Rope Guage Measure

A boxwood and brass tool for measuring the size of rope.

The boxwood is stamped with grids for various different titles of rope from 'Shroud Tar'd Hemp Coils' and 'Laid Manilla Coils' to 'Wire, Hemp' and 'Chain'. The extending brass measure is marked for the circumference to one side and diameter to the other.

The side of the tool is stamped 'Pollok Hutchison Co.' Hutchison & Pollok were ropemakers who can trace their roots back as far as 1780 in Liverpool. Addresses associated with the company are 182 Lodge Lane, Toxteth, 12 Goree Piazzas, 8-10 Lancelots Hey, Liverpool and 109 Hope Street, Glasgow. It's no surprise that they were based in two of Britain's biggest shipbuilding cities. A 1930 report on Industrial Britain states that they have always been at the forefront of development in shipping from the days of the sailing ship to the present day and that their reputation as manufacturers of high-class goods has been well known to those interested in ropes. They were makers of ropes for every purpose afloat and ashore.

What was probably any everyday tool for Hutchison & Pollok, today stands out as being unusual. It's well made and very tactile. Circa 1900.

Closed size is given.