How Much Does That Cloth Cost? 



As the clerk measures off the goods this 

 intelligent measuring stick registers the 

 cost of each yard and a fraction of a yard 



The measuring stick 

 is a yard long and has 

 two scales on it, one in 

 inches and the other 

 in ratios of from one- 

 eighth to fourteen and 

 three-fourths yards 



10 yds. 



yard cost as is desired. In this respect the 

 four sheets are exactly alike. They differ 

 in the figures along the bottom of the sheet 

 which represent yards in fractions of 

 quarters. The sheet to the extreme left 

 takes up a space along the ratio scale of 

 two and three-quarter yards. The next 



sheet or roll 

 takes up from 

 three to six and 

 three-quarter 

 yards ; the one 

 next that from 

 .seven to ten 

 and three- 



This roll gives 

 cost of goods 

 from to 2J4! 

 yds. long 





A MACHINE has been designed to 

 eliminate losses made by store clerks 

 in over measuring and in calculating 

 the cost of fractional yards. It consists of 

 two main parts — a measuring stick attached 

 to the edge of the counter and a series of four 

 rolls of paper with sets of figures on them. 

 These rolls of paper are spring-operated. 



The measuring stick is just one yard 

 long. It has two scales on it. That nearest 

 ^the edge of the counter is in inches, running 

 from zero to thirty-six inches or one yard. 

 The other scale is laid off on the edge of the 

 stick farthest away from the counter edge. 

 It takes up almost thirty-six inches, but it 

 is laid off to a certain scale or ratio to repre- 

 sent from one-eighth to fourteen and three- 

 quarter yards. Thi3 scale is divided into 

 four equal parts as indicated by the arrows. 

 One of the rolls of paper mentioned is 

 fitted between each of the arrows. 



Each roll surface is divided off into a 

 series of rectangles with figures in each. 

 The figures in the left and right border 

 rectangles of each sheet or roll represent 

 the cost of the goods in cents, beginning 

 with two cents and going up to as high a 



quarter yards and the one on 

 the extreme right from eleven to fourteen 

 and three-quarter yards. . The figures along 

 the bottom of each sheet correspond with 

 the yardage of the ratio scale. The 

 figures in the rectangles, between the 

 side and bottom figures, represent the cost 

 of the goods in dollars and cents. Each 

 cost figure is the multiplication of the 

 bottom figure by that of the cost per yard 

 on the same level line as the final cost. 



The clerk measures off the goods a yard 

 at a time. If the purchase is ten yards, the 

 third roll is pulled out from the left. If 

 the goods costs fourteen cents a yard, the 

 figure fourteen is found in the left-hand 

 border column, reading across to the right 

 until the clerk comes to the vertical column 

 with the figure lo at the bottom. Then 

 the cost is found to be $1.40. Other frac- 

 tional yards and fractional cents purchases 

 are found in the same easy manner. 



There are stops at each end of the meas- 

 uring stick to prevent the clerk from meas- 

 uring more than a yard at a time. The rolls 

 of paper pull out and roll up again like 

 ordinarv roller shades. 



276 



