Attention Brains trust. Perplexing problem - input from others needed.

Gday All.
I've been slowly going through my shed and culling a lot of stuff that I don't think I'll ever use.
So today I re-found an old brass scale that I had forgotten I had. No idea what it's off and can't remember where or when I got it.
Its been made to be attached to something vertically. Marked in what, at first glance, looks like Inches and 10ths of inches.
However its not inches. Five of the main "calibrations" is pretty close to six inches.
Not metric either as each main "calibration" is slightly longer than 30mm.
My lovely wife suggested that maybe its for measuring the depth of a fluid in Fluid Ounce's or some other archaic unit of measurement.
So Brains Trust - What is it? (this is not a quiz as I have no idea. lol)

Regards
Peter

My first guess was some unusual "pressure" unit but can't find one off the top of my head that fits.

Something else to consider is that some length scales were used on an angle to the movement of a carriage etc to gain a bit more resolution but if its inches, then going from 1 to 1.25in doesn't seem like its worth the effort.

Hi Peter, Bob, Guys,

Could it be a "Pattern" makers expansion scale for cast Iron ?

Being made from brass it is likely very old and not have any makers marks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BaronJ

Hi Peter, Bob, Guys,

Could it be a "Pattern" makers expansion scale for cast Iron ?

Being made from brass it is likely very old and not have any makers marks.

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Sounds ok to me. I hadn't thought about that. It would mean making patterns would be a lot easier.
The screw holes make me think its been attached to something though.
A friend of mine reckons this

"It is a scale rule displaying feet at a scale of 1:10. So, when it displays 4 feet, that means a part on a 1:10 drawing will be drawn 0.4 feet or 0.4 x 305mm = 122mm long"

peter

That does seem to fit but i would have thought 12ths for the minor units would be more useful (ie feet and inches) rather than 10ths of a foot.

A quick check suggests shrinkage allowances are <2% so that doesn't seem likely.

I have been caught by 'circumference' reading on an imperial rule which I saw as cm.

Definitely not a patternfakirs contraction or as the yanks say shrinkage rule.
I have a few of those, even double contraction for making metal patterns it’s way too large a percentage.
I have a printers saw in the ‘shop with the original rule on it, I’ll have a look tomorrow but I’m sure it’s not pica.
H.

I originally thought pattern maker's scale too, but as several have pointed out, the difference in graduations make that impractical. The vertical mounting makes me think a scale on the side of a hopper or tank. The graduations are good enough for scaled feet, but it could be anything - in a tank for example it could represent hundreds of gallons. Positioned next to a sight glass it would enable to viewer to control ins and outs...

Michael

The clue is in the rule note measurement goes below 0!

It is possibly a tailors or dress makers rule, would have been mounted on a bit of wood with an inverted T base possibly.

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