This section is from the book "The Engineer's And Mechanic's Encyclopaedia", by Luke Hebert. Also available from Amazon: Engineer's And Mechanic's Encyclopaedia.
A simple instrument, for the same purpose as the foregoing; but in this the bob is suspended to the end of a straight board with a fine marked down the centre; so that when the edge of the board is placed against the wall or other object, the plumb-line should exactly coincide with the line marked on the board, to be vertical; and the amount of deviation from the vertical line is precisely ascertained by the angle of divergence between the two lines.
 
Continue to: