By The Metric Maven

Mini-Edition

I’ve discussed the design of rulers a few times before. I’ve always been amazed at the number of options which have been used to define their divisions, and label their values. The website BoingBoing introduced me to another option for ruler design-–stenciled holes. The Incra website has a millimeter metric-only ruler with stenciled holes that allow a person to mark distances with great precision. I could not help but purchase a 300 mm version to see how well it works. To the left is the label which boasts that this rule is a new 300 mm long metric, albeit 300 MM on the label.

The first thing one notices is that the numerical labels for the holes and slots bounce up and down. I suspect this was done with the intention that separating the numbers spatially, would make it easier to distinguish them. In my view, it tends to be a bit of a distraction, but this type of separation has been used on other rulers and seems workable. This is a minor concern as Incra offers millimeter-only rules of this type in the US, which is of great utility when other options are limited.

The rules are flexible enough to conform to many objects and allow for accurate marking.They are also essentially stencils, and without pressure, do not return to a flat planar state under their own weight when placed on a flat surface. They are not really designed for use as an everyday ruler, but are for woodworking projects and other designs which might need a conforming rule with precision measure.

Below is a close-up of the left end of the rule:

Incra has a lot of marking options on these rules. They have openings that will just accommodate a 0.5 mm Pentel mechanical pencil lead. One must extend the pencil lead far enough out to protrude through the hole or slot as the outer lead guide is too large to fit. The zero marking spot on the left hand side of the rule for both the line and single dot markings is cut in half to maintain the best accuracy possible. In the case of the dots at the center they start with half and are stepped in case you want even more accuracy and option.

A video shows how certain versions of their rulers allow you to mark dots and lines with ease, but they tout their inch-length versions and only casually mention that metric versions are available. If a person misguidedly insists they must have both a US inch and millimeter scale, the best version in my view is the 10″ decimal/mm marking ruler. The top scale is millimeters which is a clue that metric is the preferred scale for measure. Below is the inch scale which is marked in tenths of an inch with 1/20″ openings between. Recall that a millimeter is about 1/25″ and is the most precise measurement increment on the scale.

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Related essays:

The Design of Everyday Rulers

Stickin’ it to Yardsticks

The American “Metric Ruler”

America’s Fractional Mind

The Metric Maven has published a book titled The Dimensions of The Cosmos. It examines the basic quantities of the world from yocto to Yotta with a mixture of scientific anecdotes and may be purchased here.