The steel square is a carpentry tool built as a long, wide arm, called the body, meeting a shorter, narrower arm, called the tongue, at a right angle, used to lay out square corners and, through the graduations and tables commonly stamped along its arms, to work out the angles and lengths needed for rafters, stairs and other layout problems by calculation rather than trial and error. Though it takes its name from having traditionally been forged of steel, modern versions of the same tool are also made from aluminum or polymer, the name having stuck to the tool's distinctive long-armed shape rather than to the material it happens to be made from.
Facts
Introduced When (Circa)in documented carpentry use by 1880; the rafter-table version was patented April 23, 1901 1 OriginThe steel square's rafter-table form was patented April 23, 1901; the tool was already established enough in carpentry practice to be the subject of a dedicated manual, Frederick T. Hodgson's The Carpenters' Steel Square and Its Uses, published in 1880. 1 Introduced era (class) Still Made Today Connections
Used In
Steel Square is used in Woodworking.
Works Material
Source Steel square (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Era Of Origin
Also in History Atlas: the era this subject comes from.
Sources
1. Steel square (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIrregular hip/valley rafters section, patent date
The traditional steel square's rafter table (patented April 23,1901) is limited in that it does not have tables that allow for work with unequal pitched roofs.
Bibliography, Hodgson 1880 monograph
Hodgson, Frederick T. (1880). The Carpenters' Steel Square and Its Uses. The Industrial Publication Company. LCCN 06036488.
Lead section
Carpenters use various tools to lay out structures that are square (that is, built at accurately measured right angles), many of which are made of steel, but the name steel square refers to a specific long-armed square that has additional uses for measurement, especially of various angles.
Lead section, still made today
Today the steel square is more commonly referred to as the framing square or carpenter's square, and such squares are no longer invariably made of steel (as they were many decades ago); they can also be made of aluminum or polymers, which are light and resistant to rust.
Works Material: Wood, Lead
The steel square is a tool used in carpentry
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