Two pieces of moulded plastic, that introduced children to the notion of measuring a line with a circular wheel. While at the same time pushing brand awareness on to them.

On the Three Points of the Compass website there is a page dedicated to map measures, the opening paragraph reads as follows:

“For many decades of navigation, anyone that required a map was also using a map measurer. The military use them, sailors use them, motorists use them, town planners and draughtsmen use them, and still, just a few walkers use them. You run a little wheel along a route, a path, a road, a river, a line on a drawing, then either read off the result or measure against a standard.”

To this list can be added children, for this month’s measure is a perfectly functional curvimetre. It is amongst the simplest I have but is almost immediately intuitive and simple to use. Used to measure a line, such a line could very easily be a road, path or river on a scale map.

The measure is comprised of two pieces of red plastic that can be clipped together. When assembled it makes a 117.5mm tall measure that can be rolled along a line and measure in inches and millimetres. The ‘handle’ is in the shape of the Ronald McDonald clown character and trademark, used by the McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain, first debuted in 1963. .

He is wearing a jumpsuit with clown boots and clown make-up. This outfit was changed in 2014, helping slightly to date our measure. His costume includes the McDonalds Golden Arches symbol four times, three on the front, and one across his back. This very familiar symbol was first introduced in 1968.

The Ronald handle part of the instrument is 101mm x approximately 48mm and is 3.5mm at its thickest point. When assembled, the measuring wheel rotates between Ronald’s ankles, looking almost as though he were riding a unicycle. The measuring wheel has a diameter 47.6mm and is 5.2mm thick across the widest point, at the central pivot point. Unsurprisingly, the two-part measure is very light, just 11.2g.

The measuring wheel has two faces. One for measuring inches, from 0-6, with quarter inch increments. One full revolution actually measures 5 15/16″ The other face is for measuring between 0-150 millimetres, in 5mm increments. One full revolution actually measures 151mm. This face also has what is presumably a mould number: 6 or 9, near the centre.

The origin of this month’s measure is a bit of a mystery. When disassembled, the two parts are in a thin and packable form and I suspect that it was a ‘free’ gift as part of a child’s McDonald’s Happy Meal. But despite there being a large and thriving collector’s market for the toys given away with these meals, I have been unable to find any information on this particular curvimetre and consequently have been unable to confirm this potential origin.

McDonald’s Happy Meals are a child’s meal, in a box, with a gift/toy/activity, i.e. something to keep a child occupied. It appears that multiple people and franchises are credited with the idea. A Cleveland ad agency proposed McDonald’s ‘Fun Meals’ in the early 1970s. The meals came in a sack with puzzles and activities on the packaging, but no toys. The concept was expanded, mostly ‘borrowed’ from a competitor, Burger Chef, who included a toy with their meals. A McDonald’s regional ad manager, Dick Brams engaged an agency to develop the idea. Bob Bernstein, a Kansas City advertising executive, states that he came up with the idea of Happy Meals in 1975.

Also credited as being one of the Happy Meal creators is Yolanda Cofino, née Fernandez, once president of McDonald’s in Guatemala. In 1977 she created a ‘Ronald’s Menu’ for the first Guatemalan McDonalds restaurant (that opened in 1974). This included a hamburger, small fries, small Coke, small sundae and small toys that she bought at a local market. U.S. senior management were largely unaware of this, though she presented her idea at a marketing conference in Chicago the same year.

In 1979, McDonald’s extended regional trials of Happy Meals as a national offer in the U.S. These initially included a hamburger or cheeseburger, fries, cookie, a soft drink and a toy. The first toys included were stencils, wallets, puzzles and erasers.

I suppose it could be argued that this months measure isn’t even a map measure. After all, not all map measures are curvimetres and not all curvimetres are map measures, but this month’s example is a curvimetre and could be used to measure lines on a map. And it is my curvimetre and my blog, so there!

Three Points of the Compass has looked at quite a few more, perhaps more traditional, Map Measures in detail. Links to these can be found here.