Level Sights??

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I've seen stanley and starret level sights listed on e-bay. What do you use them for? They look sorta like gun sites, but I'm having a hard time seeing what they could be used for. Maybe to make a level into a transit?

[Roger Bell]

The level sights allowed an ordinary carpenter's level to be substituted for a either a surveyor's dumpy level or an builder's optical hand level....enabling the user to determine relative elevation differences from a Philadelphia rod or from a yardstick or folding rule. The level is placed on a box, a tripod or some other surface which can itself be leveled or shimmed to level. Naturally, since there is no magnification, I would consider this method to be a bit mickey-mouse compared even to a crude optical hand level for elevations, but it would probably do well enough for various kinds of rough work (foundation drains, rough excavation and embankments, fence lines, sidewalks, etc) and might allow a craftsman to travel light and have a little something extra in his bag of tricks.

Stanley made tripods for use with their carpenters levels with level sights for just a few years. I dont know much about these other than what is shown in the catalogs. These were suggested in the catalog as complementing their carpenters levels and the level sights. I don't see verniers on the tripods in the catalog pictures, nor do the catalogs say anything about a vernier....which would be necessary if the intent was to provide a quick and dirty substitute for a transit. Without a vernier, I would consider an ordinary staff or even a hand compass a superior substitute for a transit more so that this arrangement. And I would think that batter boards and string would be more useful in laying out, aligning and squaring up walls.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Thanks Roger.