As a gift, I was given an old locator's level. It is a steel box tube about 6" in length. It has a level bubble on top. There is a small peephole, and when you look through it, it has tick marks and a horizontal line. I guess it was used by surveyors to check elevation differences, but I am curious how it works.
2007-09-02 05:09:41 · 2 answers · asked by David F. 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
It is called a Locke level for the original maker of them and is used for rough leveling as in chaining of distances or for rough differential leveling.
If properly adjusted, they work reasonable well and are still in use. When the bubble is centered in the tube, the crosswire shows a plane level with your eye. The tick marks are to allow a more precise centering of the bubble because its size will change with temperature. Just get the ends of it an equal number of tick marks from the crosswire.
2007-09-02 05:21:10 · answer #1 · answered by Tom K 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check out the links, below (the top one has a search function that has lots of info about Locke levels; the second one shows a picture of one from the Smithsonian collection; look at page 27 of the fourth one).
Have fun, and keep a level head about you! ;)
2007-09-02 13:05:52 · answer #2 · answered by skaizun 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋