Improvements in the Construction of Wire or String Gauges.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Nov., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Aug., 1893-Accepted, 16th Sept.. 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Wire or String Gauges.
I JOSEPH POOLE of 84 Heywood Street, Moss Side near Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to the construction of cheap, handy & accurate wire gauges
whereby the size or gauge of wires or such like, can be ascertained in English or
foreign units of measurement, or to any other standard (such as the Board of
Trade standard gauge) & other useful information may be obtained as mentioned
below.
My invention consists of two hard plates, preferably of metal, having straight or
curved (preferably the latter) edges, clamped or fixed (by means of a metal piece
or pieces) with their edges facing each other in such a manner as to leave one or two
annular spaces between the edges, the latter gradually approaching or receding from
each other. Index points are made on the plates, so as to show the gauge or size of
wires which just fit in the spaces opposite these marks, or show their area of
section or the electrical resistance or carrying capacity for electric currents of such
wires if of a certain material, or, if used as a piano-wire gauge the notes for which
the wires are suitable.
I prefer to use plates having their edges curved into the form of circles or arcs
of circles, (generally of different radii,) so fixed that the convex edge of one is
opposite the concave edge of the other, as by using this form the construction is
much simplified & great accuracy can be obtained in their manufacture giving
correct measurements to the smallest sizes.
The gauge may also be used for the gauging of violin & other musical instrument
strings.
Dated this 1et dow of N 1000
JOSEPH POOLE.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Wire or String Gauges.
I, JOSEPH POOLE of 84 Heywood Street Moss Side Manchester in the County
of Lancaster, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to gauges for wire, sheet metal, and other similar articles,
and its object is to enable these gauges to be constructed in a compact and simple
manner and in such a form as to render additional information to that rendered
by gauges of the usual type.
A gauge thus constructed in addition to giving the gauge of the wire sheet or
other article by its number may also give the gauge according to any other
standard and at the same time indicate the diameter in thousandths of an inch,
the diameter in millimeters, and in the case of a wire its sectional area, its weight
per unit of length, its electrical resistance and its safety current. Other informa-
tion may also be combined with the gauge according to the use for which it is
destined.
The most convenient way of constructing a gauge according to this invention is
to place a hard metal disc excentrically within a hard metal ring thus leaving an
annular or crescent shaped space which varies from its widest at or about its centre
[P7
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page_text: to its narrowest at either end. Other equivalent forms however may be adopted as
will be evident on reference to the accompanying drawings where the different
modifications of gauges constructed to embody these improvements are illustrated.
Figure 1 shews elevations of both sides of one of the improved wire gauges
which as will be seen consists of a disc A placed excentrically within a ring B thus
leaving an annular or partially annular or crescent shaped space C in which the
wire to be gauged is placed. This space C is widest at one end of a diameter of
the disc A and reaches its narrowest point at or about the other end. At the
widest part of the space the ring B is preferably divided as at D to admit of the
passage of a wire which may thus be gauged at any part of its length. The wire
being admitted is passed along the space C towards one of its ends as far as possible.
In the gauge illustrated which is specially useful for electrical engineers if the
wire be moved in one direction along the annular space the spot at which it stops
would indicate its diameter in millimeters its sectional area in thousandths of a
square inch and its safety limit for an electrical current on one face of the gauge,
and the number of yards per ohm resistance and the resistance in ohms per
hundred feet or any other convenient length on the other. Should the wire be
moved towards the other end of the space C the gauge would indicate its diameter
in thousandths of an inch or other unit and its number according to the standard
wire gauge on one face, and on the other its weight per thousand feet and its
electrical resistance per mile. It is of course obvious that other information may
be substituted for that quoted and illustrated according to the purpose for which
the gauge is to be used. The circular inner disc is secured to the outer ring by a
bracket or plate E.
The gauge illustrated by Figure 2 may be similarly marked and constructed to
that shewn in Figure 1 but it is intended for measuring larger sizes of wire.
In Figure 3 an edge elevation of two gauges combined and pivoted together is
shewn. For instance the two gauges described may be joined together by the
pivot F so that they can be moved clear of one another and the combined
instrument be used either for the measurement of thick or thin wires.
A form of gauge which may be employed both for measuring sheets and wires
is illustrated by Figure 4. This consists of two parts, one, G, being curved, and
the other, H, straight. The sheet J or wire K is entered as shewn and its diameter
and other data indicated. The straight part of the gauge may conveniently be
marked in inches on one side and in the metric system on the other. The outside
straight edge of the curved part G may also be marked with convenient scales or
measures and is preferably parallel with the outside part of H. As before the two
parts are secured together by the bracket E.
Figure 5 is a representation of a modification of the gauge which may be used
for gauging the strings of stringed instruments. As such strings, even of the
same open note, vary in thickness, the gauge in addition to being marked with the
open notes is also graduated.
A further modification of the improved gauge is represented in Figure 6 which
illustrates the combination of a series of segments of rings B secured together by
the bracket E and so arranged excentrically as to permit practically of any
thickness of wire being measured. Similar data and indexes to those already
described may be marked upon the opposing excentric curves.
In the type shewn in Figure 7 the inner disc B is not circular but has been
turned off on one side to enable the gauge to be used for measuring both thick
and thin wires, the dotted lines indicating the original curve. The opening D both
in this and the equivalent forms of gauge may have its opposed faces approaching
each other so as to be of different widths at its two ends. This opening thus forms
a gauge which would indicate two or more thicknesses of wire. If desired the
sides of the opening D may be parallel to gauge one thickness only.
As illustrated by Figure 7 the opening D in the ring B may be bridged across
by a hook or other removable catch which may be opened to permit of the passage
of the wire and closed during the gauging to prevent any possibility of the outer

page_text: ring springing and varying in its distance from the disc A. The opening D in the
ring A may if desired be altogether dispensed with and thus leave the ring
endless but in this form of construction the wire or similar article can only be
gauged by passing its end through the space C whereas by forming the opening D
a wire can be gauged at the middle of its length without the necessity of finding
an end.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is-
1. A wire gauge consisting of a disc placed excentrically within a ring, and
constructed and arranged substantially as described and as illustrated by the
accompanying drawings.
2. A wire gauge consisting of a series of segments, their opposed edges being
excentric, constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described and as
illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
3. A wire or sheet metal gauge, consisting of two plates the curved edge of one
being opposed to the straight edge of the other, constructed and arranged sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated by the accompanying
drawings.
4. A wire gauge having a tapered measuring channel formed by two opposing
excentric curves or surfaces constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore
described and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
5. Gauges for wire sheet metal and other like articles constructed and arranged
substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated by the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 1st day of August. A.D. 1893
WILLIAM E. HEYS,
Agent for the Applicant.