IMPROVE- MENTS IN GUAGES AND SCALES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Edward Hodges, of Southampton Row,
Bloomsbury, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN GUAGES AND SCALES."
Sealed the 24th November 1857, and dated the 27th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Edward Hodges
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th May 1857.
I, RICHARD EDWARD HODGES, of Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GUAGES AND SCALES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improved method of constructing
instruments to be used as scales and guages. The instruments consist of
triangles of metal, wood, or other material, which are graduated on their bases,
and from the graduations lines at right angles to the bases are drawn until
they meet the opposite sides of the triangles. Two similar triangles of this
description are used at one time, and if it is required to guage the size of a
hole, the apices of the two triangles are projected through it from opposite
sides, and the distance which the triangles lap is read off on the scales, and
gives the internal diameter of the hole. When it is wished to guage the
interior of a tube, then, in place of using two complete triangles, (which
would render if necessary to have triangles of a different size for each con-

page_text: siderable variation in the size of the tube to be guaged,) one complete triangle
only is used, together with sections of different sizes of the other triangle, and
these sections when in use are attached to a graduated rod, and are in this way
introduced into the mouth of the tube together with the complete triangle.
Triangles thus graduated may be used as scales, when, for example, it is
required to draw one line parallel to another, and at a certain distance from it.
When used for this purpose, the edge of one of the triangles is brought up to
the first line, and then the other triangle is laid against the other edge of the
first triangle, and is caused to lap over it to the required extent, as shewn by
the graduations, and the second line parallel to the first is drawn. It will be
seen that, according as the angles at the apices of the triangles are more
or less acute, so it will (when drawing two parallel lines at a given distance
apart) be necessary to make the triangles lap to a greater or less extent; and
as the greater the distance the triangles lap, the greater will be the space
given for the graduations, it is evident that, by making the triangles sufficiently
acute at their apices, almost any degree of accuracy may be obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Edward Hodges, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
EDWARD HODGES, of Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Edward Hodges, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Edward
Hodges, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Richard Edward Hodges, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN GUAGES AND SCALES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Richard Edward Hodges, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,

page_text: should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and inmediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Edward Hodges, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object an improved method of constructing
instruments to be used as scales and guages. The instruments consist of
triangles of metal, wood, or other material, which are graduated on their bases,
and from the graduations lines at right angles to the bases are drawn until
they meet the opposite sides of the triangles. Two similar triangles of this
deseription are used at one time, and if it is required to guage the size
of a hole, the apices of the two triangles are projected through it from opposite
sides, and the distance which the triangles lap is read off on the scales, and
gives the internal diameter of the hole. When it is wished to guage the
interior of a tube, then, in place of using two complete triangles (which would
render it necessary to have triangles of a different size for each considerable
variation in the size of the tube to be guaged,) one complete triangle only is
used, together with sections of different sizes of the other triangle; and these
sections when in use are attached to a graduated rod, and are in this
way introduced into the mouth of the tube together with the complete triangle.
Triangles thus graduated may be used as scales, when, for example, it is
required to draw one line parallel to another, and at a certain distance from it.
When used for this purpose, the edge of one of the triangles is brought up to
the first line, and then the other triangle is laid against the other edge of the
first triangle, and is caused to lap over it to the required extent, as shown by
the graduations, and the second line parallel to the first is drawn. It will be
seen that according as the angles at the apices of the triangles are more
or less acute, so it will (when drawing two parallel lines at a given, distance
apart,) be necessary to make the triangles lap to a greater on less extent; and
as the greater the distance the triangles lap, the greater will be the space
given for the graduations, it is evident that, by making the triangles sufficiently
acute at their apices, almost any degree of accuracy may be obtained.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.

page_text: Figure 1 is a side view of a
pair of guages constructed according to my
Invention; they may be made of steel, brass, wood, or other suitable material;
and I prefer that the width of each scale at its wide end should be one-tentli of
its length; for example, a convenient size for ordinary purposes is ten inches
long by one inch broad at the wider end, and tapering to a point at the other
end. The two scales forming a pair are graduated in a similar manner, with
a series of lines drawn perpendicular to the base, and at a tenth of an inch
from each other. If the guages or scales are required for purposes requiring
great accuracy, they may be further subdivided.
In using these instruments to guage a ring, as is shown .at Figure 2, the
points of the two guages or scales are put through it from opposite sides, and
then the point of one guage or scale indicates on the other the diameter of the
-ring in hundredths of an inch.
Guages or scales of this description will be very useful to carpenters to
enable them to set out tenons, as with them he can at one operation, that is to
say, without shifting the scales, draw two parallel lines at any desired distance
apart.
When it is desired to guage the mouth of a tube which is not sufficiently
large to allow a complete scale to pass through it, then a section of a size
capable of passing through the tube may be employed in conjunction with
a complete scale; but when it is desired to guage the tube (as, for example, a
gun barrel,) from one end to the other, then I employ two sections (as is
shown at Figure 3), both capable of entering the tube, and I attach these
sections to rods, which may be graduated so as to show the distance of the
sections from the mouth of the tube when each guaging is obtained. In order
to facilitate the reading of the guagings, there are two sections attached to the
upper ends of the rods, similar in all respects to the sections within the tubes,
and as the rods are of equal lengths the sections will always occupy corre
sponding positions, and the reading of the upper one will be the same as the
reading of the lower. In order to keep the sections in their proper relative
positions, they may be grooved to fit one another, as is shown by the per-
spective view, Figure 4. In this Figure one of the sections which enters the
tube is so arranged as to come in contact with it at one point only; this
arrangement facilitates the guaging of minute cavities in the tube.
Figure 5 shows the way in which I employ scales or guages made according
to my Invention, to measure the thickness of a solid bar or sheet. a is a com-
plete scale, similar to one of those shown at Figure 1; and 6 is a similar scale
i

page_text: of, say, half an inch deep at its smaller end; e is a stop on which the bar to be
measured rests; this stop is connected or formed in one piece with the scale b,
and its upper edge is, say, one and a half inches distance from the upper edge
of this scale. By sliding the scale a on the section 6 until it rests on the bar
to be measured, the distance between the upper edge of the section and the
bar may be ascertained by adding together the figures corresponding with the
graduations on the scales a and b, which come opposite to one another, and by
deducting the result from 1½ inches (the distance between the upper edge of
the scale 6 and the edge of the stop) the thickness of the bar is found; or, to
save the trouble of this operation, a second line of figures, termed " guage
figures," may be marked on the guage or scale a, which, when read off, give at
once the thickness of the bar.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Edward Hodges, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
GEO. PITT.
R. E. HODGES. (L.S.)