Vernier calipers
notes: label: Description
content: This is a set of vernier calipers, a precision measuring device named after their 17th-century inventor, Pierre Vernier. Vernier calipers can make especially accurate linear measurements because they use two scales: a main scale like that of a ruler and a sliding scale that is sued to measure fractions of increments of the main scale.
label: Description
content: Although the origin of these calipers is not known with certainty, they may be from the Smithsonian’s old Astro-Physical Observatory which used to stand behind the Smithsonian Castle. This is the metalworking shop in which Samuel P. Langley, the third Smithsonian Secretary, tried for decades in the late 19th and early 20th century to construct a heavier-than-air piloted airplane. Although his research received support from federal funding, many of his models infamously crashed in the Potomac. Especially after the Wright brothers successfully flew at Kitty Hawk, Langley saw himself as their competitor and unsuccessfully challenged their patents. Because of its significance in aeronautical history, much of the Astro-Physical Observatory metalworking shop materials have been sent to the National Air and Space Museum.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MC.314683
label: catalog number
content: 314683
label: accession number
content: 209382
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Calipers, Vernier, Set of
label: Object Name
content: Pliers and Cutters
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 in x 3 3/8 in x 1/2 in; 22.86 cm x 8.5725 cm x 1.27 cm