Sure, you can measure completely normal and expected items with a diameter tape measure: pipes, trees, poles, etc. But how about we get a little crazy today and think of bizarre things that we can measure.
– water bottles
– your leg
– tater tots (it’s National Tater Tot Day!)
With only 4 days left until Christmas, I am sure many of you have been to countless holiday parties with coworkers and friends. Did any of these parties include a White Elephant gift exchange?
If you’re anything like me, these gift exchanges make me uncomfortable. No one is shopping for anyone in particular, so none of the gifts are personal. Odds are, you have received a few gifts from these parties that you would rather, well… re-gift.
Today is National Re-Gifting Day, a perfect time to re-wrap those less-than-desired gifts you’ve received this month, and give them to someone who will really appreciate them.
But the one gift you’ve received that I know you won’t re-gift is the tried-and-true diameter tape measure. It’s too good to give away!
It’s the age-old question: should Daylight Savings be permanent or not? Sure, we get to have an extra hour of sleep this Sunday, but that also comes with an earlier sunset. Having the sun set before dinnertime is a little silly, right?
What if a diameter tape measure could solve this problem? To be honest, it probably wouldn’t help at all, but it would be a nice promotional gift to your customers.
In 2021 and still in 2022, there are widespread supply chain issues worldwide. Many products that are made in China have had 2 problems making it to the United States. First of all, is their labor problem. Covid 19 outbreaks have closed down Chinese factories at least twice since 2019. Secondly, transportation issues have been another major issue. The price of shipping has increased drastically, and the port of Los Angeles had a bottleneck issue several months ago.
All these issues have contributed to the dramatic slowdown of raw materials and
finished products. Pipe diameter tape measures are no exception. Lufkin makes the most popular one, and has shipped only a small amount of inventory in the last 12 months to its distributors. At this point, August 2022, the future of more shipments is uncertain. An alternative diameter tape is made in China, the Pi-Cobra Diameter Tape. Shipments are due in the United States shortly, but maybe not soon enough or big enough to satisfy the need of customers.
A Pipe Diameter Tape Measure is used by oil companies and Water utility companies. The oil companies are doing very well right now, due to the profitability of oil drilling. So their need for these tapes is higher than the supply. This is driving up the price of the Pi-Cobra tapes. Hopefully, this supply chain problem will soon come to an end.
The United States never did switch over to the metric system, as it was planned in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Yes, metric went over like a lead balloon. Americans are happy with inches, feet, gallons, and yards. The centimeter, liter and meter were mostly rejected. Both systems are used today in 2021 in labeling food products and liquids, but we Americans have learned to skim over those parts of the label that don’t fit into our familiar system.
The scientific community is firmly based on the MKS and CGS systems (meter, kilogram, second) and (centimeter, gram, second). The biggest part of the world is metric-based also.
Fortunately, pipe diameter tape measures are made for both systems, separately, and there is even one that is made with the inch and metric system together. The front side of the tape is in diameter inches (up to 38). The back side is in diameter millimeters (up to 955). This is a rare tool, but some companies need both measurements to satisfy their requirements.
Pi-Cobra Diameter Tape, Metric & Inch
I bet this week is going to be a doozie, so I think I might just unplug the TV and not read the news online either. I need a detox from all of the social and political unrest that is consuming the news headlines daily.
So let’s completely change the topic and talk about the diameter tape measure!
What are the best features of these specialty tape measures?
Good question, because most people don’t have any use for one. A diameter tape measure is a measuring tape whose scale is stretched out by a factor of pi. This allows you to wrap it around a round object, such as a pipeline or tree trunk, and read its diameter directly on the scale. You don’t need to divide by 3.14159.
Here are some other names that people call these tapes: