People with poor sight can't use rulers. Or rather they can't use them easily. Try adding a magnifying glass to the mix when you're already trying to balance a pencil and a ruler in a tricky nook while attempting some DIY and you'll see what I mean.
Product Tank's New Rule fixes this, and it does it without resorting to electronics whose batteries die when you need them most, and whose LCD screens are low-contrast and not so easy to see. So how does it work?
The New Rule combines ruler and calipers. Use it as a ruler to draw straight edges and read of distances on its high-contrast, large-type scale. Then comes the clever part: the top edge of the ruler flips back to leave the caliper-jaws exposed. Move these and two things happen: the gears click every millimeter, giving audio feedback of distance, and those same gears also turn a dial, which reads out the distance measured.
This has a useful side effect. The designer describes it in use:
This design is so well thought out that it is clearly not just useful for the visually impaired. I find reading rulers a real pain, and anything that can prove both easier to use and also look this good deserves a place in my toolbox. As it is, the New Rule exists only as a prototype.
New Rule [Product Tank via Core77]
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