"Tenths of feet" tape measure

[epanzella]

Measurements on site plans are in feet and tenths of feet. The range rod that came with my transit is in tenths so I don't have to keep converting to fractions and back. Very handy.

 

[Bill Kahn]

I have this tape measure ...

I have a similar story. I stumbled on a small 6' steel retractable tape measure I kept from my mother. My best guess is she might have acquired it in 1949, but maybe she got it from somewhere else? It has decimal feet (and also inches and 1/16ths).

How might I learn about when this was made? I cannot find anything in a quick Google of either the front name "Pacific Clay" (gotta love those old phone numbers--I still remember my exchange number from the 50's) or the back name "H. K. Porter Company" about them making tape measures.

Anyone have a pointer to more about this?

-Bill

 

[mickri]

I did a search for H K Porter Company and got a bunch of hits. Narrowed the search to H K porter company tape measure and still got hits. Some are for sale on Ebay. Too many hits to try to summarize the company's history.

 

[Bi11Hudson]

I have several tape measures calibrated in feet, tenths, and hundredths. I acquired them for the alf-hassed surveying I was doing. Not real surveying, just laying out buildings on some acreage.

In the same vein, I have a couple in feet, inches, and tenths of an inch. I often pull that one out to "fun" somebody that is not too good with a tape measure. The last is almost indistinguishable from a common carpenter's rule in 1/16ths.

 

[Jubil]

We use engineers scale in oilfield work mostly measuring pipe, casing or tubing joints. Makes it a lot easier to add 400 joints of pipe 40.46' long than 400 joints at 40' 5-1/2".
Chuck

 

[Jubil]

Actually I think the pictured tape measure is inch and centimeters.
Chuck

 

[CluelessNewB]

I believe what is left of H.K. Porter has been swallowed up by the APEX Tool Group.

H.K. Porter was the same company that made Porter Locomotives and a bunch of other stuff including bolt cutters which I believe is one of the few products still marketed as "HKP".

 

[MrWhoopee]

Speaking of measuring errors, the first pocket scale I bought as an apprentice was a Starrett, metric on one side, inches on the other. I cut a bunch of material that was supposed to finish at 6 inches before I discovered that the scale was 150 mm long. After that I got a real 6 in. scale and the metric got dedicated to the drill grinding gage.

 

[bill70j]

K&E is a very high quality top brand . Land Surveying and Civil Engineering is done in decimal feet.

Wally

Ah yes, K&E. They made one of the best slide rules ever. Don't guess they make them anymore.

 

[Dabbler]

I have 4 or 5 K&E slide rules. I love them as much as my Staedtler ones.

I picked them up long after calculators were around, perhaps in the late 90s.