Stick with Numbers

[fancypants]

Thanks for the updated (& clear) photos , WoodNick !!

Although there was a great bit of info about story-sticks & such posted in your original thread , I'm jumping ship on the story-pole I.D. of your item .

I'd narrow it down to one of two things - either an engineers estimator scale (for calculating board-feet & such) , or my best guess : a patternmaker's rule .

A patternmakers rule was commonly used in foundry operations , in an earlier age , when is was 'normal' to make wooden molds for casting metals ... the rule was a means of measuring/calculating predictable (sort of , anyway) wood expansion/shrinkage , when making wooden molds .

[mart]

If it is a manufactured piece,, does it say anything other than New York ?? Label or a stamp ??  Only thing I have found so far is a typographical unit that is measured in 1/12 units !!  So,, could be something used in the printing trade !!  Where did you get this stick ??

[WoodNick]

New York is the only thing on this piece, Im thinking it is part of a set and the important name would be on the mating piece. I found it in a box in the attic that I have not been in over 30 years. My guest is that I got it in box lot at some auction. Also I have this listed on a number of other Forums, and printing is one of them, but no good replys.

[talesofthesevenseas]

By any chance is that a slide rule? Does the middle set of numbers slide on a separate panel between the upper and lower sets of numbers or is this one  solid immobile object?

Like this:

[WoodNick]

 solid immobile object

[mart]

Well I am sure curious !!  Hope someone comes up with an answer !!

[cogar]

After considerable pondering of its purpose I don’t think the scale numbers of #9 thru #20 (3 scales per side) have anything to do with “foot” fractional “inch” equivalents. Meaning, for example on the #9 scale: 2/9th of a foot, 3/9 of a foot, 4/9 of a foot, etc., to 9/9 of a foot @ the physical 12” position is not the way those #’s are intended to be read. 

In my opinion, what you have is a per say “grid layout rule(er)” for marking/calculating the position and/or number of “points” per linear foot on a drawing or piece of material.

Like iffen you wanted 14 rivet holes per linear foot you would use the #14 scale. Or iffen you wanted 20 lacing stitches per linear foot you would use the #20 scale. And that is why all the scale “lines” are in alignment with each other at the physical 12” mark.

Just my opinion though.

And ps: a bricklayer's ruler has a "special" grid layout on it also. As does a cow, beef or livestock "weight measuring tape". You don't "weigh" them, you "tape" them to determine their weight.

[fancypants]

O.K. , one last guess (for today) on this little measure ...

Perhaps was used in the ship modeling trade (many scale-sized ship models were made popular with shipping companies , shipbuilders , etc. in the New York area , during it's heyday of shipbuilding) .

I'm of the opinion that this would be an impractical tool for drafting &/or for measuring anything of a flat & horizontal surface (paper,sheet goods & so on) [since the 'scale' would be around 3/4" from the surface being measured] .... but would suffice for measuring small wooden stock , as in planks/masts/etc. for models . The brass butt-plate @ the beginning of the measure is another one of the reasons I'm thinking this way .

[talesofthesevenseas]

So much for that theory, eh?