[Fig. 1370] represents a Brown and Sharpe measuring machine for sheet metal. It consists of a stand a with a slotted upright having an adjusting screw c above, and a screw d, with a milled head and carrying a dial, passing through its lower part. One turn of the screw, whose threads are 1⁄10th inch apart, causes one rotation of the dial, the edge of which is divided into one hundred parts, enabling measurements to be made to thousandths of an inch. The sheet-metal to be gauged is inserted in the slot of the upright. The adjusting-screw is set so that when the points of the two screws meet, the zero of the dial shall be opposite an index or pointer which shows the number of divisions passed over, and is firmly secured by a set-screw.
Next in importance to line and end measurements is the accurate division of the circle, to accomplish which the following means have been taken.
What is known as “Troughton’s” method (which was invented by Edward Troughton about 1809) is as follows: A disk or circle of 4 feet radius was accurately turned, both on its face and its inner and outer edges. A roller was next provided of such diameter that it revolved sixteen times on its own axis, while rolling once round the outer edge of the circle. This roller was pivoted in a framework which could be slid freely, yet tightly, along the circle, the roller meanwhile revolving by frictional contact on the outer edge. The roller was also, after having been properly adjusted as to size, divided as accurately as possible into sixteen equal parts by lines parallel to its axis. While the frame carrying the roller was moved once round along the circle, the points of contact of the roller divisions with the circle were accurately observed by two microscopes attached to the frames, one of which commanded the ring on the circle near its edge, which was to receive the divisions, and the other viewed the roller divisions. The exact points of contact thus ascertained were marked with faint dots, and the meridian circle thereby divided into 256 very nearly equal parts.
The next part of the operation was to find out and tabulate the errors of these dots, which are called apparent errors, because the error of each dot was ascertained on the supposition that all its neighbors were correct. For this purpose two microscopes, which we shall call a and c, were taken with cross-wires and micrometer adjustments, consisting of a screw and head divided into 100 divisions, 50 of which read in the one and 50 in the opposite direction. These microscopes, a and b, were fixed so that their cross-wires respectively bisected the dots 0 and 128, which were supposed to be diametrically opposite. The circle was now turned half way round on its axis, so that dot 128 coincided with the wire of a, and should dot 0 be found to coincide with b, then the dots were sure to be 180° apart. If not, the cross-wire of b was moved till it coincided with the dot 0 and the number of divisions of micrometer head noted. Half this number gave clearly the error of dot 128 and was tabulated plus or minus according as the arcual distance between 0 and 128 was found to exceed or fall short of the removing part of the circumference. The microscope b was now shifted, a remaining opposite dot 0 as before, till its wire bisected dot 64, and by giving the circle one-quarter of a turn on its axis, the difference of the arcs between dots 0 and 64, and between 64 and 128 was obtained. The half of this distance gave the apparent error of dot 64, which was tabulated with its proper sign. With the microscope a still in the same position, the error of dot 192 was obtained, and in the same way, by shifting b to dot 32, the errors of dots 32, 96, 160 and 224 were successively ascertained. By proceeding in this way the apparent errors of all the 256 dots were tabulated.
In order to make this method fully understood, we have prepared the accompanying diagrams, which clearly show the plan pursued.
Fig. 1371.
[Fig. 1371] illustrates the plan of dividing the large circle by means of the roller b.