Lesson 2

Linear Measuring
Instruments

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Vernier Instruments

➢ The principle of Vernier is that when two scales or divisions slightly

different in size are used, the difference between them can be utilized to
enhance the accuracy of measurement.
➢ The Vernier caliper essentially consists of two steel rules and these can
slide along each other. One of the scales, i.e., main scale is engraved on
a solid L-shaped frame. On this scale cm graduations are divided into 20
parts so that one small division equals 0.05 cm. One end of the frame
contains a fixed jaw which is shaped into a contact tip at its extremity.

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Vernier height gauge (construction) …
➢ Vernier height gauge is similar to Vernier caliper but
in this instrument the graduated bar is held in a
vertical position and it is used in conjunction with a
surface plate.
Construction: A vernier height gauge consists of:
▪ A finely ground and lapped base. The base is massive and
robust in construction to ensure rigidity and stability.
▪ A vertical graduated beam or column supported on a
massive base.
▪ Attached to the beam is a sliding vernier head carrying the
vernier scale and a clamping screw.
▪ An auxiliary head which is also attached to the beam above
the sliding vernier head. It has fine adjusting and clamping
screw.
▪ A measuring jaw or a scriber attached to the front of the
sliding vernier

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Vernier height gauge (use)
➢ The Vernier height gauge is designed for accurate measurements
and marking of vertical heights above a surface plate datum.
➢ It can also be used to measure differences in heights by taking the
Vernier scale readings at each height and determining the
difference by subtraction.
➢ It can be used for a number of applications in the tool room and
inspection departments. The important features of Vernier height
gauge are:
▪ All the parts are made of good quality steel or stainless steel.
▪ The beam should be sufficiently rigid square with the base.
▪ Measuring jaw should have clear projection from the edge of the
beam at least equal to the projection of the base from the beam.
▪ The upper and lower gauging surfaces of the measuring jaw shall
be flat and parallel to the base.
▪ The scriber should also be of the same nominal depth as the
measuring jaw so that it may be reversed.
▪ The projection of the jaw should be at least 25 mm.
▪ The slider should have a good sliding fit for all along the full
working length of the beam.
▪ Height gauges can be provided with dial gauges instead of vernier.

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Vernier Depth Gauge
Vernier depth gauge is used to measure the depths of holes,
slots and recesses, to locate center distances etc. It consists of
▪ A sliding head having flat and true base free from curves and
waviness.
▪ A graduated beam known as main scale. The sliding head
slides over the graduated beam.
▪ An auxiliary head with a fine adjustment and a clamping
screw.
✓ The beam is perpendicular to the base in both directions and its ends
square and flat.
✓ The end of the sliding head can be set at any point with fine
adjustment mechanism locked and read from the Vernier provided on
it .. the beam is lowered into the hole until it contacts the bottom
surface of the hole.
✓ The final adjustment depending upon the sense of correct feel is
made by the fine adjustment screw. The clamping screw is then
tightened and the instrument is removed from the hole and reading
taken in the same way as the Vernier caliper. The reference surface
should be satisfactorily true, flat arid square.

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Micrometers
➢ Micrometer calipers. Engineers frequently
rely on the micrometer caliper to obtain
accurate measurements to 1/1000 of an
inch or centimeter.
➢ Useful particularly for measuring relatively
short lengths and the diameter of journals
or cylinders.
➢ The common commercial micrometer
consists of a frame; an anvil, or fixed
measuring point; a spindle; a sleeve, or
barrel; and a thimble. The spindle has
threads cut on the portion that fits inside
the sleeve.
➢ The thimble fits over the end of the sleeve,
and rotating the thimble turns the spindle.

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Micrometers
➢ The micrometer screw gauge consists of an
accurate screw having about 10 or 20 threads
per cm and revolves in a fixed nut.
➢ The end of the screw forms one measuring tip
and the other measuring tip is constituted by a
stationary anvil in the base of the frame. The
screw is threaded for certain length and is plain
afterwards. The plain portion is called sleeve
and its end is the measuring surface.
➢ The spindle is advanced or retracted by turning
a thimble connected to the spindle. The spindle
is a slide fit over the barrel and barrel is the
fixed part attached with the frame.
➢ The barrel is graduated in unit of e.g., 0.05 cm.
i.e. 20 divisions per cm, which is the lead of the
screw for one complete revolution.

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Micrometers
➢ The thimble has got several, e.g., 25 divisions
around its periphery on circular portion. Thus it
subdivides each revolution of the screw in 25
equal parts, i.e. each division corresponds to
0.002 cm. A lock nut is provided for locking a
dimension by preventing motion of the spindle.
➢ Ratchet stop is provided at the end of the
thimble cap to maintain sufficient and uniform
measuring pressure so that standard conditions
of measurement are attained.
➢ Ratchet stop consists of an overriding clutch
held by a weak spring.
➢ When the spindle is brought into contact with
the work, the clutch starts slipping and no
further movement of the spindle takes place by
the rotation of ratchet. In the backward
movement it is positive due to shape of ratchet.
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Micrometers Reading
➢ The Sleeve does not move. It looks like a
ruler with ten numbers. The space between
each number is divided into quarters. As the
Thimble rotates around this Sleeve it covers
up, or reveals the numbers marked on the
Sleeve.
➢ Sleeve: In this case, the micrometer sleeve
is divided into 10 equal parts, each of these
parts is equal to .100" (1 tenth of an inch).
Each of these 10 parts is divided into 4 equal
parts. Each of these 4 subdivisions is equal to
.025" or one 40th of an inch. More simply,
the line on the sleeve marked "1" represents
.100", the line marked "2" represents .200"
and so forth.
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Precautions in Using Micrometers
➢ Micrometer should be cleaned of any dust and spindle
should move freely.
➢ The part must be held in left hand and the micrometer
in right hand.
➢ Forefinger and thumb are placed near the thimble to
rotate it and the middle finger supports the micrometer.
➢ The micrometer dimension is set slightly larger than the
size of the part and part is slid over the contact surfaces
of micrometer gently. The thimble is then turned till the
measuring pressure is applied.
➢ For circular parts, the micrometer must be moved over
representative arc so as to note max. dimension only.
➢ Micrometers are available in various sizes and ranges,
and corresponding micrometer should be chosen
depending upon the dimension.
➢ Errors in reading may occur due to lack of flatness of
anvil, lack of parallelism of the anvils at part of scale or
throughout, inaccurate setting of zero reading, etc.
various tests to ensure these conditions should be
carried out from time to time.
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➢ The part must be held in left hand and the micrometer in right hand.

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Rulers and Tapes
➢ The most common method of
obtaining straight-line distances when
tolerances are not a major factor.
➢ A ruler may be graduated into USC
(i.e. feet, inches) or metric (meters,
centimeters), or fractions thereof (…
fractions may be graduated to
subdivisions as small as 1/10 or
1/100 of an inch or cm.
➢ Rulers and tapes used in engineering
works are most frequently made of
metal, plastic or wood.
➢ Care should be exercised in using
metal rulers and tapes, especially if
extreme accuracy is required. The
margin of error due to expansion or
contraction of the instrument from
changes in temperature can be
considerable.
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Calipers
➢ A caliper is a device used
to measure distance
between opposite sides
of an object (… can be as
simple as a compass with
inward or outward-facing
points)
➢ Engineers and machinists
frequently use calipers
together with rulers or
tapes to secure accurate
measurements of inside
and outside diameters.

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Feeler Gauges
➢ Precision-machined piece of metal
that is flat or round
➢ May be USC or metric
➢ Used for measuring “gaps” or the
space between two objects
➢ Proper usage requires practice
➢ Consists of thin blades of metal of
various thicknesses (etched on the
blade). There is generally a blade
or strip for each of the most
commonly used thicknesses (e.g.,
for USC units 0.002 inch, 0.010
inch, and .015 inch).

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Feeler Gauges used for

➢ Valve lash
➢ Measure spark plug
gap
➢ Head flatness
➢ Thrust distance in
Crankshaft
➢ Ignition point gap
(Old Vehicles)

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➢ Feeler gauges are principally used
in determining clearances between
various parts of machinery.
➢ Probably the most common use is
determining valve clearance. Various
blades are inserted between the
tappet and the push rod until a
blade of the feeler gage is found
that will just slide between the two
surfaces without too much friction
or sticking. The thickness of the
blade then determines the
clearance.
➢ Or, a particular feeler of proper
thickness may be selected and the
tappet adjusted until the feeler will
just slide between the tappet and
push rod with out catching.

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Telescopic Gauges
➢ The telescopic gauge is used for
measuring internal diameter of holes,
slots and grooves etc. It consists of a
handle with two rods in a tube at one end
and a working screw at the other end.
The rods having spherical contacts can
slide within a tube and are forced apart
by an internal spring.
➢ Used with outside micrometers to
measure inside diameters
➢ Various lengths and T-shaped
➢ Extensions are spring-loaded
➢ Leg has a rotatable handle to lock
extensions in place
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Telescopic Gauges
➢ The locking screw can lock the
rods at any desired position
through a spring. While taking
measurements, the rods are
pressed closer and inserted into
the hole to be measured. The
rods then open out to touch the
metal surface, of the hole on
both sides. They are then locked
in position by means of a locking
screw.
➢ Once gauge is removed,
measure the dimension across
the tip with outside micrometer…

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Bore Gauges

➢ The dial bore gauges shown in

fig. are for miniature hole
measurements.
➢ The gauge is supplied with a set
of split ball measuring contact
points which are hard chrome-
plated to retain original spheres.
➢ Along with the measuring probes,
setting rings are also provided to
zero set the indicator whenever
the probes are interchanged.

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Dial indicators

➢ Dial indicators are small indicating

devices using mechanical means
such as gears and pinions or levers
for magnification system. They are
basically used for making and
checking linear measurements.
➢ Many a times they are also used as
comparators. Dial indicator, in fact is
a simple type of mechanical
comparator.
➢ When a dial indicator is used as an
essential part in the mechanism, any
set up for comparison measurement
purposes is called as a gauge.

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Dial indicators

➢ The dial indicator measures the

displacement of its plunger or a stylus
on a circular dial by means of a
rotating pointer.
➢ Dial indicators are very sensitive and
versatile instruments.
➢ Dial indicators require little skill in
their use than other precision
instruments, such as micrometer
Vernier calipers, gauges etc.
➢ However, a dial indicator by itself is
not of much unless it is properly
mounted and set before using for
inspection purposes.

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Dial indicators Uses

By mounting a dial indicator on any

suitable base and with various
attachments, it can be used for variety of
purposes as follows.
• Determining errors in geometrical forms,
e.g., ovality out-of-roundness, taper etc.
• Determining positional errors of
surfaces, e.g., in squareness, parallelism,
alignment etc.
• Taking accurate measurements of
deformation (extension compression) in
tension and compression testing of
material.
• Comparing two heights or distances
between narrow limits (comparator).
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Dial indicators Uses

The practical applications of the

use of dial indicator are:
▪ To check alignment e.g., of
lathe centers by using a
suitable accurate bar between
centers.
▪ To check trueness e.g., of
milling machine arbors.
▪ To check parallelism e.g., of
the shaper ram with table
surface or like.

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Slip Gauges
➢ Slip gauges or gauge blocks (a.k.a Johanson
Gauges) are universally accepted standard of length
➢ Are rectangular, of high grade steel with
exceptionally close tolerances. Are suitably hardened
through out to ensure maximum resistance to wear.
➢ Are stabilized by heating and cooling successively in
stages to remove hardening stresses. Are carefully
finished by high grade lapping to a high degree of
finish, flatness and accuracy.
➢ Their working faces are made truly flat and parallel.
Slip gauges are also made from tungsten carbide
which is extremely hard and wear resistance.
➢ The cross-sections are 9 mm x 30 mm for sizes up to
10 mm and 9 mm x 35 mm for larger sizes. Any two
slips when perfectly clean may be wrung together.
The dimensions are permanently marked on one of
the measuring faces of gauge blocks
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Slip Gauge blocks are used for:
➢ Direct precise measurement, where the
accuracy of the work piece demands it.
➢ For checking accuracy of Vernier calipers,
micrometers, and such other measuring
instruments.
➢ Setting up a comparator to a specific
dimension.
➢ For measuring angle of work piece and also
for angular setting in conjunction with a
sine bar.
➢ The distances of plugs, spigots, etc. on
fixture are often best measured with the slip
gauges or end bars for large dimensions.
➢ To check gap between parallel locations
such as in gap gauges or between two
mating parts.

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Slip Gauge blocks

➢ The requirements of gauge blocks

are,
▪ The actual size must be known
▪ The faces must be parallel
▪ The surface must have a smooth
finish
▪ The surfaces must be flat

➢ The materials gauge blocks are

made from are selected for,
hardness, temperature stability,
corrosion resistance, and high quality
finish.

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 End…

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