Profile Gauge: Sliding Pins Held by Cloth-Wrapped Rubber Tubes (Reinhardt, 1918)

"The rods or pins 3 of the respective gages may be pushed against the surface of the object, as required, to obtain its outline along the ends of the rods or pins, whereby a pencil may be drawn along the ends of the pins to trace such outline or contour of the object. From such outlines objects corresponding to the master object may be reproduced either in relief or concave according to which way the outline drawn from the ends of the rods is used."

Cut two strips of 0.8 mm brass sheet 200 x 32 mm (ours) with tin snips and file the edges. Bend 4 mm down along each long side in the vice, so each strip becomes a shallow channel 24 mm wide: his "gutter-like form". Clamp them together, open sides facing, and drill a 3.5 mm hole through both, 50 mm from each end, on the middle line.

Cut two strips of the same brass 180 x 14 mm and bend each round a 6 mm rod into a U that will hold the rubber tube, his gutters 10. Rivet them inside one member, one near each long side, with copper rivets, keeping clear of the screw holes.

Cut two pieces of 6 mm rubber tubing 170 mm long and push a 2 mm wire through each, his cores 9, "to somewhat stiffen them". Wrap each in a strip of cotton cloth, lap its edges and glue them with contact cement, his protecting cloth 12, so the rubber does not touch the metal. Lay one in each gutter.

Cut 1 mm steel wire into pins 120 mm long, as many as the notebook gives. Straighten any that are bent and file both ends flat and smooth, so they slide easily and do not mark the work.

Lay the member with the retainers open side up. Lay the pins across it side by side, touching, centred so equal lengths stick out on both sides; leave a gap at each screw hole (ours). Put the other member on top and pass a machine screw through each hole with a nut. Tighten them evenly until each pin slides when pushed but does not fall.

Push all the pins level with a flat board. Press the gauge square against the object until the pins have taken its shape. Lift it off, lay it on paper or on the stock to be cut, and draw a pencil along the pin ends.

**James H. Reinhardt** of East Orange, New Jersey, US 1,261,438, dated 2 April 1918, filed 20 June 1914. He claimed "a profile gage comprising a pair of opposed members, rods or pins located between and transversely with respect to said members, means for clamping said members together" and "a resilient retainer comprising spaced rubber tubes". His members can have teeth along their edges, and his patent also covers end castings that join several gauges in a line or at an angle, a smaller gauge clamped between them, a toothed spacer strip and a rubber-mat retainer: none of those are built here. He gives no sizes: the brass, the 200 mm length, the 1 mm pins, the tube and core sizes, the cement, the rivets and the screws are ours.