In Fig. 1484 is shown the form of surface plate designed by Sir Joseph Whitworth for plates to be rested upon their feet. The resting points of the plate are small projections shown at a, b, and c. The object of this arrangement of feet is to enable the plate to rest with as nearly as possible an equal degree of weight upon each foot, the three feet accommodating themselves to an uneven surface. It is obvious, however, that more of the weight will fall upon c than upon a or b, because c supports the whole weight at one end, while at the other end a and b divide the weight.

Fig. 1485 shows the form of plate designed by Professor Sweet.

In Fig. 1486 is shown a pair of angle surface plates resting upon a flat one. The angle plates may be used for a variety of purposes where it is necessary to true a surface standing at a true right angle to another.

The best methods of making surface plates are as follows:—

The edges of the plates should be planed first, care being taken to make them square and flat. The surfaces should then be planed, the plates being secured to the planer by the edges, which will prevent as far as possible the pressure necessary to hold them against the planing tool cut from springing, warping, or bending the plates. Before the finishing cut is taken, the plates or screws holding the surface plate should be slackened back a little so as to hold them as lightly as may be, the finishing cut being a very light one, and under these circumstances the plates may be planed sufficiently true that one will lift the other from the partial vacuum between them.

After the plates are planed, and before any hand work is done on them, they should be heated to a temperature of at least 200° Fahr., so that any local tension in the casting may be as far as possible removed.

Surface plates for long and narrow surfaces are themselves formed long and narrow, as shown in Fig. 1487, which represents the straight-edge surface plate made at Cornell University.

The Whitworth surfacing straight-edge, or long narrow surface plate, is ribbed as in Fig. 1488, so as to give it increased strength in proportion to its weight, and diminish its deflection from its own weight. The lugs d are simply feet to rest it on.

Straight-edges are sometimes made of cast steel and trued on both edges. These will answer well enough for small work, but if made of a length to exceed about four feet their deflection from their own weight seriously affects their reliability. The author made an experiment upon this point with a very rigid surface plate six feet long, and three cast steel straight-edges 6 feet long, 4¹⁄₂ inches wide, and ¹⁄₂ inch thick. Both edges of the straight-edges were trued to the surface plate until the light was excluded from between them, while the bearing surface appeared perfect; thin tissue paper was placed between the straight-edges and the plate, and on being pulled showed an equal degree of tension. The straight-edges were tried one with the other in the same way and interchanged without any apparent error, but on measuring them it was found that each was about ¹⁄₅₀ inch wider in the middle of its length than at the ends, the cause being the deflection. They were finished by filing them parallel to calipers, using the bearing marks produced by rubbing them together and also upon the plate; but, save by the caliper test, the improvement was not discernible.

In rubbing them together no pressure was used, but they were caused to slide under their own weight only.

A separate and distinct class of gauge is used in practice to copy the form of one piece and transfer it to another, so that the one may conform to or fit the other. To accomplish this end, what are termed male and female templates or gauges are employed. These are usually termed templates, but their application to the work is termed gauging it.

Suppose, for example, that a piece is to be fitted to the rounded corner of a piece f, Fig. 1489, and the maker takes a piece of sheet metal a, and cuts it out to the line b c d, leaving a female gauge e, which will fit to the work f. We then make a male gauge g, and apply this to the work, thus gauging the round corner.

Fig. 1490 represents small templates applied to a journal bearing, and it is seen that we may make the template as at t, gauging one corner only, or we may make it as at t′, thus gauging the length of the journal as well as the corners.

Fig. 1491 represents a female gauge applied to the corner of a bearing or brass for the above journal, it being obvious that the male and female templates when put together will fit as in Fig. 1492.

In Fig. 1493 is shown one of Brown and Sharpe’s notch wire-gauges, the notches being arranged round the edge as shown:

The thickness of a given number of wire-gauge varies according to the system governing the numbering of the gauge, which also varies with the class of metal or wire for which the gauge has been adopted by manufacturers. Thus, in the following table are given the gauge-numbers and their respective sizes in decimal parts of an inch, as determined by Holtzapffel in 1843, and to which sizes the Birmingham wire-gauge is made. The following table gives the numbers and sizes of the Birmingham wire-gauge.

BIRMINGHAM WIRE GAUGE.

In this gauge it will be observed that the progressive wire gauge numbers do not progress by a regular increment.

This gauge is sometimes termed the Stubs wire-gauge, Mr. Stubs being a manufacturer of instruments whose notches are spaced according to the Birmingham wire-gauge. Since, however, Mr. Stubs has also a wire-gauge of his own, whose numbers and gauge-sizes do not correspond to those of the Birmingham gauge, the two Stubs gauges are sometimes confounded. The second Stubs gauge is employed for a special drawn steel wire, made by that gentleman to very accurate gauge measurement for purposes in which accuracy is of primary importance.

From the wear of the drawing dies in which wire is drawn, it is impracticable, however, to attain absolute correctness of gauge measurement. The dies are made to correct gauge when new, and when they have become worn larger, to a certain extent, they are renewed. As a result the average wire is slightly larger than the designated gauge-number. To determine the amount of this error the Morse Twist-Drill and Machine Company measured the wire used by them during an extended period of time, the result being given in table No. 2, in which the first column gives the gauge-number, the second column gives the thickness of the gauge-number in decimal parts of an inch, and the third column the actual size of the wire in decimal parts of an inch as measured by the above Company.

DIAMETER OF STUBS’S DRAWN STEEL WIRE IN FRACTIONAL PARTS OF AN INCH.

The following table represents the letter sizes of the same wire:—

LETTER SIZES OF WIRE.

By an Order in Council dated August 23rd, 1883, and which took effect on March 1st, 1884, the standard department of the British Board of Trade substituted for the old Birmingham wire-gauge the following:—

The gauge known as the American Standard Wire-Gauge was designed by Messrs. Brown and Sharpe to correct the discrepancies of the old Birmingham wire-gauge by establishing a regular proportion of the thirty-nine successive steps between the 0000 and 36 gauge-number of that gauge. In the American Standard (which is also called the Brown and Sharpe gauge) the value of 0.46 or ⁴⁶⁄₁₀₀ has been taken as that for 0000 or the largest dimension of the gauge. Then by successive and uniform decrements, each number following being obtained from multiplying its predecessor by 0.890522 (which is the same thing as deducting 10.9478 per cent.), the final value for number 36 is reached at 0.005, which corresponds with number 35 of the Birmingham wire-gauge. The principle of the gauge is shown in Fig. 1495, which represents a gauge for jewelers, having an angular aperture with the gauge-numbers marked on the edge, the lines and numbers being equidistant.

Wire, to be measured by such a gauge, is simply inserted into and passed up the aperture until it meets the sides of the same, which gives the advantage that the size of the wire may be obtained, even though its diameter vary from a gauge-number. This could not be done with a gauge in which each gauge-number and size is given in a separate aperture or notch. A comparison between the Brown and Sharpe and the Birmingham wire-gauge is shown in Fig. 1494, in which a piece of wire is inserted, showing that No. 15 by the Birmingham gauge is No. 13 by the Brown and Sharpe gauge.

The gauge-numbers and sizes of the same in decimal parts of an inch, of the American standard or Brown and Sharpe gauge, are given in the table following:—

This gauge is now the standard by which rolled sheet brass and seamless brass tubing is made in the United States. It is also sometimes used as a gauge for the copper wire used for electrical purposes, being termed the American Standard; but unless the words “American Standard” are employed, the above wire is supplied by the Birmingham wire-gauge numbers. The brass wire manufacturers have not yet adopted the Brown and Sharpe gauge; hence, for brass wire the Birmingham gauge is the standard.

Gauges having simple notches are not suitable for measuring accurately the thickness of metal, because the edges of the sheets or plates frequently vary from the thickness of the body of the plate. This may occur from the wear of the rolls employed to roll out the sheet, or because the sheets have been sheared to cut them to the required width, or to remove cracks at the edges, which shearing is apt to form a burr or projection on one side of the edge, and a slight depression on the other.

Again, a gauge formed by a notch requires to slide over the metal of the plate, and friction and a wear causing an enlargement of the notch ensues, which destroys the accuracy of the gauge. To avoid this source of error the form of gauge that was shown in Fig. 1370 may be used, it having the further advantage that it will measure thicknesses intermediate between the sizes of two contiguous notches, thus measuring the actual thickness of the sheet when it is not to any accurate sheet metal gauge thickness.

It is to be observed that in the process of rolling, the sheet is reduced from a greater to a lesser thickness, hence the gauge will not pass upon the plate until the latter is reduced to its proper thickness.

In applying the gauge, therefore, there is great inducement for the workman to force the gauge on to the sheet, in order to ascertain how nearly the sheet is to the required size, and this forcing process causes rapid wear to the gauge.

It follows, therefore, that a gauge should in no case be forced on, but should be applied lightly and easily to the sheet to prevent wear. Here may be mentioned another advantage of the Brown and Sharpe gauge, in that its gauge-number measurements being uniform, it may be more readily known to what extent a given plate varies from its required gauge thickness.

Suppose, for example, a sheet requiring to be of Number 1 Birmingham gauge is above the required thickness, but will pass easily through the 0 notch of the gauge, the excessive variation of those two gauge numbers (over the variations between other consecutive numbers of the gauge) leaves a wider margin in estimating how much the thickness is excessive than would be the case in using the Brown and Sharpe gauge. Indeed, if the edge of the plate be of uniform thickness with the body of the plate, the variation from the required thickness may be readily ascertained by a Brown and Sharpe gauge, by the distance the plate will pass up the aperture beyond the line denoting the 0 gauge number, or by the distance it stands from the 1 on the gauge when passed up the aperture until it meets both sides of the same.

In addition to these standard gauges, some firms in the United States employ a standard of their own; the principal of these are given in comparison with others in the table following.

DIMENSIONS OF SIZES, IN DECIMAL PARTS OF AN INCH.

In the Whitworth wire-gauge, the mark or number on the gauge simply denotes the number of ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ths of an inch the wire is in diameter; thus Number 1 on the gauge is ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ inch, Number 2 is ²⁄₁₀₀₀ths inch in diameter, and so on.

Below is given the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company’s music wire-gauge.

SIZES OF THE NUMBERS OF STEEL MUSIC
WIRE-GAUGE.

These sizes are those used by the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company, of Worcester, Mass., manufacturers of steel music wire.

In the following table is the French Limoges wire-gauge.

The following table gives the Birmingham wire-gauge for rolled sheet silver and gold.

The following table gives the gauge thickness of Russia sheet iron,[25] the corresponding numbers by Birmingham wire gauge, and the thicknesses in decimal parts of an inch.