Surveyor's Tape
date: label: Associated Date
content: 1860-07-10
name: label: patentee
content: Paine, William H.
notes: label: Description
content: This measuring tape is marked "Patented July 10th & Aug 7th 1860." On the earlier date, William H. Paine of Sheboygan, Wisc., received a patent (#29,096) for a lightweight steel tape covered with tin to protect it from rust. The case, also described in the patent, was equipped with a thermometer for determining expansion or contraction, a set of ten taping pins, and a plate that served as an outkeeper. Paine's second patent (#29,514) described a continuous sheet metal measure with a gauge indicating expansion. In 1870, now living in Greenpoint, Long Island, Paine exhibited steel measuring tapes at the annual fair sponsored by the American Institute, and took home an honorable mention. Paine's complicated case, of which this object is a good example, did not remain long on the market. His steel tapes, however, encased in leather cases with flush handles, were still available in the 1920s.
label: Description
content: Ref: "Improved Surveyor's Measure and Tackle Case," <i>Scientific American</i> 4 (1861): 104.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Associated Place
content: United States: Wisconsin, Sheboygan
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Surveying and Geodesy
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Scientific American
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.337003
label: catalog number
content: 337003
label: accession number
content: 1979.0218
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Measuring Tape
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: case: 10 1/4 in x 6 5/8 in; 26.035 cm x 16.8275 cm
label: Measurements
content: tape: 3/16 in x 50 ft; .4826 cm x 15.24 m
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 1/2 in x 7 1/8 in x 2 in; 26.67 cm x 18.0975 cm x 5.08 cm