4 Types of Measuring Tapes Used in Surveying
Surveying is the act of collecting measurements and dimensions of a particular physical area. It plays an essential role in many scenarios, from setting property boundaries for construction to conducting geographic studies and research. There are numerous ways to collect surveyed data and various tools for the job. Here are four common types of measuring tapes used in surveying and their roles.
1. Heavy-Duty Steel
Steel measuring tapes are the most common type of measurer. They offer multiple uses, including construction, woodworking, chain standardization, and manufacturing. Steel tape blade material provides many beneficial properties, from high durability to straight and sturdy structural readings, making them a reliable and popular heavy-duty tape measure. In surveying, steel tapes collect readings on flat and leveled grounds, covering significant distances and providing accurate measurements.
2. Vinyl
Vinyl measuring tapes provide surveyors with a more flexible form of measurement than their steel counterparts. They are also lighter in weight, making them easier to handle and carry. Vinyl measuring tapes are often used for offset and topographical measurements that feature unleveled surfaces and don’t require a low margin of error.
3. Precise Invar
Invar tape measures carry a reputation for producing accurate measurements. Their alloy composition of steel and nickel gives them a sturdy tape that holds its shape but also bends and adapts to curved and slanted surfaces. Their multi-metal structure also increases durability against natural elements. It minimizes expansion and shrinkage from temperature changes, withstands water exposure, and provides an easy-to-clean material that makes getting rid of mud and dirt a breeze.
4. Synthetic Tape
Synthetic tapes provide a mix of qualities mirroring their other variations. Like steel and invar tapes, they consist of durable material composition—fiberglass coated in vinyl—making them perfect for outdoor surveying conditions. However, compared to steel and invar, synthetic tape measures provide more benefits when surveying areas with highly conductive features in the vicinity, like electric fences and railways. They also provide maximum flexibility and work well for gaining measurements on unlevel land.
These four types of measuring tapes used in surveying offer varying qualities suitable for different tasks on the job. They make collecting measurements easy, no matter the terrain or outdoor setting. At Perfect Measuring Tape Co., we offer a wide variety of tapes to explore, including ones fit for surveying. Check out our selection and find the right measurement tool for you and the job at hand.
Surveying Tapes: Types of Measuring Tape Used in Survey.
In this article, you are going to learn many things about surveying tapes and its types in details.
So Let’s Move on.
Surveying Tapes.
The availability of long tapes has considerably increased the accuracy in surveying without involving any undue waste of labor or of time.
You’ll know different types of Measuring Tapes used in Survey here.
Measuring Tapes are now available in different lengths and widths. But for comparatively short lengths to be measured, a tape of 30 meter long and 6 mm wide will be probably found as a more convenient size.
Types of Measuring Tape Used in Survey.
Surveying tapes are made of various materials and therefore can be divided into different types as follows.
1. Cloth or linen tapes.
This tape is used for taking offsets. It consists of a varnished strip of woven linen 12 to 16 mm wide and it is attached to a spindle in a leather case into which it is wound.
It is generally available in lengths of 10, 20, 30 and 50 meters. At the end of the tape is provided a brass ring whose length is included in the first hinge.
The tape is very light and handy.
These should not be used for accurate measurements as they are subjected to variation in length.
They stretch when the pull is exercised and may be elongated permanently. Its exposure to dampness causes shrinking.
These are not durable, and care should be taken in use as figures become illegible very soon.
It is not very commonly used in Surveying and Levelling.
2. Metric woven metallic tapes.
They are better than the linen tapes, but are not suited for precise works. They are meant chiefly for taking offsets and subsidiary measurements.
The metric woven metallic tapes are manufactured in lengths of 2, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 50 meters.
The length of the tape includes the metal finger ring when provided. At every centimeter a black line 8 to 10 mm in height is drawn, and every five centimeters, are marked with an arrow in black.
Every decimeter and meter is marked to the full width (i.e. 16 mm) of the tape by a line. The decimeters are marked in black and meters in red figures.
The tapes are manufactured from yarn and metal wire.
The yarn is spun from good quality cotton or linen, and the wire is of phosphor bronze, copper or stainless steel and is 0.16 mm (or 38 SWG) in diameter.
The tape should be coated with a suitable primer of synthetic material over which one or more coats of a flexible and high quality enamel should be given.
The coating must be non-cracking and water resistant.
In case of tapes of denominations 10, 20, 30 and 50 meters, a metal ring is attached to the outer end of size tape.
The outer end of the tapes of these denominations must be reinforced over a length of not less than 10 cm by a strip of cotton fabric or suitable plastic material.
Over which a strip of brass or any other suitable material should be rigidly fixed for protection and for receiving the inspector’s stamp.
The tapes of 2 and 5 meters should also have this arrangement.
The permissible error in the length of the tape, when supported on a horizontal surface under a tension of one kilogram shall not exceed the following limits according to IS: 1269-1958.
Denominations (meters).Possible errors (mm). 2+-1.5 3+- 3.0 30+- 15.0 50+- 20.0
In addition, in the case of 20, 30, and 50 meter tapes, the permissible error from the beginning of the tape to the lengths specified below shall not exceed the following limits.
Length (meter).Permissible error (mm). 10+- 10 20+- 15 30+- 20
The 10, 20, 30, and 50 meter tapes are supplied in a case made of leather or corrosion-resisting metal, fitted with a winding device.
The handle for the winding device should be suitable for Winding the tape on the reel. It shall fold against the reel and should have a crank length of not less than 25 mm.
On the un-graduated side and also on the ease of each tape when provided, the name of the manufacturer or his registered trademark and the denomination is legibly marked in English.
The purchaser can also get the year of manufacture marked on the ease.
3. Metric steel tapes.
They are used for accurate works and are made of Steel or of stainless steel. The outer end of the tape is provided with a ring or other device for facilitating withdrawal.
The ring or other device is fastened to the tape by a metal strip of the same width as the metric woven tape.
The denominations of these tape measures are 1, 2, 10, 20, 30 and 50 meters. The most common lengths being 20, 30 and 50 m.
The tapes are marked on one side only, with a line at every five millimeter, centimeter, decimeter, and meter, the first decimeter having the millimeters also marked on the tape.
The meter division, in addition, bears the designation to every centimeter in the first decimeter is marked.
The ends 20, 30, and 50 meter tapes are marked with the words ‘meter’.
These surveying tapes are lighter and delicate and get broken easily.
The winding device is of substantial construction and is such that when the tape is withdrawn by hand to any point up to the limit of its measuring capacity.
It holds its withdrawn length, and when the ‘finger release device’ is pressed, the tape automatically rewinds into the case.
The case is made of corrosion resisting metal or of a metal with a non-corrosive finish.
After the work is over, they are wiped clean and oiled. If broken they can be mended by riveting a piece of tape of the same width to its back.
They are available in the width of 6, 9.5, 13, 16 mm. etc., according to IS: 1270-1959.
4. Invar tapes.
These types of surveying tapes are used for the highest precision works, e.g., for the measurements of base lines, etc. in triangulation work.
Invar is an alloy containing 36% nickel and 64% steel. The main advantage of this alloy is that it has got a very low co-efficient of thermal expansion.
It is available in various lengths, the width being 6 mm. It is wound on a metal reel of 25 cm in diameter.
It is very costly and delicate and therefore used with the greatest care. It should not be used for ordinary work.
Tape measure
Flexible ruler used to measure size or distance
Plastic tape measure (cm)
Manually reeled tape measure
Self-retracting metal tape measure (US customary)
1
⁄
32
in (0.794 mm)
Measuring tape capable of measuring down toin (0.794 mm)
Diagram showing fractions of an inch on a standard sixteenth measuring tape
A tape measure or measuring tape is a flexible ruler used to measure length or distance.
It consists of a ribbon of cloth, plastic, fibre glass, or metal strip with linear measurement markings. It is a common measuring tool. Its design allows for a measure of great length to be easily carried in pocket or toolkit and permits one to measure around curves or corners. Today it is ubiquitous, even appearing in miniature form as a keychain fob, or novelty item. Surveyors use tape measures in lengths of over 100 m.
Types
There are two basic types of tape measures with cases: spring return pocket tape measures and long tape measures. Spring return pocket tape measures will generally fit in a pocket. They are small; the case is up to about three inches across. The tape is returned to the case by a spring mechanism. Pocket tape measures have a tape 1 to 15 feet (0.30 to 4.57 m) in length and 1⁄4 to 3⁄4 inch (6.4 to 19.1 mm) across.
A second tape measure design is what is called the long tape. These are cased tape measures with tapes of 25, 50, 75, 100, 200, 300, and even 500 feet in length, designed for engineers and builders. Because surveying was usually done in rods, surveyors use long tapes of 33 feet (2 rods), and 66 feet (4 rods). Surveyors also used 49+1⁄2 feet of a 50-foot tape for 3 rods and 99 feet of a 100-foot tape measure for 6 rods. Long tapes, instead of being returned by a spring, were usually returned by hand crank.
Tape measures are often designed for specific uses or trades. Tapes may have different scales, be made of different materials, and be of different lengths depending on the intended use. Tape measures that were intended for use in tailoring or dressmaking were made from flexible cloth or plastic. They are named "sewing tape". These types of tape measures were mainly used for the measuring of the subject's waist line. Today, measuring tapes made for sewing are made of fiberglass, which does not tear or stretch as easily. Measuring tapes designed for carpentry or construction often use a stiff, curved metallic ribbon that can remain stiff and straight when extended, but retracts into a coil for convenient storage. This type of tape measure will have a floating tang or hook on the end to aid measuring. The tang is connected to the tape with loose rivets through oval holes, and can move a distance equal to its thickness, to provide both inside and outside measurements that are accurate.[1] A tape measure of 25 or even 100 feet can wind into a relatively small container. The self-marking tape measure allows the user an accurate one hand measure.
History
The first record of people using a measuring device was by the Romans using marked strips of leather, but this was more like a regular ruler than a tape measure.
On 6 December 1864 patent #45,372 was issued to William H. Bangs of West Meriden, Connecticut. Bang's rule was the first attempt in the United States to make a spring return pocket tape measure. The tape could be stopped at any point and held by the mechanism. The tape could be returned to the case by sliding a button on the side of the case which then allowed the spring to pull the tape back into the case.[2]
The first patented long tape measure in the United States was granted U.S. patent #29,096 issued 10 July 1860 to William H. Paine of Sheboygan, Wisconsin,[3] and produced by George M. Eddy and Company of Brooklyn, New York. This tape had no increments on it. It accurately measured only a distance equal to the total length of the tape from beginning to end marker, a brass piece attached to the tape at a measured distance. The measured length was marked on the case or crank.
Hiram A. Farrand with the Farrand Rapid Rule
Later, by the early 1870s, Justus Roe of Patchogue, New York added rivets attaching small brass washers to the tape to mark inches and feet. They were attached every inch in the first and last foot and every foot from one to the end of the last foot. A small brass tag, marked with a number indicating the number of feet to that point, was attached every five feet. This feature was never patented, but Justus Roe and Sons produced tape measures, "Roe Electric Reel Tape Measures", with this feature during the 1890s and early 1900s when they started etching or stamping increments and numbers on the tapes. (The "electric" part of the name was purely an affectation; there was nothing electrical about it.)
On 3 January 1922, Hiram A. Farrand received patent #1,402,589 for his concave-convex tape, a major improvement for spring pocket tape measures.[4] Between 1922 and December 1926, Farrand experimented with the help of The Brown Company in Berlin, New Hampshire.[5] It is there Farrand and William Wentworth Brown began mass-producing the tape measure.[6] Their product was later sold to Stanley Works. It was Farrand's concave-convex tape that went on to become the standard for the majority of pocket tape measure tapes today.
In the 1900's certain manufacturers started selling novelty tape measurers with prophecies and fortunes instead of numbers: users could check friends' heights and receive a fortune instead of their number.[7][8]
TALmeter showing the three scales on the measuring tape.
In 1947, the Swedish engineer Ture Anders Ljungberg began developing an improved version and in 1954 the TALmeter was introduced. It features edges at both the end of the tape and the mouth to cut marks so measures (including arcs) can be transferred without reading the scale, as well as a fold-out metal tongue at the rear, also with an edge, to be used when taking internal measures. The tape has three scales: the normal metric, the internal scale and a diameter scale used for instance to measure sheet metal to be rolled into a cylinder of a certain diameter. It was produced by his own company T A Ljungberg AB until 2005, when it was bought by Hultafors in 2005, who retained the name "Talmeter" for the product they now refer to as a märkmeter (marker-meter). [9]
In March 1963,[10] Stanley Tools introduced the PowerLock tape measure series which defined the standard for tape measure form factors thats still persists today. It was novel in its use of a molded ABS case, thumb actuated tape lock, and riveted end hook. By 1989, Stanley was producing more than 200,000 tape measures every day.[11]
The first commercialized Digital Tape Measure was released by Starrett in 1995 under the DigiTape brand. In March 2022, REEKON Tools announced the T1 Tomahawk Digital Tape Measure which featured significant accuracy improvements over previous attempts.[12]
Design
The basic design on which all modern spring tape measures are built can trace its origins back to an 1864 patent by a Meriden, Connecticut resident named William H. Bangs Jr. According to the text of his patent, Bang's tape measure was an improvement on other versions previously designed.[13]
The spring tape measure has existed in the U.S. since Bang's patent in 1864, but its usage did not become very popular due to the difficulty in communication from one town to another and the expense of the tape measure. In the late 1920s, carpenters began slowly adopting H. A. Farrand's design as the one more commonly used. Farrand's new design was a concave/convex tape made of metal which would stand straight out a distance of four to six feet. This design is the basis for most modern pocket tape measures used today.
With the mass production of the integrated circuit (IC) the tape measure has also entered into the digital age with the digital tape measure. Some incorporate a digital screen to give measurement readouts in multiple formats. An early patent for this type of measure was published in 1977.[14]
There are also other styles of tape measures that have incorporated lasers and ultrasonic technology to measure the distance of an object with fairly reliable accuracy.
Tape measures often have black and red measurements on a yellow background as this is the optimal color combination for readability.[15]
United States
A dual scale inch/centimeter tape measure.
Justus Roe, a surveyor and tape-maker by trade, made the longest tape measure in 1956, at 600 feet (183 m).[16]
The Northern Virginia Surveyors Association presented the 600-foot, gold-plated surveyor's tape measure to Mickey Mantle in 1956.[17]
A millimeter-only metric roll-up tape measure being used.
Some tapes sold in the United States have additional marks in the shape of small black diamonds, which appear every 19.2 inches (488 mm). These are used to mark out equal spacing for joists (five joists or trusses per US standard 8-foot (2,438 mm) length of building material).
Many US tapes also have special markings every 16 inches (406 mm), which is a US standard interval for studs in construction. Three spaces of 16 inches make exactly 4 feet (1,219 mm) which is the US commercial width of a sheet of plywood, gyprock or particle board.
A US made 5 meter measuring tape with markings only in millimeters.
The sale of dual Metric/US Customary scale measuring tapes is slowly becoming common in the United States. For example, in some Walmarts there are Hyper Tough brand tapes available in both US customary units and Metric units. Unlike US rules, of which an overwhelming majority contain both centimeter and inch scales, tape measures are longer and thus traditionally have had scales in both inches and feet & inches. So, the inclusion of a metric scale requires the measuring device either to contain 3 scales of measurement or the elimination of one of the US Customary scales.
The use of millimeter only tape measures for housing construction is a part of the US metric building code.[18][19] This code does not permit the use of centimeters. Millimeters produce whole (integer) numbers, reduce arithmetic errors, thus decreasing wastage due to such errors. The US made measuring tape shown on the right is interesting in that it is a "Reverse Measuring Tape", where the measurements can be read from right to left just as well as they can be read when the tape is used from left to right.
Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cameroon, India, Kenya, Mauritius, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe all use millimeters only as their unit for building construction.[20] In accord with ISO 2848, the separation between studs is 600 millimeters which has 24 different divisors easing calculation. The metric roll-up tape shown is a millimeter only tape measure. The dual scale tape measure is in both US Customary Inches and Centimeters.
Australia
The building industry was the first major industry grouping in Australia to complete its change to metric, being completed by January 1976.[21]
Australian 5 Metre measuring tape, with the markings entirely in millimetres.
In this the industry was grateful to the SAA (now Standards Australia) for the early production of the Standard AS 1155-1974 "Metric Units for Use in the Construction Industry", which specified the use of millimetres as the small unit for the metrication upgrade. In the adoption of the millimetre as the "small" unit of length for metrication (instead of the centimetre) the Metric Conversion Board leaned heavily on experience in the UK and within the ISO, where this decision had already been taken.[22][23][circular reference]
This was formally stated as follows: "The metric units for linear measurement in building and construction will be the metre (m) and the millimetre (mm), with the kilometre (km) being used where required. This will apply to all sectors of the industry, and the centimetre (cm) shall not be used. … the centimetre should not be used in any calculation and it should never be written down".[24]
The logic of using the millimetre in this context was that the metric system had been so designed that there would exist a multiple or submultiple for every use. Decimal fractions would not have to be used. Since the tolerances on building components and building practice would rarely be less than one millimetre, the millimetre became the sub-unit most appropriate to this industry.
Because of this, those in the building/construction industry mainly use millimetre only tapes. While dual scale tapes showing both inches and centimetres are sold, these are mainly imported low-cost items (since it would be a restriction of trade to not allow their importation).
United Kingdom
Tape measures sold in the UK often have dual scales for metric and imperial units. Like the American tape measures described above, they also have markings every 16 in (40.6 cm) and 19.2 in (48.8 cm).
Canada
Tape measures sold in Canada often have dual scales for metric and imperial units. All tapes in imperial units have markings every 16 in (40.6 cm), but not at every 19.2 in (48.8 cm). Home construction in Canada is largely, if not entirely, in imperial measure.
In surveying
Tapes are used in surveying for measuring horizontal, vertical or slope distances. Tapes are issued in various lengths and widths and graduated in a variety of ways.[25] The measuring tapes used for surveying purposes are classified in 4 types according to the material from which they are manufactured:
Linen or Cloth Tape is made of linen cloth with brass handle at zero end whose length is included in the tape length. It is very light and handy, but cannot withstand much wear and tear. So it cannot be used for accurate work. It is little used in surveying except for taking subsidiary measurements like offsets.
Metallic Tape is reinforced with copper wires to prevent stretching or twisting of fibers. They are available in many lengths but tapes of 20 m and 30 m are more commonly used.[26]
Steel Tape is made of steel ribbon varying in width from 6 mm to 16 mm. It is available in lengths of 1, 2, 10, 30 and 50 meters. It cannot withstand rough usage and should therefore be used with great care.
Invar Tape is made of invar, an alloy of steel (64%) and nickel (36%). It is 6 mm wide and is available in lengths of 30 m, 50 m and 100 m. It is costly and delicate and should be thus handled with great care.[27]
Accuracy and standardisation
Red EC classification symbols printed on a Class II measure, calibrated at 20°C.
The accuracy of a tape measure is dependent on the ends of the tape and the markings printed onto the tape. The accuracy for the end of a retractable tape measure is dependent on the hook's sliding mechanism and thickness.
The European Commission (EC) has standardised a non-compulsory classification system for certifying tape measure accuracy, with certified tapes falling into one of three classes of accuracy: Classes I, II, and III.[28] For example, under specific conditions the tolerances for 10m long tapes are:
Class I: accurate to ±1.10mm over 10m length
Class II: accurate to ±2.30mm over 10m length
Class III: accurate to ±4.60mm over 10m length
If a tape measure has been certified then the class rating is printed onto the tape alongside other symbols including the nominal length of the tape, the year of manufacture, the country of manufacture, and the name of the manufacturer.[29] For retractable tapes, Class I are the most accurate and tend to be the most expensive, while Class II tapes are the most common class available.
