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Open Mind/Common Sense
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Blind Micrometer |
To someone with ordinary vision, it looks like any other micrometer but on the thimble next to the numbers are the raised Braille dots that a visually impaired person needs to be able to read with his fingers in order to translate the precise measurements. | |
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One was found recently and it began a lively discussion at the Anderson Plywood Old Tool Swap Meet about how this tool could be used by someone who is blind. Several of us went home and started looking in old Starrett catalogs to find out when it was first offered. The earliest catalog showing it was from 1961 but it was in the experimental phase for years before this appearance. The micrometer was made for the American Foundation for the Blind based in New York and though Starrett made it, the micrometer was not for sale by them but could be ordered from the Foundation. |
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Starrett mentioned it in their catalogs in order to spread the word that this special tool was available. They felt it was just their humble way of cooperating with this humanitarian organization and helping to give even more people employment and a chance to earn an honest living. |
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According to another Starrett tool booklet, a highly skilled sighted mechanic with a sense of touch or feel can detect even the slightest differences in measurements. This sense can be developed with practice and proper handling of Starrett tools. Measuring tools need to be properly balanced in the hand and held lightly and delicately in such a way as to bring the fingers into play in handling or moving it. In the human hand, the sense of touch is most prominent in the fingertips. Here was the answer to our original question as to how a blind machinist could use the Braille micrometer and be just as precise as a sighted machinist. |
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Google.com was the next step in the research. When you type in Blind Machinist and click on Google Search, one discovers that visually impaired machinists have been around for a longtime and that they can accomplish whatever they set their minds to. It does help to have foundations supporting their endeavors, special training programs, equipment that can be modified and employers with imagination who will rise to the challenge. |
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In this informal tool research, it was discovered that there are often very good reasons to adapt an ordinary tool and make it special. Someone who might have fallen through the cracks of life can now be useful and productive in a profession that relies on feel as much as ordinary sight. -LP |
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