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| Image: Etsy [Edited by The Ferris File] |
Seen in FBDO
An antique drafting compass (or possibly a pair of carpenter’s dividers) can be seen at 01:26:36 in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as Jeanie closes the back door of the Bueller home in the face of Mr. Rooney. The tool is located on the left side of the screen leaned against the window frame.
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| Image: Paramount Pictures |
It can also be seen at approximately 00:55:28 as Mr. Rooney pokes his head into the Buellers' kitchen through the pet door.
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| Image: Paramount Pictures |
The best look, however, comes in a still shot taken from a deleted scene featuring the younger Bueller siblings.
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| Image: Paramount Pictures |
Description
Carpenter’s dividers are a simple measuring and marking tool with two pointed legs and hinged at the top.
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| Image: Etsy [Edited by The Ferris File] |
Carpenters use them to transfer measurements, mark equal spacing or draw circles and arcs on wood. Instead of having numbers like a ruler, the dividers “carry” a distance – once you set the spacing between the points, you can repeat that exact measurement accurately across a surface.
Very similar in design to a drafting compass, this tool does have some minor differences. While carpenter’s dividers are used to transfer and repeat measurements, drafting compasses are used to draw circles or arcs, with one point acting as a pivot and the other marking the curve. Simply put, dividers compare distances while compasses define a radius.
Notes
The points of the tool are not visible in the film; therefore, it is not possible to identify with any certainty whether this is a compass or a pair of dividers.
Finding This Item
Full disclosure: I called my dad.
I thought the item in the window looked like a compass but it seemed way too large. Surely my dad, a skilled woodworker with decades of experience, would have some sort of an idea of what I was looking at.
Sure enough, the self-proclaimed “smartest man alive” came through in the clutch.
Find Your Own
Check eBay for an antique drafting compass (dividers?) of your own!
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