Forensic Rulers

I’ve been watching too much CSI/NCIS/LAW & ORDER/Num3ers. I often see equipment used that I find interesting but in a recent episode of CSI, I noticed a character photographing evidence with a particular type of ruler. It was reminiscent of a measurement device I have seen used in archeological programmes for detailing the size of an artifact. After searching around the ‘net, I found a few examples and proceeded to draw my own in Illustrator.

This is what I came up with. A single long ruler marked in both Centimeters and Inches, two smaller 2in rules and a pair of right-angle rulers marked up in Centimeters.

The image is linked to a full PDF version for download and printing. Print on highest quality at exactly 100%. I have produced copies on a Canon Pixma 6700D and the marks are very accurate. It is distributed under the Creative Commons license for Attribution, non-c0mmercial and share alike meaning you can copy and distribute it but not use it for commercial purposes.

I’m not sure if and when I will use these but I hope someone will find a use for them. I have also seen a set of rulers with circular apertures and was wondering weather to design a variation on those too.