The Swiss-made Brown & Sharpe 599-579-14 dial caliper measures 0 to 150mm with 0.02mm accuracy. Linear accuracy meets the internationally used Deutsches Institut fuer Normung (DIN) 862: Vernier Calipers Requirements and Testing standards. This handy measuring tool allows for reliable and accurate readings with the sharp, black graduations on the no-glare, satin-finished bar, crisp lines on the yellow dial face, and knife edge contacts for inside and outside measurements. Makes inside, outside, depth, and step measurements. One full revolution of the dial is equivalent to 2mm. The jaw depths on this caliper are 40mm for the outside measuring jaws and 13mm on the inside measuring jaws. The knife-edge contacts can be used to scribe parallel lines on the workpiece. This caliper can be used with one hand through operating the fine adjustment roll with the thumb. The lock screw locks the dial and holds the sliding jaw in position. Adjustable zero set allows the user to set zero at a convenient distance. The depth rod is integrated into the rack of the caliper, unlike many calipers which offer a detachable depth rod, or none at all. The hardened stainless steel components, including the bar, measuring surfaces, rack, gears, and depth rod, offer corrosion resistance, increased accuracy, and long life. Spring anti-backlash control offers increased accuracy over standard gear configurations. Backlash is the amount of clearance between mated gear teeth in the caliper controls, which prevents the gear teeth from jamming. It is undesirable to have much backlash due to the lack of precision offered by the increased amount of play between gears. Certain gear designs can minimize or eliminate backlash; spring anti-backlash systems use a spring to add a compressive force, thereby minimizing backlash. Calipers measure the distance between two opposing sides of an object. They make inside, outside, depth, or step measurements, according to their type. Calipers are commonly used in architecture, metalworking, mechanical engineering, machining, manufacturing, carpentry, and medicine. The simplest calipers have two legs to mark the two points and require a ruler to take the measurement. More complex calipers use two sets of jaws instead of legs and have up to two graduated scales. Vernier, dial, and digital calipers give direct and accurate readings and are functionally identical, having a calibrated scale with a fixed jaw, and another jaw with a movable pointer that slides along the scale. The vernier caliper has a scale sliding parallel to the main scale for an additional, fractional reading to improve measurement precision. The dial caliper has a circular dial with a pointer on a toothed gear rack replacing the second vernier scale. As with the vernier, this second measurement is added to the reading from the main scale to obtain the result. The dial caliper is used also for measuring size differential between two objects. The digital caliper takes the same sort of differential measurements as the dial caliper by zeroing the display at any point along the slide, with an LCD (replacing the dial) that displays a single, easily read value in both English and metric units. Some digital calipers can hold data readings between measurements and send them to data collection devices. Brown & Sharpe was founded in 1833, had a major part in setting industrial standards in the United States, and has given its name to several standards, including a tool spindle taper, a worm threadform, and others. Brown & Sharpe was acquired by Hexagon Metrology in 2001, and has since focused on precision measuring equipment and metrology hand tools. The Brown & Sharpe line of coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), optical measuring systems, benchtop measuring machines, and precision hand tools offer consistent, high-quality design, construction, and performance. Brown & Sharpe has manufacturing facilities in North America, Switzerland, and China.