#tape measure

[feloire]

[cheesyfan]

c2bc doodles

FIREBALL AND POUND ARE HAPPY AND DATING!!!! I scream as I'm dragged to a white room

[berrifunny]

more glitchtape

[artemispt]

Yeah…

[brifdi-daily]

day 166: tape measure !

hope her day got better

[gummi-stims]

🧰🔨🔧🔩Toolbox clay cracking from 3ye.12 on tiktok (video credit to SlimeBox on youtube)🪚🪛🗜️🧰

[littlethingsmart]

(source)

[yesterdays-xkcd]

This sequence was later reproduced in the International Tape-Extending Federation archives, retitled 'The Founding of the Sport'.

Tape Measure [Explained]

Transcript

[Cueball finds a tape measure.] Cueball: Hey, a tape measure.

[Cueball extends the tape measure.] extend extend

[The tape measure falls.] clatter

[Cueball tries again.] click schwoop

extend extend

extend

Cueball (thinking): Ooh, eight feet. I wonder if that's a record.

[Beat.]

[Cueball imagines an olympic stadium, with three people extending tape measures] Audience: Gooo! Goooo! Gooooooo!

[oldphemera]

Is this really ephemera? Nah. Is it old as fuck? SURE IS! And such a lovely found object it is, too. Look at that the Lufkin Rule Co. fond. It doesn't rewind itself, either - that little flappy bit in the middle flips over and becomes a crank so you can wind it back in yourself. It won't break because really, it can't.

These are all over the place on eBay, in various lengths. This one's old - they started making steel rules like this in 1890, by which time they were already in Saginaw, Michigan, and not Cleveland, Ohio, where the company was founded.

This particular tape is in the 1963 catalogue, but is not new at that point - it's an established product. But it's not in the 1947, even though the closely-related (and similarly decorated) Chrome-Clad tape is. If I had to guess, and I do have to guess, I'd guess it was released in the early 1950s to try to catch some of that decade's substantial DIY market - a lot of homes were sold with unfinished second storeys or basements, with the idea that you'd finish them out yourselves as your family grew, while already having a place to live.

Bought out by Cooper in 1967, Lufkin are now owned by Apex, and everything's branded Crescent.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

What is this? A normal tape measure?

No, a friend! His name is Stanley

*blep*

99 cents for a pack of glow-in-the-dark googly eyes is money well spent.

He is my watchful guardian. I love him.

[doingitfortheexposure]

***WARNING: Photo of dead insect. (last photo in post)***

Another set of miscellaneous photos that have been sitting around in my files for a while. Two versions of a tape measure (color and b/w). A miniature pecan pie (store-bought). The entry mat at car-related business. A somewhat blurry picture of the moon that looks great when scaled down. And the bleached exoskeleton of a pillbug.

Photos by Xer S. Rowan, Creative Commons Attribution license

These photos are free to use, for personal and commercial purposes, as long as I am properly credited according to the terms of the license. For more information about me, my free photo project, and the copyleft licensing I use, visit linktr.ee/DoingItForTheExposure.

[aneverydaything]

Day 2405, 22 January 2025

A measured approach

[eugenesisland]

1960's Zippo tape measure.

International Harvester Bulldozer.

Rish Equipment Company.

[bundys-boys]

[roskapanda]

Hey, if you've even wondered why the end of a metallic builders measuring tape is loose and jiggly, it's because measurements from outside and inside are different. And the bent end of the tape IS supposed to move some millimeters, or actually the exact thickness of the actual end to make up for that.

I never thought to think about that, but I encountered someone who did and they ruined their tape measure to stop the jiggling. Like, they just hammered the end until it stopped moving to make it more accurate. And I really could not have said if that was a good or a bad idea bc the thought had literally never occurred to me so I had no idea. The ends of tape measures just jiggle!

The wood workshop teacher came in and explained it all to us, that it's supposed to move, to compensate for being either on the outside or inside of what you're measuring. So no one else ended up ruining their tape measures.

But I still think about it. Like, I had never even thought about. Why does the end of it jiggle??

And now I know!

[peterfields]