AN EXTENSION RULE OR
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Figgins Stephens at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th November 1882.
JOHN FIGGINS STEPHENS, of the City of Bristol,
GAUGE,"
"AN EXTENSION RULE OR
The said Invention consists in the arrangement of two graduated strips or
portions, of wood ivory or other suitable substance, of equal length, placed one
over the other and free to slide longitudinally along or over the face of one
another, so as to form an extension rule or gauge. The said pieces are graduated
on each face, the graduation on the exterior faces differing from that on the two
faces in contact in such manner as to allow for the width of the bands or straps
through which the two portions slide, there being one such band or strap at one
end of each piece constituting the measure or rule. A stud or button projecting
either upwards from one portion or downwards from the other and formed to
engage with a notch cut in the corresponding band, prevents the two portions from
coming apart.
The zero point or end of the rule being applied to one end of an object or length,
the lower portion is drawn out and the end thereof being adjusted back to the
desired point, the reading at the nearest band or strap aforesaid, is the dimension
required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters ratenied by
the said John Figgins Stephens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th May 1883.
JOHN FIGGINS STEPHENS of the City of Bristol AN EXTENSION RULE OR
GAUGE
My said invention consists in the arrangement of two graduated strips or
portions of wood, ivory or other suitable substance, of equal length placed one
over the other and free to slide longitudinally along or over the faces of one
another, so as to form an extension rule er gauge. The said strips or pieces are
graduated on each face, the graduation on the exterior faces differing from that on
the two faces in contact in such manner as to allow for the width of the hands or
straps through which the strips or pieces slide, there being one such band or strap
at one end of each piece constituting the measure or rule. A stud or button fitting
-in-a-notel-or-groove_cut in one of the bands prevents the two portions of the rule
from coming wholly apart..
And in order that my said invention may be properly understood and the mode
or manner in which the same may be used, I now proceed more particularly to
_ describe the same, reference being had to the accompanying sheet of drawings and
the figures and letters marked thereon,
The accompanying-sheet of drawings illustrates the application of my-said-
-invention in the form of a rule and gauge of a total length, when-extended, of two
feet. The strips A and B are euch -twelve and-a half inches long including the
bands a and b attached at ore end of each strip and through which the strips are
free to slide longitudinall, as more particularly indicated at Fig. 5. On their
outer faces the strips or pieces A and B are graduated from opposite ends up to
twelve inches. The zero point of the strip A is represented in the drawing as at
the left hand, on the face thereof shown at Figs. 1 and 2.
Fig. 1 represents the rule as closed and Fig. 2 represents it as extended. On the
reverse face the strip A is graduated from twelve and a half at the left band end,
up to twenty four at the right hand, as seen at Fig. 3 where the rule is represented
as extended and reversed, and where it is also seen that the zero point of the
strip B is at the right hand. On that face of the strip B which lies next to the
back of the strip A, the graduations extend from twelve and a half on the left, up
to twenty four on the right, as seen at Fig. 2. The space occupied by the bands a
and b, each one half of an inch wide, is thus provided for in the graduation of the
faces in contact. When, therefore, the rule is extended and faces as shown at
Fig. 2., any dimension up to twenty four inches may be read thereon as on an
ordinary "two foot" rule.
At Fig. 4 is represented one application of the rule as a gauge. In gauging an
object, the length of which is represented on the drawing by the dotted line X, Y,
the rule being reversed and extended as shown at Fig. 3, the right hand end of tho
strip B is placed at X. The left hand end of the strip A is then adjusted to
coincide with Y, and the reading taken at the left hand side of the band 6 is the
dimension required, namely, fifteen inches. The same result is obtained if the rule,
as shown at Figs. 3 and 4, be turned so that the zero point of the strip B is at the
left hand instead of at the right.
Again, an object may be gauged or a dimension ascertained when the rule is
made to face as at Fig. 2, by adjusting the outer ends of the strips A and B to the
extremities of the object or dimension, and taking the reading at the band b on the
reverse face of the strip A. Internal dimensions, as, for instance, the diameters of

page_text: cylinders or tubes, as also dimensions generally may thus be readily gauged and
ascertained.
A stud or button c, fitting in a notch or groove c¹, prevents the two portions of
the rule from coming wholly apart.
The principle of this invention is applicable to rules of any desired lengths, it
being understood that the space occupied by the bands through which the strips or
pieces slide is to be allowed for in the graduation of the faces in contact in the
manner hereinbefore described with reference to the rule of twenty four inches in
length. If desired, one or both of the strips or pieces may be divided and hinged
to form a " square."
Having now described my said invention and the mode or manner in which the
same inay be used or practically carried into effect, I claim as the invention secured
to me by the herein before in part recited Letters Patent.
The construction and arrangement of the rule graduated after the method
herein before described and illustrated, to form a combined rule and gauge as and
for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof J, the said John Figgins Stephens, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this fifth day of May in the year of Our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and eighty-three.