Geometrical instruments – Straight-line light ray type – Rod or target
Patent
1988-07-12
1990-02-13
Haroian, Harry N.
Geometrical instruments
Straight-line light ray type
Rod or target
33809, G01C 1500
Patent
active
048994529
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a stepping staff and in particular to a brick stepping course rod to enable height references for brick work to be made and to a surveying staff to enabling measurements to be taken in building work.
Conventional surveying staffs commonly used to enable height reference to be taken during the formation of brick work or in other building work require a surveyor or other trained person to make an initial reading using an optical level and thereafter workmen are required to take measurements from the staff by inspecting gradations formed on the staff. Conventional surveying staffs therefore suffer from the problem that it is often necessary for untrained people to read a staff which can result in errors in measurements being made.
The object of this invention is to provide a stepping staff which can easily be used by untrained personnel and therefore result in a lower likelihood of errors being made whilst taking measurements.
The invention may be said to reside in a stepping staff, said stepping staff having a plurality of sections coupled together for movement relative to one another, one of said sections having a sighting target, at least one of said plurality of said sections having a set of coupling means, and an adjacent one of the sections having engaging means for engaging with one of the coupling means in the set, each coupling means in the set of coupling means being spaced apart by a prescribed distance such that upon relative movement of the at least one section and adjacent section one coupling means on the at least one section can be coupled with the engaging means on the adjacent section.
The invention also provides a stepping staff having a plurality of sections coupled together for telescopic movement relative to each other, a first section of said plurality of sections having a first collar mounted thereon, a second section of said plurality of sections having a plurality of sets of substantially vertically aligned engaging members spaced about said second section, said first collar supporting a coupling member which is engagable with an engaging member in anyone of said sets of engaging members, said second section being rotatable about its longitudinal axis relative to said first collar so that any one of the engaging members can be brought into engagement with said engaging member in one of the sets of engaging members, and said first and second sections can be telescopically moved relative to one another to locate the first coupling member in another of the engaging members in said one of said sets to adjust the height of the stepping staff by an incremental distance.
Accordingly, relative measurements can be made with the stepping staff of this invention by simply moving one of the sections relative to the other of the sections so that a coupling means on one of the sections is coupled with an engaging means on the other of the sections. Since the coupling means are spaced by a predetermined distance the coupling of one of the coupling means with the engaging means upon relative movement of the staff means that the height of the staff has been altered by the spacing between the coupling means or by a number of times that distance if the sections are moved relative to the other such that the engaging means on one of the sections moves over a number of the coupling means on the other of the sections. Thus, measurements can be made by simply moving the sections relative to one another without the need to read graduations on the staff.
Preferably, the coupling means comprises a plurality of detents formed in each section which may comprise holes drilled in the sections and the engaging means is a collar which supports a loaded ball which engages with the detents on the sections to couple the sections together.
Each section may include a plurality of sets of detents spaced apart by different prescribed distances corresponding to course heights in various type of brick work.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the
REFERENCES:
patent: 2685353 (1954-08-01), Caskie
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