Profile gauge

{{short description|Tool for recording the cross-sectional shape of a surface}}

{{Infobox tool

| name = Profile gauge

| image = Contour gauge.JPG

| caption = A typical profile gauge used for surface measurement

| other_name = Contour gauge

| uses = Surface profiling, roughness measurement, contour replication

| invent-date =

| inventor =

| related = Stylus profilometer, optical profilometer, laser scanning microscope

| industry = Manufacturing, materials science, paper industry, microelectronics

}}

Image:Countour gauge w pot.JPG

A profile gauge or contour gauge is a tool for recording the cross-sectional shape of a surface. Contour gauges consist of a set of steel or plastic pins that are set tightly against one another in a frame which keeps them in the same plane and parallel while allowing them to move independently, perpendicularly to the frame. When pressed against an object, the pins conform to the object. The gauge can then be used to draw the profile or to copy it on to another surface.

Applications

Profile gauges are used widely in metalworking and woodworking. In architectural conservation, they are used to document the profiles of decorative moldings.Neal Vogel, Christopher Jenks, "Documentation Projects, Part 2: Measured Drawings", Common Bond (New York Landmarks Conservancy) Winter, 1991 [http://www.sacredplaces.org/PSP-InfoClearingHouse/articles/Documentation%20ProjectsMeasured%20Drawings.htm full text] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113080841/http://www.sacredplaces.org/PSP-InfoClearingHouse/articles/Documentation%20ProjectsMeasured%20Drawings.htm |date=2011-01-13 }} In archaeological illustration, they are typically used to record the profile of pots, and are thus named pottery gauges; but in ceramics, a pottery gauge is a template used in making pots.

References

Category:Metalworking hand tools

Category:Woodworking hand tools

Category:Methods in archaeology