# "Tenths of feet" tape measure



## strantor (Jan 2, 2019)

I have this tape measure that I inherited from my late grandfather's estate when I was a child. It has moved around from place to place in my shop for years and I've always known it was "off" so I didn't use it. I just assumed it was defective (improperly printed) or else it was meant for measuring circumference or some other oddball singular purpose but I never sat down to really figure it out until just now. The answer is quite simple; it doesn't measure inches. It measures feet, in graduations of 10. Instead of 12 inches between each foot, there are 10. Beside another tape measure the feet line up but not the inches.

I would like to know a bit more about this tape measure as I've never seen another like it. Seems it could be a lot easier to measure things like 10.55ft instead of 10ft + 6 & 35/64ths in. My grandfather was an aircraft mechanic as well as a foreman in a cement plant and the owner of a muffler shop (not all 3 at once). Is this type of tool a hallmark of any of those trades? He also did hobby carpentry.


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## Eddyde (Jan 2, 2019)

It is an Engineers scale tape measure.


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## pontiac428 (Jan 2, 2019)

Yep, engineer's scale.  Mostly used for grading and layouts from surveyed points.  Also scales neatly.  It's the closest thing Americans have to a metric distance unit!


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## benmychree (Jan 2, 2019)

Tenths of an INCH were used in aircraft work, I think the other responders are correct, tenths of a foot are used in field engineering


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## john.k (Jan 2, 2019)

I had one of them too........builders ,I would guess ,by the tape length and windup handle....................Unfortunately ,I didnt realize mine was 1/10 ft and not inches,and had a massive stuffup with a layout using it.......Consequently I gave it to the kids to play with,before it cost me any more money


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## WallyEmm (Jan 2, 2019)

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

Wally


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## moosehorn (Jan 2, 2019)

strantor said:


> I have this tape measure that I inherited from my late grandfather's estate when I was a child. It has moved around from place to place in my shop for years and I've always known it was "off" so I didn't use it. I just assumed it was defective (improperly printed) or else it was meant for measuring circumference or some other oddball singular purpose but I never sat down to really figure it out until just now. The answer is quite simple; it doesn't measure inches. It measures feet, in graduations of 10. Instead of 12 inches between each foot, there are 10. Beside another tape measure the feet line up but not the inches.
> 
> I would like to know a bit more about this tape measure as I've never seen another like it. Seems it could be a lot easier to measure things like 10.55ft instead of 10ft + 6 & 35/64ths in. My grandfather was an aircraft mechanic as well as a foreman in a cement plant and the owner of a muffler shop (not all 3 at once). Is this type of tool a hallmark of any of those trades? He also did hobby carpentry.


That's quite common on a steel rule, you gotta watch out or mistakes will happen.


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## hman (Jan 3, 2019)

I once took a surveying course "just for fun".  The "classic" example of tenths/hundredths of a foot is on the face of the iconic surveyor's rod (aka grade rod or leveling rod) for vertical measurement.  We also used steel tapes with similar divisions for horizontal distances.  Somewhere in the shop I have a  100 foot cloth tape calibrated in 1/100 foot on one side, inches and eighths on the other.
https://www.engineersupply.com/grade-rods.aspx

... and then, there's another style of "engineer's scale" - the one draftsmen used to use, a triangular foot-long ruler that divided inches into 10, 20, 30, and 50 parts.  Or similarly, a 12 foot Stanley tape measure you can still get from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002X2G...colid=23GNAONNVCPS&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it


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## jakes_66 (Jan 3, 2019)

pontiac428 said:


> Yep, engineer's scale.  Mostly used for grading and layouts from surveyed points.  Also scales neatly.  It's the closest thing Americans have to a metric distance unit!



Right on, pontiac428.  *Scaling *is very important in Surveying measurements, that's why they use 10ths of feet.  Contract documents for projects are often scaled to determine sizes and distances, even today.  Imagine trying to scale a drawing using feet and inches!  It can be tricky enough using CAD, but can't imagine doing it by hand!


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## mickri (Jan 3, 2019)

I have several of these tape measures with cloth instead of steel.  Used them in my real estate appraisal business.  Much easier to figure the square footage of a house using tenths of a foot instead of feet and inches.  I still keep one in the car.  Old habits die hard I guess.


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## epanzella (Jan 4, 2019)

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.


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## Bill Kahn (Apr 21, 2019)

strantor said:


> 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


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## mickri (Apr 21, 2019)

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.


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## Bi11Hudson (Apr 21, 2019)

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.


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## Jubil (Apr 22, 2019)

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


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## Jubil (Apr 22, 2019)

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


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## CluelessNewB (Apr 22, 2019)

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".


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## MrWhoopee (Apr 22, 2019)

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.


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## bill70j (Apr 22, 2019)

WallyEmm said:


> 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.


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## Dabbler (Apr 22, 2019)

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.


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## Ryanjax (Apr 22, 2019)

I have a tape from Chappell Timber framing that is in tenths. All the trig that is used it makes sense. 

Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk


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## MrWhoopee (Apr 23, 2019)

Jubil said:


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



No more calls please. We have a winner!


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## whitmore (Apr 24, 2019)

bill70j said:


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



Guess not.   There's only one slide rule still in production (that I know of) and it's a maker thing...
Granddad's old basic slide rule is a K&E.  I looked up the patent (5 June, 1900); one sketch is signed by Willie Keuffel.


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## Illinoyance (May 4, 2019)

I have seen steel rules in a sheet metal shop with odd markings.  One side is regular inches.  The other side has smaller graduations, 1/Pi x inches.  Measure with the small grads to get the diameter.  The same number on the inch side will be the circumference.  I have never seen a tape made that way, especially not a roll-up tape.


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## Illinoyance (May 4, 2019)

I think Jubil got it right.  The inch markings were a little different.  The foot & inch marking preceded the inch marking. 2"8" is 32".


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## FarmDad (May 7, 2019)

That scale was likely used by him during his concrete days .   I used a "tenths "  tape all the time back when I worked road construction .  Some contracts were in metric  and some were in feet and tenths .  Colorado seemingly had a real hard time deciding  just how to measure things LOL .


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