Figure i6. — 1783: Cabinet- 

 maker's dividers of English 

 manufacture, dated, and 

 marked T. Pearmain. See 

 detail, figure 17. (Smithso- 

 nian photo 49792-C.) 



industrial wants and aims, as well as their natural or 

 acquired advantages." * The hand tool, therefore, 

 should be considered both as an object of appealing 

 shape and a document illustrative of society and its 

 progress. 



On first sight, it is the conformation rather than any 

 facet of its technical or social significance that strikes 

 the eye; perhaps the most decorative of tools are 

 early dividers and calipers which, prior to their 

 standardization, existed in seemingly endless variety. 

 The great dividers used by the shipbuilder and 



' Reports by the Juries: Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All 

 Nations, 18^1 (London, 1852), p. 485. 



architect for scribing and measuring timbers not only 

 indicate building techniques (accession 61.548) but 

 also document 17th- and early 18th-century decora- 

 tive metalwork, as seen in figure 13. Well before the 

 I 7th century, artists and engravers recognized them 

 as intriguing shapes to include in any potpourri of 

 instruments, either in cartouches or the frontispieces 

 of books (fig. 14). 



The two pairs of cabinetinaker's dividers illustrated 

 in figures 15 and 16 suggest significant changes in 

 the design of a basic tool. The dividers shown in 

 figure 1 5 are English and would seem to be of early 

 18th-century origin, perhaps even earlier. They are 

 Renaissance in feeling with decorated legs and a 







Figure 17. — 1783; Detail of cabinetmaker's dividers showing name and date. 



P.\PER 51: WOODWORKING TOOLS, 1600-1900 



195 



