On Nov 12, 2008, at 9:27 AM, William Conger wrote:
They placed a broad disk or rectangle (same diameter or shape as dressed stone to be cut) atop the marble piece to be copied and then dropped rods from it all around.
There are many similar things today, many of them mere amusements, but others are serious tools. They consists of many, many small metal rods, about the size of a pencil lead, mounted in a plastic square or rectangle. They can slide freely, and the user either places this tool on top of a model and presses down. The metal rods are pushed up by the surface of the object, creating a convex relief that follows the contours of the object, on the back size, and leaving an impression on the front that is a concave mirror of the object.
The high-end equipment is used to record or transfer the surface contours of the object to a recording device; the low-end tool is used by carpenters and cabinet-makers, among others, to take the shape of, for example, a moulding strip in an old house that is being remodeled (for which a matching piece is no longer available) to guide them in making a new piece. IIRC, that particular tool consists only of one or two parallel rows of metal rods, and they can be locked into position by tightening, so the woodworker can keep the impression as he works with it to adjust the new piece.
And thesn, some are sold as toys and diversions. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Michael Brady [EMAIL PROTECTED]
