Combination Safety Glasses And Measurement Tool

A set of brass safety glasses sit on a marred black workbench. The top and earpiece sections of the frames are in squarish brass plate and have ruler marks on them.

While rulers and tape measures are ubiquitous, they always seem to disappear when you need them. We know you’d never forget your safety glasses (safety first!), so what if they were also a measuring tool?

Starting by snapping pieces from a folding yardstick, [Simone Giertz] and [Laura Kampf] worked out a rough prototype before letting [Giertz] complete the project in brass. Some initial issues with the weight of the frames were alleviated by switching to a lighter weight plate material and using thinner frames and weight-saving holes near the ear pieces.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so we’ll let somebody else decide whether or not these will be the newest fashion craze. But it’s hard to argue with the timelessness of brass unless you have a copper allergy. We could definitely see a less expensive plastic version catching on in makerspaces for the PPE bin.

Want some other cool wearable gear? How about [Giertz]’s grocery bag hat, an evening gown with servo-driven flowers, or a shirt that reflects heat out the atmospheric window?

19 thoughts on “Combination Safety Glasses And Measurement Tool

  1. But what if I need a tape measure and need to wear safety glasses at the same time? OH NOEZ!

    Seriously, this has a nerd-cool look but from a practical perspective it’s like having a pencil on the end of your shoelace – yeah, you need both, but separately not together.

    1. Of course putting a pencil on a shoelace is silly, you’re supposed to print your tape measure on it instead.

      Best part is now you have TWO tapes measures, really handy when you lose the first one.

      (As an aside, I’m fairly sure tape measure shoelaces actually exist.)

  2. I still kind of want to get measurements tattooed on my forearms. Metric on one side, imperial the other. Maybe some small measurements on an index finger. There would be some drift, but it would be good enough for many tasks

    1. The guy from the “Crime pays but botany doesn’t” youtube channel has a tattoo on his finger he uses when taking pictures of plants for scale.
      In that situation it is brilliant :)

      BTW…if you haven’t watched that channel it is worth the time. It is what drove me to start viewing the local plants around me as individuals and not just a “green mass of weeds”.

    2. Get that metric meter around your biceps and train to the moment you get imperial ;)

      Jokes aside – I have just seen a meter on a leg of fisherman that was using it to measure his catch. Problem is that your skon is elastic so you may loose some precision.

      But you made me think:
      People often use NATO strap for their watches. Some even add a compass to it. So maybe a small meter as an add on to your wirstwatch strap?

  3. Simone’s videos are always worth a watch.
    She comes up with such bizarre ideas but you wind up thinking “actually that’s not a bad idea”, like her foldable coathangers for small spaces.
    As for measuring devices, Adam Savage has a tattoo on his arm that he uses as a ruler.

  4. I’m sorry, but my ears hurt just looking at the thin brass edges of the legs on those glasses. You’d be bleeding into your locks in just a few minutes.

    It’s the kind of thing cartoon characters can get away with, but not in the real world.

  5. Ugh. My mistake for actually thinking the link would be a write up (why!?). Double mistake for not immediately closing a you tube video and three times my fault for somehow not believing the very first moments saying contains promotional material. After all that though neat concept. Just massive no to the entire overproduced look at me YouTube life.

  6. I wear a rear vision mirror on my glasses and never take it off lest I loose it. It’s out at the left corner and blocks little in that space nothing ahead. That thick band in front is a partial blinder all the way across. Safety includes the best vision as well as protection.

  7. Brass’s lower electrical resistivity than thermoplastics makes the glasses less safe for NFPA90E work, higher thermal coefficient makes them less safe for steam tunnel/power plant work, and would destroy a very sensitive part of the face in an arc flash. Lastly, as others have noted, you must remove glasses to use the ruler. People don’t realize how overpoliced safety is on many job sites. Foremen, supervisors, and even an entire company can be kicked off a job if their workers are found not wearing PPE. Insurance companies have taken to including unannounced inspections in their riders for big jobs and contractors. One employee without gloves or glasses might raise future premiums by 100K easy. By firing or replacing staff for safety violations, site owners and contractors can lessen civil lawsuit liability.

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