Berkeley Albadure Engineers' Steel Tape measure, 100 ft. open reel, made by Keuffel & Esser Co., (Hoboken), n.d., ca. 1955-1965.
Entry/Object ID
2009.001.0026
Description
Berkeley Albadure Engineers' Steel Tape measure, 100 foot, open reel, made by Keuffel & Esser Co., (Hoboken), no date, probably not earlier than 1955 to circa 1965. Aluminum reel with folding crank handle, 6-1/2" diameter x ca. 1/2" wide not including crank handle. Tape is 5/16" wide Albadure brand steel tape with black markings on white background; lacking original end ring. Leather hand strap (rotted).
The graduations are in feet, tenths of a foot and one-hundreths of a foot.
Model number has not been determined. Only available reference is the 1954 42nd edition catalog which does not have the trademark Albadure tape available in the Berkeley line. The catalog notes that it was only available on the Stevens Albadure line at the the time of publication.
The model number is probably available in a price list from the late 1950s or early 1960s. It is likely to be something like NA7215D (N for new; A for Albadure; 7215 for length; D for graduations.)
K&E main office and factories were in Hoboken at this time.
