on a scale drawn on the map. On a nautical chart the distance is often measured on the latitude scale appearing on the sides of the map: one minute of arc of along any great circle, as for example, any longitude meridian, is approximately one nautical mile or 1852 metres.
  Dividers are also used in the medical profession. An ECG (also EKG) caliper transfers distance on an electrocardiogram; in conjunction with the appropriate scale, the heart rate can be determined. A pocket caliper version was invented by cardiologist Robert A. Mackin.‹See TfM›
caption: A pair of dividers
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