Ruler (1)

From Inventions

Name used since Renaissance times (from the Latin regula).

Description

Instrument for drawing straight lines. Usually made of wood, but sometimes of ivory or brass, rulers generally had a squared edge for tracing lines in dry point or pen-and-ink, and a rounded edge for tracing lines by pencil and transcribing measurements. In his treatise on architecture Vincenzo Scamozzi describes it as follows: “…rulers should be made of pear wood, or apple wood, or jujube or sorb, either domestic or wild … [they have] a squared edge for drawing occult lines, or blunt with the point of an ivory stylus, or with a pencil point … Rulers or vanes… [can be] of ebony, or ivory … and those made of metal leave stains on the paper …”

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Bibliographical Resources

Scamozzi, Vincenzo, L’idea della architettura universale, Venezia, 1615, Parte I, Lib. I, Cap. XV, p. 49.

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Images

Bibl.Dig. Pomodoro 1624.jpg Giovanni Pomodoro, La geometria pratica, Roma, 1599, tav.I, particolare.

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Author of the entry: Filippo Camerota