McDonald’s Roller Ruler/Règle Circulaire is a simple card measure that helped introduce children to tracking and measuring a line.

This month’s measure is a curvimetre and has some helpful printing on it’s reverse that informs us of it’s origin: “© McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd. 1982″. The face of the Roller Ruler boldly informs the user “measure anything”! That is perhaps stretching things a little far as it is quite a flimsy card measure. One example I have has a creased neck to the unicycle riding character where perhaps a little too much pressure has been experienced. The line it measures could just as easily be a road, a river, a path or a track on a map.

The text is printed in two languages, as Canada has French and English as two co-official languages. The Canada 2016 Official Census found that 68.3% of the population spoke only English, 11.9% only French, and 17.9% both languages, while just 1.9% spoke neither.

The reverse of the measure informs the user, in both French and English, how much a full turn of the measuring disc will measure. The user is also told, again, in two languages: “Use McDonald’s Roller Ruler to measure anything… your book, your room, or even… you!”

The measuring wheel rotates on a brass rivet and the measure cannot easily be dismantled. Despite being intended for children, it is quite large- standing 155mm tall and the measuring wheel has a diameter of 80mm. Made of quite thin card, it is unsurprising that it weighs just 3.9g. That said, as with most curvimeters, the method of operation is so simple and it is so simply made that it is a relatively accurate measure. Tracking an indicated 250mm, it actually covers 251mm.

The character depicted riding the unicycle is instantly recognisable, easily one of the best known brands worldwide. The Ronald McDonald clown character and trademark, used by the McDonald’s fast-food restaurant chain, first debuted in 1963. Ronald is wearing a jumpsuit with clown boots and clown make-up. This outfit was changed in 2014, which may have helped date our measure if it were not for a helpful 1982 date on the reverse. His costume includes not only the McDonalds Golden Arches symbol, first introduced in 1968, but also the Canadian Maple Leaf. The red, 11-pointed, Maple Leaf has been a Canadian emblem since the 19th century and was first used as a national symbol in 1868. It was added to the Canadian Coat of Arms in 1921 and most notably appears on Canada’s flag, adopted 1965.

A plastic Ronald McDonald curvimetre has previously featured as Map Measure of the Month. In common with that measure, the origin and specific purpose of this month’s Canadian Roller Ruler are a bit of a mystery. Children’s gifts, toys and activities were supplied with children’s McDonald Happy Meals, but despite first appearing in the US in the 1970s, McDonald’s only officially introduced the Happy Meal in Canada in 1994 so this 1982 measure predates that by some margin. Despite this, it was still almost certainly a child’s gift, originating from that corporation. I have been unable to find any information on this particular measure and have been unable to confirm it’s origin. It is a fun ephemeral item and went some way to not only pushing brand awareness, but also teaching children a little of measuring and mathematics, which can only be a good thing.

Three Points of the Compass has previously looked at quite a few more Map Measures in detail. Links to these can be found here. Next month will see a return to perhaps more traditional type measures.