Calipers, Timber

Object Name:

Calipers, Timber

Creator:

Haselton, Hermon
Haselton, Hermon

Date:

1880-1939

Material:

Wood
Metal

Dimensions:

H-1.3 W-4.75 D-0.25 inches

Description:

Two part timber caliper, used to measure trees. The slide was used to estimate the amount of lumber in a tree; the wheel was used to go around the tree to measure the circumference.
One end has a wheel with 10 spokes, each is metal tipped and 9" long. Other end has metal sliding caliper. Wooden connection piece is incremented.

Provenance:

Made by the Haselton Rules Co. Contoocook N.H.
Rufus Haselton (1828-1879) and son Hermon (1856-1939) were New Hampshire's most prolific makers of rulers and gauges in the late 1800s. Rufus started making maple yard sticks, gauges, calipers, and framing squares in Groton, NH. Later he made board rules and log calipers. These dies were later used by Hermon, who began to manufacture rules and gauges in Contoocook about 1880. All Haselton rules were "warranted correct." Many are finished in an attractive orange color which is said to have been attained by a secret formula that was lost forever at the death of Hermon in 1939. The Haselton Rules business operated in a building on Spring Street in Contoocook.
This caliper was purchased in 1997 by the NH Antiquarian Society from the collection of the late Fred W. Courser of Warner, NH, through the generosity of Barbara Brown, Charles Kathleen Crathern, Shirley Bob French, Gene Anne Slusser.

Subjects:

Measuring, Loggers, Woodcutting, Lumber, Lumber industry, Collectors

People:

Haselton, Hermon, Haselton, Rufus, Courser, Fred W. Jr.

Item Number:

1997.0014.02

Accession Number:

1997.0014

Type of Material:

Objects

Copyright Statement:

For information regarding copyright, permissions, and reproductions contact the Hopkinton Historical Society

Credit Line:

Museum Purchase

Participating Organization:

Hopkinton Historical Society