Contributed by Richard Estelle
When a carpenter needs to know if his work is “up to plumb” or “on the level”, he might use one of the old wood frame carpenter’s levels in the Museum’s collection. The little fixed glass tubes with their floating bubble inside would indicate those vertical and horizontal directions nicely. But what if the things one works with are often at odd angles, such as when fabricating machinery, and it’s important to know what those angles are?
That’s when another type of level in our collection would come in handy. Called a “machinists’ inclinometer”, it features a rotating bubble that can be set at various angles relative to the straight sides of the frame. The inclinometer is laid on the work piece, the brass bubble housing rotated until the bubble centers, and the degree of incline is read off the adjacent scale. Conversely, if a particular incline is desired, the bubble housing is rotated until the proper angle is indicated, then the work piece is held alongside the frame and tilted until the bubble centers, indicating the proper incline is achieved.
This beautifully ornate tool was patented September 17, 1867 and manufactured sometime between 1875 and 1892 by the Davis Level & Tool Co. of Springfield, Mass. The elegant leaf-like design of its frame exhibits a decorative flair, perhaps reflecting a past reverence for fine tools not often seen in most of those manufactured today.
The cast iron frame, with its filigree web, is “Japanned” - a 17th century term for a technique borrowed from Asian lacquerwork, using a heavy resin-based black lacquer coating similar to enamel paint.
