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In 1876, Justus Roc of Patchogue, New York, decided to go into the business of manufacturing steel tape measures. The company he founded is still in business in the small town where he had his first factory, and it still specializes in steel tape measures, making it possibly the oldest company in the world still producing them (Figure 1).
The first long steel tape measure with etched graduations was developed in 1842 by James Chesterman working in Sheffield, England. He riveted short steel strips using flat wire that he had developed for crinoline skirts. However, the main use for this wire was the fashion industry, and in 1853 Chesterman developed a process for heat-treating continuous lengths of wire, making them stronger and longer. The market for crinoline wire was exploding, and between 1854 and 1865 Sheffield foundries met this demand by producing over 200,000 pounds of this wire.
In 1860, crinoline skirts, which used sixty yards of wire, began to get slimmer, and by 1865 only two bottom hoops were being used. The Sheffield factories were still in full production when the market disappeared. The foundries found themselves with excess steel blades and were selling the wire for fencing or scrap.
James Chesterman was able to adapt his plant to use the surplus wire to make measuring tapes for engineers and surveyors, to replace the land chains that were currently being used, the land chains being heavy and awkward (Figure 2). He advertised his new measurement tool as a "Steel Band Measuring Chain" and claimed that "compared with a chain, it has equal strength, greater correctness, is easier to clean, and to coil and uncoil, and is very much lighter and more compact." He exported tapes to the United States, which were sold through outlets such as W. & L.E. Ciurley's, Albany, New York, as early as 1871. But the Chcsterman tapes, which sold for $17, were very expensive, forcing even Gurley to acknowledge that their great cost prevented general use. William Paine was also making award-winning steel measuring tapes in Brooklyn, New York, around the same time, but his tapes were only a few dollars cheaper than Chesterman's.
Justus Roe
Justus Roe was a surveyor by profession (Figure 3). He served as the chief...