How To Read a Vernier Caliper?

in #education6 years ago (edited)

A pleasant day to all of you steemians ! This day I'll be teaching to you how to read a vernier caliper but before we proceed on that we must know first what is a vernier caliper, the history and origins of a vernier caliper, why is it important to know how to read a vernier caliper, the parts of the vernier caliper and then the last is how to read the vernier caliper.


What is a Vernier Caliper?


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Vernier Caliper is precision measuring tool used to measure the length, radius and depth of an object accurately. Vernier caliper is commonly used in navigation, scientific instruments which used to conduct an experiment, for machinists and etc. It is also commonly used in manufacturing for quality control measurements. There are two major types of vernier caliper, the manual and digital. We will be dealing with the manual because it is more difficult than the digital.


History


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The vernier caliper has two main parts which is the main scale the upper part and the vernier scale which is the lower part or the movable part. So before it became a vernier caliper it is originated without a vernier scale in China during the Qin dynasty.
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Pierre Vernier


Then the secondary scale invented in 1631 by Pierre Vernier, a french mathematician. The secondary scale is more precise because the vernier scale is added and it can be measure up to two decimal places. The vernier calipers today are the most typical use of vernier scales and they were originally developed for angle measuring instruments which is an astronomical quadrants. The vernier scale was called "nonius" before in some languages. It was the name before the vernier scale that developed by Pedro Nunes or in latin name Petrus Nonius, a Portuguese mathematician and cosmographer.
I've read so many articles in internet about the history of the vernier caliper that are saying that the Romans were the first who used the calipers but there is an another article that I read catched up my attention because it is different from the other article. The article stated that the fact is that the Romans was not the first who used the calipers instead the earliest caliper were seen in china and it was found within the "Greek Giglio Wreck" which is wreck italian cost and the ship found the excavating the wreck was dated around the 6th century.


Importance of Learning to Read the Vernier Caliper


In my opinion, learning how to read a vernier caliper is very important because it is one of the most commonly employed measuring instruments. It is also important because it can measure every small objects. It can measure the length of an object or the radius of any small object that has a small diameter just like the bolts, thread, pipes and etc. Also the inside diameter of any small object and you can measure also the depth of an object just like a solid cylinder with a hollow.


The Parts of the Vernier Caliper


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We will start with:

  1. Lower Jaws - lower jaws use to measure the length of an object and also the outside diameter of any circle objects.

  2. Upper Jaws - upper jaws measures the inside diameter of any circle objects that has a hollow.

  3. Depth Rod - depth measure the depth of the hollow of any small objects.

  4. Main Scale - main scale is unmovable part and it only reads the whole number of the measurement.

  5. Vernier Scale - it is the movable part of the caliper and it reads the two decimal point of the measurement.

  6. Thumb Screw - it is used to move the vernier scale using the thumb.

  7. Lock Sscrew - it is used to lock the vernier scale after you put the caliper to the object so that it will not move and the measurement will lock and will not change.


How to Read the Vernier Caliper


Reading the vernier caliper's measurement has two ways. The calculation and reading directly the measures then we will do first the calculation and don't you worry guys it is just easy.

The Calculation:
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As you can see in the photo there is a division. That division is the every bar line of vernier scale. The thing that you must know first is that everywhere the zero scale in vernier scale point no matter it will not reach to the next bar in the main scnextthen it is the first reading on an object. So in the photo the first reading of the object is 13 mm. Then the next reading for the two decimals you will need to take a look first on what bar of the vernier and main scale that is exactly aligned or parallel. So in the photo the parallel bar is the 32 mm bar of the main scale and the o.42 mm of the vernier scale (note:the reading of the vernier scale is in decimal and the first bar after the zero in the vernier scale the reading is 0.02 mm.). Then lets go back to the division, so in able to know the value of division you must count from the 1st bar after the zero in the vernier scale until to the aligned bar and the photo shows that the aligned bar is in 21 bar so the division now is 21. I have a formula for this equation:

VR = FR + ( D × 0.02 mm )

Which is :
VR - vernier reading
FR - the first reading which is the whole number
D - division
Solution of the first exmple :
FR = 13 mm
D = 21 division
VR = ?

VR = 13 mm + (21 × 0.02 mm)
= 13 mm + 0.42
VR = 13.42 mm is the answer

Another example :
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The first reading of the caliper is 19 mm and the aligned bar is in 32 bar in the vernier scale so this is how it is solve.

FR = 19 mm
D = 32 division
VR = ?

Solution:
VR = FR + (D × 0.02)
VR = 19mm + (32 × 0.02mm)
= 19 mm + 0.64mm
VR = 19.64 is the answer

This time we will be dealing on how to read directly the measure of an object using the vernier caliper and it goes like this:
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The photo shows that there is a 0.1 mm on the right side of the vernier scale so you can't use the formula here except if that is 0.02 mm then we can use the formula and that 0.1 mm it means the first reading after the zero scale is 0.1 mm.
The photo shows the first reading which is the 16 mm and the aligned bar is in the number 2 scale in vernier scale so it means that the second reading is 0.2 mm. Then the reading for this caliper is 16.2 mm, you will just add the 16 mm and the 0.2 mm.

Second example:
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This type of caliper, it has a 0.02 mm on the right side of the vernier scale and it is how simply to read:
The first reading is in 13 mm and the aligned bar is in 0.42 mm and why it is 0.42? Because the first reading after the zero scale in vernier scale is 0.02 mm so if you are going to count it from 0.02, 0.03 to 0.4(which is the number 4 scale in vernier scale) then to the 2nd bar in the group of number 4 scale the reading is 0.42. The first reading is 13mm and the second reading is 0.42 so if add this the result is 13.42 mm and that is the answer. See it's just easy so I believe you will definitely learn how to read this vernier caliper.


Generalization


So learning how to read the vernier caliper is very important because it is commonly used in measuring small objects in some companies around the world and there's nothing to worry about in learning to read this measuring device it is just easy to learn this thing and I hope you learned something on my blog.

Thank you so much for taking time to read my blog and I'm pretty sure you learned something from this blog and I'll be posting soon about tutorials.

Thanks and Godbless
@jumargachomiano

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