The Clip-Measure Glove Stretcher: A Rigid Width Scale on the Lever

"The usual glove-measures have been made of flexible material only, and were adapted to be passed around the hand at the knuckles". "My improved measure is formed on a rigid object." "A spring-strip, E, is secured to the under side of the clip D, to hold it in any desired position on the lever A. The scale or measure B, secured on the outer surface of the lever A, is subdivided, so that it shows the various numbers of gloves for corresponding widths of hands."

**Levers.** Saw two levers 25 × 2.5 cm from hardwood board and pivot them together near one end with a bolt, washer and nut, like the two arms of a glove stretcher. **Fixed clip.** Cut a strip of aluminium sheet 5 × 2 cm, bend 1 cm up square, and screw it near the lever's pivot end so the bent lip stands up. **Sliding clip.** Cut a strip 8 × 2 cm, bend its long edges down round the lever so it slides along it, and bend 1 cm up square as its lip. Glue a strip of spring steel under it so it grips the lever where it is set. **Scale.** Glue a ruler along the lever's face with its zero at the fixed clip's lip. **Test.** For five people, close the clips on the hand across the knuckles and read the width; then wrap the tape measure round the knuckles and read the loop. Measure each hand's thickness with the caliper. Plot loop against width and compare the spread with the notebook.

**Augustus Traver** of New York filed US 309,666 on 7 January 1884; it is dated 23 December 1884. His sliding clip ran in grooves in the lever's sides, and he disclaimed both the loop-measure stretcher and a shoemaker's measure with a stationary and a sliding block on a graduated bar. **Honest limits.** Hardwood levers, bent aluminium clips and a steel ruler stand in for his parts, and no historical glove-number scale is given: widths are read in millimetres. The notebook treats the hand as an ellipse; its sizes are examples. Your readings are the result.