LO-VAR Surveyor's Tape
name: label: maker
content: Keuffel & Esser Co.
notes: label: Description
content: Surveyor's tape marked "6285 TRADE LO-VAR MARK KEUFFEL & ESSER CO." and "NBS No 9228." With a coefficient of expansion of about .0000015 per degree Centigrade, Keuffel & Esser's LO-VAR tapes were said to be more stable than ordinary steel tapes that had a coefficient of expansion of .000016 per degree Centigrade. Keuffel & Esser also explained that since LO-VAR tapes were intended for precise base line measurements, they generally carry only the end marks and one or two intermediate marks. This example, however, is marked every 5 meters, and at 12.5 and 37.5 meters. It was tested by the National Bureau of Standards, and belonged to the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. New, it cost $75.
label: Description
content: Keuffel & Esser introduced the term LO-VAR to commerce, and applied for a copyright, in 1934.
label: Description
content: Ref: Keuffel & Essser, <i>Catalogue</i> (New York, 1936), p. 535.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Surveying and Geodesy
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content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geodetic Survey Division
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.0395.14
label: accession number
content: 1986.0395
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0395.14
objectType: label: Object Name
content: surveyor's tape
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall length: 50 m; 164 1/32 ft
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 in x 18 in x 2 3/4 in; 2.54 cm x 45.72 cm x 6.985 cm