IMPROVEMENTS IN RULES, TAPES, AND OTHER LIKE LINEAL MEASURES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Leonard Appleton, of Brecknock Crescent, in the County
of Middlesex, Accountant, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RULES,
TAPES, AND OTHER LIKE LINEAL MEASURES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Leonard Appleton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st June 1880.
"
LEONARD APPLETON, of Brecknock Crescent, in the County of Middlesex,
Accountant. IMPROVEMENTS IN RULES, TAPES, AND OTHER LIKE LINEAL
MEASURES."
This Invention consists of a peculiar system or mode of dividing or marking
rules, tapes, and other like lineal measures, whether straight or curved, whereby
such measures are rendered capable of indicating at a glance, and without any
calculation, the exact centre of any given object, space, or dimension, or any distance,
whether equal or otherwise, from opposite sides of such centre.
According to this Invention the rule or measure is marked or divided on one
edge or side with lines indicating inches, feet, yards, or other given measures,
reading, as in the usual manner, from one end to the other of the rule or measure,
whilst the opposite edge or side is marked or divided in half measures, namely, in
half inches, half feet, or half yards, and so on, as the case may be, or according to
the unit of measure adopted. The side which indicates the half measures is marked
with zero (0) or any equivalent mark in the middle or centre, and the half divisions
or measures are numbered successively from the said centre to the right and left
thereof. Thus supposing the particular measure employed be 36 inches in length
one side or edge will be marked or divided into 72 half inches, reading 36 half
inches from the centre to the right and left thereof. Now in using the same for the
purpose of finding at a glance the middle or centre of a space or object, which,
measured by the opposite side or face of the rule, gives, say, 13 inches over all, it
is simply requisite to place the half division marked 13 on the one side or end of
the said space or object, when the mark zero (0) on the measure will indicate the
exact position of the required centre.
The hereinbefore described improved measures may be constructed of any of the
materials from which lineal measures have hitherto been manufactured, such, for
example, as wood, metal, linen, paper, or textile fabric, or from any other material
or substance suitable for the purpose, and may be adapted for the smallest office
work as well as for larger operations in the field, and will be found useful in many
obvious cases too numerous to recapitulate.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Leonard Appleton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
November 1880.
LEONARD APPLETON, of Brecknock Crescent, in the County of Middlesex,
Accountant. "IMPROVEMENTS IN RULES, TAPES, AND OTHER LIKE LINEAL
MEASURES."
My said Invention consists of a peculiar system or mode of dividing or marking
rules, tapes, and other like lineal measures, whether rigid or flexible, whereby such
measures are rendered capable of indicating at a glance and without any calculation
the exact centre or mid-distance between any two given points or between two
opposite sides or extremities of any given object, space, or dimension, and of indi-
cating any given distances (whether equal or otherwise) on opposite sides from
such centre or mid-distance point.
In carrying out my said Invention I take any ordinary rule, tape, or other
measure indicating inches, feet, yards, or other given dimensions, with the fractions
thereof, and reading, as in the usual manner, from one end to the other of the said
measure, and I mark the longitudinal centre or mid-distance point of the said
measure with an 0, or zero, or other distinctive mark, and further divide the
measure into half inches, half feet, half yards, or other half dimensions or divisions,
according to the unit of measure adopted, and fractions thereof, the said half
divisions or dimensions being numbered so as to read consecutively from the before
mentioned centre mark to the right and left thereof. Thus supposing the particular
measure employed be 24 inches in length (a two foot rule for example) one side or
edge is marked or divided in the usual manner into 24 inches, or equal parts,
numbered so as to read consecutively from one end to the other of the measure.
The opposite side face or edge of the said rule or measure is to be marked or
divided into 48 half inches, numbered consecutively from the centre of the measure
up to 24 half inches to the right and left thereof.
The accompanying Drawing represents as an example the application of my said
Invention to an ordinary two foot folding rule divided and having its divisions
combined and arranged according to my said Invention, and showing the mode of
using or applying the same, the rule being partly broken away in order to bring
it within the limits of the drawing space. a is the rule or measure divided on one
edge or face in the usual way into inches and fractions thereof, reading, as shown
in the Drawing, consecutively from one end to the other. The other edge or face c
is divided into equal parts, each part being one half the length of the divisions
marked on the edge b, that is to say, they represent in the present example half
inches and fractions thereof. O is the mark which indicates the middle or longi-
tudinal centre of the rule or measure, and the said half divisions or dimensions are
numbered consecutively right and left from the said central mark, as shown clearly
in my Drawing. In using my improved rule or measure for the purpose of finding
at a glance the centre or mid-distance point on any given line of measurement of
an object, first measure the length or width of the object in the ordinary way, then
place the same figures of the small or half scale at either end of the object, when
the 0 or zero will indicate the centre required; for example, in the case, say, of a
drawer, as illustrated in the Drawing, the width is found, on applying the rule as
at A, to be 11 inches; on moving the rule, as at B, until 11% of the small
scale appears at either end of the object, 0 will indicate the position, say, of the
key hole; the workman is then enabled to mark out the places for the knobs at
equal distances on either side thereof. In the above mentioned Drawing and
description the ordinary marking and my improved system of dividing are both
shown on the same side or face of the rule; but I also make the rules or measures

page_text: with the ordinary marking only on one side, edge, or face, and my improved system
only on the other side, edge, or face.
The hereinbefore described improved measures may be constructed of any of the
materials from which lineal measures have hitherto been manufactured, such, for
example, as wood, metal, linen, or textile fabric, or from any other material or
substance suitable for the purpose, and may be adapted for the smallest office work
as well as for larger operations in the field.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is,
A rule, tape, or other lineal measure, whether rigid or flexible, when marked
or divided with dimensions arranged substantially as described and shown for the
purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Leonard Appleton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
LEONARD APPLETON. (L.S.)