Ruler mark

[MalcolmInN]

Late last night I noticed ( in a post by @FourWheelCoach )
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=31571.msg366695#msg366695
a black patch surrounding the 16inch mark on the tapemeasure and, wondering, went to my own which has a similar (but smaller) black dot at 16", 32" and multiples thereoff.
Couldnt think of a reason why it should be thus marked, but figured something would come to my 1 remaining brain cell in the cold light of day,,, well the bad news is that although it is exceedingly cold with a very bright sun I am still at a loss 

Please someone put me out of my misery ( and that of SWMBO as well as she is, unusually , of no help at all ! )

What is significant about the 16 inch interval ?

( feeling rather foolish asking this cos it is bound to be something blindingly obvious ? ! )

[dave d]

These marks are  to accommodate the distance between centres of studs when building a stud partition wall. This means that standard size sheets can be used and the necessary allowance on the stud for the next sheet to be fixed. In theory, knowing this will allow you to place a hook, screw or nail in the wall securely without making lots of holes that have missed 

[MalcolmInN]

screw or nail in the wall securely without making lots of holes that have missed 

A vital precaution indeed
amazing the knowledge here gatherd together 

Thank you Dave, you are awarded a week's supply of virtual ale
I shall rest happy now 
,,,,
except, I have another problem, this time in statistics :
I wonder what proportion of tapemeasures sold today have this function excersized , they'll come to take me away soon,

[dave d]

Just checked the two tape measures in my tool box and one that is broken that lives in the "man drawer", all have the "mark of sixteen". Perhaps all modern tape measures do have the mark.
This could be a possible job creation project to check all tape measures for compliance 

[JasonBz]

I thin they do all have them, even my USA sourced one (no metric rubbish on that one).
Very handy when building decks for sure

[DELETED]

I've never seen these afforementioned marks on tapes before.  I have a good few tapes and they don't have them

These marks are  to accommodate the distance between centres of studs when building a stud partition wall. This means that standard size sheets can be used and the necessary allowance on the stud for the next sheet to be fixed. In theory, knowing this will allow you to place a hook, screw or nail in the wall securely without making lots of holes that have missed

...Have been doing DIY today and co-incidentally bracketing off my studs and in my place they seem to be at 2' spacings -cheap build?

[JasonBz]

Two foot spacing should be good for stud walls - as long as it is decent size wood... 3"x2" works in my world

The 16 inch is really for joist spacing, not studs.

[Mustermark]

In the US, houses are built of stud walls. Everything is made of a 4x2" stud frame at 16" centres. Maybe that has influenced all imperial tape measures?

Brick here seems only to be a veneer, a half inch thick fake coating to make a house look like brick. It takes a couple of days to erect the frame of a whole house because the frames get delivered in big sections and all they do is nail gun them together. But I guess that's how come we can live in a 4000sqft detached house for the price of a UK 2-bed terrace!

[jpendle]

In the US, houses are built of stud walls. Everything is made of a 4x2" stud frame at 16" centres. Maybe that has influenced all imperial tape measures?

Brick here seems only to be a veneer, a half inch thick fake coating to make a house look like brick. It takes a couple of days to erect the frame of a whole house because the frames get delivered in big sections and all they do is nail gun them together. But I guess that's how come we can live in a 4000sqft detached house for the price of a UK 2-bed terrace!

Plus land is dirt cheap, especially in places like Wyoming, there are 600,000 people in the whole state, and it's bigger than the UK

John P

[colpatben]

Mine's got one.

Oops giant track