We have already, when treating of the Fall-trap, seen how this principle is brought into operation by those who are utterly incapable of discerning the physical principle, though they can apply it materially with wonderful effect.
It is, perhaps, needless to mention the value of the Measure to any handicraftsman.
I well remember that when, some twenty-four years ago, I was taking lessons from a carpenter in the art of making ladders, gates, fences, hurdles, and other rough-and-ready work, my quaint old tutor related an anecdote of and against himself. He very ingeniously set me to work at boring the auger-holes in the gate-posts which were to be united by the mortise chisel and mallet, and to sweeten the rather severe, because unaccustomed, labour, told me that, when he was a boy, he was doing just the same thing.
Being rather tired of twisting the auger handle (and no wonder either), he withdrew the instrument, and put his finger into the hole by way of ascertaining its depth. Immediately he found himself on his back, having received a tremendous box on the ear from his father, whose parental wrath was excited by the idea of his son condescending to use his finger by way of measure, when he had a two-foot rule in its own special pocket.
There are, however, many cases where even a two-foot rule would be insufficient for the work, and where a measure of thirty or forty feet is needed.
Now, there is no doubt that by means of a two-foot, or even a six-inch, rule any number of feet might be measured accurately; but, considering the number of junctions that have to be made, it is not likely that any pretence to accuracy could be insured.
Then, a rod of forty, or even of twenty, feet in length would be awkward and unmanageable, and the only plan left is to take a string or cord of the requisite length.
Even here, however, is a difficulty. The string would not allow of short measurements, such as inches, being written upon it. Let, however, a broad tape of inelastic material be substituted for the string, and all is easy enough.
The next plan is to provide for the portability of the tape in question, to insure its reduction into the smallest possible compass, and to be sure that it is not twisted so as to damage its accuracy. These objects are all attained by the ordinary Tape Measure of the present day, which, whether it be a yard measure in a lady’s workbox, or a surveyor’s measuring tape, is a ribbon of comparatively inelastic material, coiled up when not wanted, and capable of being drawn out to its fullest extreme when needed.
Putting aside the breadth of the line, and consequently disregarding the liability to twist, we have in the Fishing-reel of the modern angler an exact case in point. So we have in the lady’s yard measure, and in the gardener’s or builder’s tape, all these being modifications of the same idea.