Somebody please tell me what the black diamonds @ 19″ intervals on a measuring tape signify.
Thanks
Bob
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Fine Homebuilding's editorial director has some fun news to share.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
You sure you want to Know?
Here we go again!
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=26848.1
http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=1447.1
I was on a game show. When I lost, they gave me a lovely parting gift. It was a comb.
Are the black dimond like this ?
personally I like dbl black dimonds
Swooshhhhhhhh
In his first interview since the stroke, Ram Dass, 66, spoke with great difficulty about how his brush with death has changed his ideas about aging, and how the recent loss of two old friends, Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg, has convinced him that now, more than ever, is the time to ``Be Here Now.''
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
They are a metric conversion table, similar to the tables on the blade of your framing square.
Jim
I though that the diamonds where used to indicate the spacing for shoring in the diamond mines.
That too.
Dang you beat me to it.If at first you don't succeed...try again! After that quit! No sense being a dam fool about it! W.C.Fields
If you measure it out you will find it is exactly equal to 19 inches plus 5 millimeters.
this is what is known in engineering terms as a hybrid measurement.
What this value represents is the convergence value of the metric and english measuring systems.
if you were to take any value in either system and convert it to the other system accurately you will end up with a non repeating decimal value.that has an infinite (theoretically) number of places.
Much like the number pi.
However if you "mix" the systems, the 19" +5mm. value will covert to exactly 0.5 meters minus 15/32".
and the multiples of this value are the only the two system converge and this is useful for the purpose of keeping the conversion factors of each system accurate and always definable by a mathematical solution.
Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
Wow, touch down guy, you're going to hurt yourself.
There is such a thing as an engineering scale, watch those surveyor clowns, they use it all the time. ;-)
That's easy.
Paph Black Diamond is Paph micranthum x Paph fairrianum. A very pretty slipper orchid.
Realio, trulio!
Katie
Those are for Bob Vilas' 19" stud center technique.
Ditch
The black diamonds are there for laying out a rooftop ranch. One rabbit per diamond, one goat per two diamonds, one cow per three diamonds.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
I thought the cows got six diamonds. Maybe that's only if they bring their own bull along..
Excellence is its own reward!
"...if they bring their own bull along."
Right. But that's usually not preferred. Seems to be more than enough bull around already.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Each diamond-to-diamond distance represents one regulation A$$ Width.
It is most commonly used for calculating the seating capacity of bleachers.Steelkilt Lives!
unless its airplanes, and they reduce it it a bit
And I get stuck in the middle seat with to "larger" gentlmen or ladies in between me.
View ImageGo Jayhawks..............Next Year and daaa. Blues View Image
In between you ?
No comment.
: ) A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
Lets it keep that way :)View ImageGo Jayhawks..............Next Year and daaa. Blues View Image
Aw, c'mon...RSHINN was looking for an answer... I did let you guys rag him for 19 posts. Remember how stupid you felt before you knew..Heck I still feel stupid (all da time, actually)
SamT
Sam,
Thanks I had read that before but had forgotten, I don't feel stupid just uninformed. Bet I could post some ?'s about maintaining an AMA superbike or flying an airplane in IMC that would humble a few of the smart a$$es that replied. Gotta learn somehow, only dumb ? is the one you don't ask!
Bob
Don't let the rest of these guys pull your leg. They're just making stuff up because they don't know the real reason.
Carpenters are not always the best estimators. Frequently, they will order to few joists/studs, and will be faced with a dilemma. Do I go back to the lumber yard and get more, or do make do with what I have. An ingenious carpenter early on realized that he could stretch the layout, just a bit, and it would all work out. He added about 3" to each on center measurement, and found that everything was better. Of course, this was way back before the construction master calculator, with it's handy dandy feet/inch capabilities, so this method was incredibly time consuming until Lufkin introduced it's revolutionary new line of tape measures, affectionately known in the trades as the "stretchy" tape.
One note of caution. This method only works when you start your layout at the North end of the house. Nobody can explain it, but it's a proven fact that if you start anywhere else, you will have problems staying on layout. Then it's time for that other time saving tool, the board-stretcher.
Jon Blakemore
They are for laying out 5 bays in 8'. 12"OC is 8 bays, 16"OC is 6 bays, 2'OC is 4 bays. the diamonds are 19.2" apart. 19.2X5=96. They have been refered to as 19"OC, 19 1/8"OC, 19 1/4"OC and 19.2OC.
You take the fun out of this, you know ;-PSteelkilt Lives!
That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Ever. <G>
Jon Blakemore
it was so much simpler with limericksMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I'd swear my brother-in-law Bob wrote all those replies. He's not known for his straight answers, but the less he knows about a subject the more entertaining the answer.
Mr. Rushin,
The black diamonds are cubits. There are 5 cubits in 8 feet. The math comes out to be 1 cubit = 19.2" which is pretty close to 19 3/16".
The origin of the cubit is similar to other common measurements such as the foot, the yard and the inch. The cubit was the lenght of someone's forearm from the elbow to the hand -- whatever that is. The foot was obviously the lenght of somebody's foot. The inch was the length of the middle finger between the first and second knuckles. Or maybe six barley corns laid end to end. The yard is the width of the sideyard in a densely-packed subdivision.
Unfortunately, the use of cubits has declined in favor of the English system of feet and inches but it does have a practical use in construction. 8 feet is a common dimension of plywood and similar sheeting materials. 8 feet divided by 5 equals one cubit. Thus roof rafters can be laid out on one cubit centers [19.3"] instead of 16" centers - thus saving one rafter per 8'. This helps save our forests. This is why the black diamonds or cubit marks are on so many tape measures. It is also useful in case you want to build a replica of Moses' ark.
~Peter
|""""""""""""""""""""||_
|B u d w e i s e r |||""|""___,
|____________ ||_ _|||_|__|)
!(@)'(@)""""***!(@)(@)*!(@)
Edited 4/25/2003 10:40:39 PM ET by PM22
uh.. peter... that's 19.2..
as in 19.2 x 5 = 96 cubits or whateverMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Cows only get six diamonds if they stand lengthwise. Sideways they get three. That's why it's so important to keep them facing North. If they were to stand sideways, they could tumble off the roof and tear down the gutter(s) in the process.
C'mon, Jim, if you'll remember back to the original ranch roof discussions, they don't have gutters.
They have troughs.If everything seems to be going well, you've obviously overlooked something.
Jim;
Are you aware that you can only get cottage cheese and yogurt from cows who face SOUTH?
(hmmm. As I think about it, while procuring the aforementioned dairy products, one would be near the NORTH end of the cow, and facing EAST, under normal milking conditions).
Edited 4/25/2003 10:30:16 PM ET by Notchman
"Are you aware that you can only get cottage cheese and yogurt from cows who face SOUTH?"
"That's why it's so important to keep them facing North. If they were to stand sideways, they could tumble off the roof and tear down the gutter(s) in the process."
The above two quotes explain why no rooftop ranch should be built with the ridge running north/south. A ridge running east/west is necessary so the cows can face north (for milk) and south (for cottage cheese and yogurt) without falling off.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Well that clears that up then..
Excellence is its own reward!
Clearer even than the water in the troughs.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
He was serious! Wow!
So was I!!!!Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
Each black diamond on your tape represents one of the 55 Iraqi most-wanted high command folks. Count 'em out. You will find there are only 55. Some of them are real small, and "embedded" in places other than 19 inches apart.
(and Rich) So does this ridge orientation thing have anything to do with the phrase "Northern Lights"? Or the expression "I'm so hungry I could eat the North end of a Southbound skunk"?
Mr Pita - right you are. I just figgured, with the recent election results and all, that I should be careful using the word "trough".
"..the expression 'I'm so hungry I could eat the North end of ####Southbound skunk'?"
This expression comes from rooftop ranchers who failed because they didn't orient the ridge correctly. Having lost all of the livestock they quickly get very hungry. The North end/Southbound reference is simply a belated admission that directions matter.
Northern lights refers to the fact that one should never light the south slope of the roof. Lights will interfere with yogurt production (doesn't seem to bother the cottage cheese production).
Hope this helps.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Not to further confuse things, but if one travels South of the equator, all of the reverse is true...and black diamond references are used for tonal purity when handcarving digerydoos.
I thought the Northern Lights came in where the cow is moonlighting or producing extra heavy cream on the side. Most cows like to do this when facing south so the terminology applies..
Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin and Notchman,
Really good points. It's good to see so many who understand rooftop ranching so well. I'm always learning from this board.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
I just hope we haven't already milked the subject for all it's worth.
I mean Belted Galloways as such adaptable creatures that I'm ready to propose that they be named the main rooftop source for Midnight Yogurt.
Excellence is its own reward!
I just hope we haven't already milked the subject for all it's worth.
And this is just the condensed version!
Do rooftop poultry lay devilled eggs?"Because Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you. And all you can do is go where they can find you."-????
I certainly hope they can learn to if they don't by nature.
I'm a member of the Deviled Egg Worshippers Cult!
;)
Think I'll start some water boiling.....
Excellence is its own reward!
Any experienced rooftop rancher knows that rooftop poultry lay scrambled eggs! (Where in the Devil do you think the Humpty Dumpty story was founded....)
Of course, enterprizing poultry farmers have found that low-slope roofs, "K" profile gutters and rectangular downspouts with at least 3 45 degree turns can deliver eggs with the whites and yokes separated. This is not commonly known except among some of the world's most renouned chefs.
Those same chefs pay a handsome price for such eggs, the rooftop poultrymen who supply them make a very comfortable living, but the wealthy consumers who pay outragous prices to sample the pastries from such eggs are unaware that the enhanced flavor they are raving about can be attributed to the various molds, algea and scale the egg parts accumulate as they slide through the gutter system.
BTW, Deviled eggs are layed in crawlspaces....(deviled eggs...one of my favorite foods!) Those poor souls who favor slab on grade foundations are limited to enjoying deviled eggs only at potlucks!
Edited 4/26/2003 8:59:28 PM ET by Notchman
High end chefs favor them, eh? Must be the same people who like pre-chewed goose liver and rotten old black fish eggs also eat eggs that have been separated in the same gutter that cows use to dipose of their used food.
No wonder they're called blue bloods! .
Excellence is its own reward!
I thought the title ot this thread was about the Black Diamond Coal Company in Lynch Kentucky. That was quite a place. They are re-opening parts of the mine as a tourist stop this year. Might be an interesting sight to see if you're in Southeast Kentucky.
What was that you're saying about Belted Galloways being flexible?
http://forums.prospero.com/n/mb/at.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&at=%2Ftp%2Dbreaktime%2Fgeneral%2Fdocs%2F1302359A%2D990B%2D462C%2D907B%2DEA4019ED9406%2Fimg15%2Ejpg&frames=noIf everything seems to be going well, you've obviously overlooked something.
This has been corrected.
~Peter
|""""""""""""""""""""||_ |WebX Rules! |||""|""___, |____________ ||_ _|||_|__|) !(@)'(@)""""**!(@)(@)*!(@)
The word cubit means elbow originally.
The distance from elbow to end of hand was that length.
Since the pharoah was wearing a black diamond from the Nubian mines the day they checked him for size, the black diamond was added to the earliest versions of the Stanley tape measure, a knotted string.
It also happenms to be the same as the width of an a$$, giving early rise to the phrase, "Doesn't know his #### from his elbow" but the originator unfortunately applied that terminology to the pharoah himself and was promptly beheaded and turned into crocodile food. One version of the story has it that his finally ironic end was in the belly of a crocodile whose mouth was that same universal measurement.
Today, when we layout roof rafters at the cubitic black diamond measurement, and miss-step, it is easier to fall completely through the space without cracking a rib compared to a 16" layout which is designed to prevet freefalls. The pharonic cubit is a safer layout.
.
Excellence is its own reward!
I like yours best.
SamT
I'm honored to have entertained you.
By now, I hope you have read the ohter links provided and realized that this Q is asked about once every five or six weeks so it becomes a platform for great creative works. Thank you for intiating the magic.
One of the more famous threads BT has ever known is beckman's rooftop Rabbit Ranch and Bordello. It seems that we now have a marriage of two of the finest. Who knows what progeny may issue forth from your little seed?!?.
Excellence is its own reward!
I'm too old to be a father and we have a flat roof so I can't farm. Dam. Dam. Dam. (Hoover)
Actually the one I liked was about the pharoah's ring, I am making a positive effort to remember that one.
SamT
Do not despair! There is an ever growing market for terawampli roots which do very well on flat roofs! One of the by-products is popsicle sticks which can be harvested from the ceiling. The popsicle stick market is still fairly strong in some regions.
One must be patient, however, because the plants must grow for about seven years before the roots penetrate the ceiling with enough vigor to start producing quality sticks in commercial quantities. (According to the Extension Service, this maturity period can be hastened by as much as two years if: 1. Ceiling drywall is not sealed with PVA and; 2. Roof flashings are copper).
Sometimes my cats go up on the roof in search of warm blooded meals such as squirrells or feathered creatures.
How would an ecology such as mine influence the potential for growing terawampli roots? I fear that since many people are allergic to cats and that many plants die in the presence of used kitty litter, that they are Satanic cats. Are the roots blessed before shipping?.
Excellence is its own reward!
Terawampli plants are indigenous to those South Pacific Islands where Komodo Dragons abound; one of the meanest, nastiest creatures on earth.
To a tarawampli plant, and its precious roots, cats and kitty litter are, in comparison, like the Easter Bunny and chocolate eggs.
Of course, the aforesaid begs the question; how healthy is it to suck on a popsickle stick?
I hope the original poster is not discouraged about asking another question....that's not a mistake, it's rustic
Why wouldn't he? After all the serious, straight forward, thoughtful, diligent, consientious and time wasting answers?
do they put the little black diamonds on metric tapes?bobl Volo Non Voleo Joe's BT Forum cheat sheet
bobl,
you obviously didnt read my explanation!!!
minus 2 milkbones.
:)Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
if you mean this i read it and a fine explination it is, but it didn't say if metric tapes have the diamonds on it.bobl Volo Non Voleo Joe's BT Forum cheat sheet
Nope, bobl. Never seen one in 25 or so years of using metric tapes, but it's an idea, but I can't think what for, ha, ha. Slainte.Website The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.
OH NO!!!!! They are there.... On a brickie's folding 2 meter.
THERE GOES THE FARM!!! NOW WHAT!?!?!?
Lobby congress for a rooftop farm and ranch subsidy, maybe?.
Excellence is its own reward!
Must be a builders thing then, IMERC. Never seen anything like a black diamond on any other metric tape I've come across.
Still trying to get a grip on the rooftop livestock thing going on-- intersting and diversionary as it may be. I must have missed a thread or two somewhere in the past. Don't get in here as often as over at Knots. Slainte.Website The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.
Oh man! Don't tell me you missed the segment, "Cows in Kilts", please!?!.
Excellence is its own reward!
Yep, missed it Piffin. Do you want to see me wearing mine? I can wear it down, or raised, but the latter would scare off even the cows, ha, ha. Slainte.Website The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.
Not tape... Folding ruler.
Don't tell us you missed the thread revolving "Curds and Whey" RD&C
IMERC, I have couple of 2 metre folding rules too-- metric again-- no diamonds there either. I'm guilty of using the word 'tape' carelessly to cover all forms of measuring stick. As I said, the diamonds must be a builder thing.
Curds and whey??? Missed that too. Hey, I mostly just lurk in this forum to enjoy all the bad natured banter, and I don't open up half the threads that catch my eye as being of possible interest, especially if there are already 25 or 40 or so posts-- just too much effort.
I'm far to much the woofter-- bein' a prissy, pinkie pointin' tea drinkin' furniture maker an' all to get involved much with all you big grrrr'uls---- and your uncouth language, ha, ha. Slainte.Website The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.
ROAR!
The metal plain ones are GP and unmarked. (3 meter)
The yellow / green ones (diamonds) are for masons. (2meter)
The white / green ones are for plumbers. These are marked w/ diamonds, stars and hash marks - look like exclamation points. (3 meter)
The white / yellow ones have the hash marks and diamonds. Engineers use this rule. (2 meter)
Hope this clears it up for you.
Got it, IMERC------- clear as mud, ha, ha. Slainte.Website The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.
Be still and the silt will settle. Then clearness will happen.
The colors of the meter stick or as some will have it, stuck, are one color to one side and the other color on the other side. Meter sticks are color coded to the trades.
Does this help at all?
Holy, moley, boys and girls - I'm out of the office for one day and off you go on tangents heretofore unknown. Piff, Rich B., Blodgett, RichardJ - you guys are all experts in your fields, BUT when it comes to dairy cows, leave it to Kevin and me ! Until you've been hit in the face by a cold, wet, tail at 2 AM - awright, put your hands down !!
Now every self respecting dairy farmer knows that cows udders are designed in a quadrant. ( I never understood why they don't have quadruplet calves every time since they've got 4 faucets ! )
The idea of facing North becomes an exponential problem when you consider the Northeast . . . . well, we'll stick with "quadrant". The roof ridge running east and west only affects the northeast and southwest quadrants, so with a north-south ridge, the yogurt would curdle but the cottage cheese would be perfect.
And brown cows give chocolate milk !
Greg.
But you can get dragon juice from cows with very short legs.If at first you don't succeed...try again! After that quit! No sense being a dam fool about it! W.C.Fields
"...cows udders are designed in a quadrant..."
Well, my Grandad had an old cow with 5 teats that all worked...we raised up one of that cow's offspring; a heifer with 3 teats...called her "Tripod." But I realize now that nature was just maintaining balance over the long run.
But then, of course, these were pasture cows and were not required to conform to the more refined rules of rooftop husbandry.
You guys have got me to wondering now if a little genetic manipulation could develope those quadrants into flavout savers.
One for Skim milk
Second one for whole milk
Third delivering Yogurt
And an option on the fourth for either chocolate or butter.
Excellence is its own reward!
I hesitate to say it, IMERC, but I suspect you're blowing pungent, ring puckering, smoke up my jacksie, and I am laughing by the way. I even did a Google search, and did a lot of head scratching in an effort to decide whether or not your points could, in fact, be factually based.
So far, I've turned up nothing to substantiate your position. Count me as sceptical-- about par for the course for me anyway. Slainte.Website The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.
Peter-
You should have elaborated a little on the Moses' Ark thing, a lot of people are going to think you were wrong and say that Moses didn't have an ark, that it was Noah who had one.
Well, folks, Peter was indeed correct. It was that little itty bitty floating ark made of reeds that Moses found the baby (Jesus?) in. The length of that tiny ark is what became recognized as the cubit. Just thought I should clarify for those not in the 'know'.
Ken Hill
Hey Piffin,
I'm sticking with dry wall screw spacing for cabinet hanging is what them diamonds are for....that's not a mistake, it's rustic