GPM ANTHROPOMETER

The main purpose of the Anthropometer is projective measurement of the body. It is therefore suitable for determining the dimensions of all parts of the body. The Anthropometer consists of a hollow metal bar that separates into four parts. The bar is marked with millimeter graduations measuring from 1 to 2,100 mm. A metal slide is moved along the bar, held securely in a travel guide. The slide is fitted with a horizontal sliding steel ruler with the same millimeter graduations. The ruler tapers to a point at one end. A window, of which the upper edge lies in the same horizontal plane as the tip of the steel ruler, is cut out of the slide. The height of any part of the body above the point on which the person is standing, or sitting, can be read off from this upper edge. The Anthropometer combines the function of a beam compass. The compass is used for measuring the width and depth of sections of the body and is suitable for determining the lengths of the upper and lower limbs of a living subject and of skeletal material as well as making projective head and cranial measurements. For this purpose, a second millimeter scale is marked on both upper bar sections of the Anthropometer opposite the first section. This scale begins at the upper end with 0 and continues to 950 mm. At the unattached end of the first bar there is a sheath into which a second steel ruler fits. This second ruler, which also slides in a horizontal plane, can be inserted into the bar with the point facing down. In order to be able to use the uppermost, or the upper two bar sections of the Anthropometer as a beam compass, the steel ruler on the slide must be reversed so that the tips face each other. The scale (on the upper edge of the slide) is then used to read off the distance between the two tips of the ruler in contact with particular sections of the body. Instead of the steel rulers as part of the Anthropometer’s beam compass, the curved measurement arms (102) can be used. By using the curved measurement arms with the beam compass (i.e. for the measurement of the diameter of the sagittal thorax), the large caliper can be dispensed with. The measurement arms are used in the same way as the steel rulers on the Anthropometer