Murphy & Cos
ABC SYSTEM
OF
Railway Painting.
T H E
ABC SYSTEM
OF
Railway Painting.
MURPHY & COMPANY,
VARNISH MAKERS,
231 Broadway, New York.
306 Canal Street, Cleveland.
202 South Fourth St., St. Louis.
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MURPHY & CO.
NEW YORK, N. V.
1883
Copyrighted 1883 by Murphy âr' Co.
Statement.
It is now about six years since " The ABC System of
Painting " was introduced to the trade. It has been a
business success from the start, and when it is remembered
that in order to use it, the painter is asked to abandon the
habits of a life-time and use a new material and a new
method, its success has been phenomenal. Its very
success, however, is conclusive proof of the pressing need
which was felt, of some better way than the old for
painting passenger cars and engines—a way that should
shorten the time and still be durable; and when it was
demonstrated, as it soon was beyond intelligent question,
that the ABC System gave not only a saving in time but
a greatly increased durability, its position as a pronounced
and permanent success was assured.
It should at all times be born in mind, however, that the
chief claim which the system has to the support of the
Railway trade, is not that by it a car can be painted in less
than the average time under the old method, but because
of the simplicity and certainty of its process and the
absolute uniformity of its results, together with the fact
now demonstrated beyond a doubt, that it is more durable
than anything heretofore known.
Painters of all kinds are conservative. They soon learn
the wisdom of making changes slowly, and it is because of
the conservatism of the craft that the system is not now in
universal use, but it is already adopted as the standard
system of painting by the following roads among many:
Atchison, Topera & Santa Fe.
Allegheny Valley.
Buffalo, Pittsburgh & Western.
Baltimore & Ohio.
Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis.
Chicago & North Western (Locomotive Department.).
Grand Rapids & Indiana.
Jefferson, Madison & Indiana.
Little Miami.
Louisville & Nashville.
Missouri Pacific.
Northern Central.
Pullman's Palace Car Co.
Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago.
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis.
Richmond & Danville.
St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern.
This statement ought to be, and is, proof of its adapta¬
bility to railway requirements, as well as of its true
economy. The number of its adherents is increasing
rapidly, and we confidently look forward to the time when
it shall be regarded just as essential to the construction of
a car as a roof or a truck.
In the meantime we will be glad to answer any inquiries
on the subject, and have prepared the following pages for
those who have the time or inclination to investigate the
matter.
In this pamphlet we have endeavored to be sufficiently
full to clearly state the case, but have also remembered
that in these days, few virtues have more commercial value
than brevity.
The A B C System of Painting.
A Review of the Old Method.
To paint a car and paint it well, has been by no means
a simple thing to do, and, indeed, by the old-time method
of performing the work, durable painting is nothing short
of a difficult and slowly-to-be-consummated art, and
requiring, if the work is to prove permanent and perfect,
an artist workman. He must be both a skillful mechanic,
and in the matters of selecting stock and compounding
paint coatings, a sort of chemist; and thus it happens that
car painters, master-painters especially, are second to no
other class of mechanics in intelligence and skill. It is
characteristic with the craft to be conservative, and to be
cautious in adopting new ideas, nor is this strange, seeing
that under the old and yet prevailing system the labors of
the car painter are beset by many and various perplexities,
and, indeed, by hidden possibilities of disaster against
which there seems to be no protection outside of a long
and practical acquaintance with both materials and
methods. In many trades, a workman has simply to
acquire dexterity in the use of tools, his wood or iron
being supplied him, and he assumes no responsibility
beyond that of shaping and fitting, that is, no responsi¬
bility for the endurance of the material. Quite different
from this has it been with the painter, for under the old
system he has had to be responsible for the durability of
materials also—materials which, unlike wood or iron, he
could not select ready at hand, but which must be com¬
pounded by himself from pigments, oils and driers, in
each of which ingredients he runs the risk of adulterations.
2
The ABC System of Painting.
In the light of these facts it is by no means difficult to
perceive why the paint-shop has been a little behind the
other departments of car building in adapting its pro¬
cesses to modern needs. The demand of the present
age is for rapid results. Painters everywhere have been
keenly alive to the urgency of the call on them for quick¬
ened processes, and the solution of the problem, viz.,
" How shall a car be painted rapidly and yet be durable?"
has long taxed the thoughts and efforts of the best crafts¬
men in the land. To render rapidity compatible with
permanence and durability; to safely reduce the work of
weeks to the work of days; to paint perfectly and yet with
dispatch;—these were the ends to be attained. Rapidity
alone was easily attainable, a liberal use of driers yielding
this, but this proved prejudicial to durability. Experi¬
mental changes and variations of the old system have
been tried, and sufficiently, it may be added, to fully
demonstrate the imposibility of conjuring up durable
quickness with materials, the very nature of which imposes
slowness and delay. Ought we longer to look for new
discoveries within a tread-mill built of antiquated ideas?
Have not our painters clung too closely to the notion that
the old system was the only system, the old material the
only material?
The objections to be found against the lead-and-oil
system (if indeed it may properly be called a system,
since scarcely two painters in ten regularly follow the same
rules) have been exhaustively discussed both in print and
at painters' conventions. No practical painter, however,
has need to consult a book for these objections; he expe¬
riences them hour by hour. The unwholesomeness of
lead-working is no unimportant objection to the lead-and-
oil system, and we think we may very safely say that not
a few painters have regarded this single feature of the old
system as sufficient in itself to render the substitution of a
system wherein their unhealthfulness may be avoided, as
exceedingly desirable. Of the slowness inseparable from
The ABC System of Painting.
3
the lead-and-oil system we have already made mention.
To the company particularly, yet scarcely less so to the
painter, this irremediable peculiarity must ever be its chief
disadvantage. The unmistakable demand of the present
age from every department of mechanical activity is rapid
results. Rapidity is important to the company that they
may get their rolling stock into service at the shortest
notice; it is important to the painter that he may accom¬
plish a greater amount of work. Rapidity rules in every
industry, and a process to be slow in these days, is to be
out of the current of the times; a disadvantage not easily
tolerated by progressive men.
Innumerable experiments for hastening the lead-and-oil
process, and for shortening the time for lead-and-oil to dry,
have been attempted, but it has yet to be demonstrated
that swiftness is compatible with durability in that system.
As you shorten the drying, you limit the wear, and at
the same time imperil permanent adhesion to the wood.
Among other prominent disadvantages inseparably con¬
nected with the lead-and-oil system may be mentioned the
complexity of labor, drudgery and wastefulness attached
to its processes. It cannot be denied that in respect to
these, the old system is exceptionally primitive. Indeed,
when we consider the extent to which labor-saving and
labor-simplifying devices have improved and advanced
mechanical processes generally, it seems little short of
remarkable that we to-day find a painter necessitated to
compound his working stock from raw materials, oils, pig¬
ments and driers, and nearly every coating, too, produced
by a separate mixing. Is not the painting craft consider¬
ably behind the other trades in freeing itself of its drudg¬
eries? It has pretty much relinquished its oil boiling, its
lead-and-color grinding by hand, its japan and varnish
making, but still holds on to its mixing, mixing, mixing.
Consider for a moment the disadvantage under which a
foreman painter labors by having these many compound-
ings to attend to, and it is he that must attend to them, or
4
The ABC System of Painting.
otherwise his every job may be endangered. He may, per¬
haps, be engaged in finishing a car or in other work diffi¬
cult to leave before completion, but which he is forced to
withdraw from to mix paint coats for his workmen. If he
entrusts these compoundings to his helpers and apprenti¬
ces, and instructs each to mix for himself, is he not very
quickly in trouble? And yet he does this; hardly any
foreman is unable to avoid doing it, and the trouble fol¬
lows, as it necessarily must. It is by no means an unheard-
of thing for a job on which a course of seven or eight
coatings is to be applied, to have its first coatings mixed
for it by one workman, its middle coatings by a second,
and its last coatings by a third; neither workman disposed
to proportion his ingredients by weighing and measuring,
but each habituated to guess at proportions, and whose
unwritten formulas, if written, would read, " a little of this,
and a little of that, to some of the other;" and thus it hap¬
pens that where, to insure perfect work, a uniform quantity
in coatings should be maintained, all uniformity is lost.
Quick drying paint is applied over slow drying paint, and
slow drying coats are sandwiched between quick drying
coats, and the " deviltries " in paints about which learned
essays are written, are seen to their fullest extent. Doubt¬
less the inequality of paint stock, of lead, of oil, and of
driers, has led to this widespread inattention to fixed
formulas, and perhaps it is not strange that many painters
after repeatedly trying carefully proportioned mixtures
with no better result than to see their most painstaking
endeavors set at naught by adulterated lead, impure oil, or
a little drier, should come to regard fixed rules as of no
particular advantage. But what is this but another argu¬
ment against the continuance of a system which involves
so many chances of ill luck. Ought the car painter to
longer find it necessary to deal with raw material, and to
continue the labor and trouble of so many mixings? If
the painter can trust to buy ready-ground lead, and take
chances on oil, and stake results on average driers, would
The ABC System of Paintings
5
he run any greater risk by making use of ready com¬
pounded surfacers? Would he not rather lessen his risk,
as well as reduce his labor? In the one case he takes four
separate chances on ingredients, and a fifth chance on un¬
skillful compounding, if entrusted to an assistant; whereas,
in the other case he takes but a single chance, viz.—that
of not finding the ready compounded surfacers suited to
his needs, and the chance loses the character of a chance
altogether, when the ready compounded surfaccr is guar¬
anteed by a responsible manufacturer. Herein is a point
that should attract the attention of every painter who
desires uniform work—that is, every job alike—a thing well
nigh impossible under the old method of many mixings.
Of the wastefulness attendant on the old-time system, but
little need be said as the fact is too plainly observable to
be successfully disputed.
Our purpose in this direction is simply to draw attention
to the fact that all waste is avoided in the new system.
The disproportion between the cost of material in this and
in the lead-and-oil system, and the amount of labor nec¬
essary to be expended on this material to put it in condi¬
tion for use, have misled many parties in their conclusions
as to the actual cost of old system stock. The cost of any
labor expended in compounding a mixture from raw
materials most certainly becomes a part of the cost of the
mixture, and wastage resulting from many separate mix¬
ings must be considered, too. Obviously, therefore, any
estimate on the cost of lead-and-oil surfacing stock must
fail of being complete wherein these points are not fully
reckoned.
In the following pages we will review in some detail the
various processes of building up a surface.
6
The A B C System of Painting.
The Character of Paint Coatings.
The Priming Coat.
It is universally conceded by painters everywhere, that
of all the coatings employed in the building up of a sur¬
face on either wood or iron, the priming coat is preëmi-
nently of the foremost importance. It is expected of this
coating that it will become the foundation on which all
subsequent coatings must depend. Render this founda¬
tion substantial and permanent, and your work is well
begun.
A priming composition, according to the latest and
most advanced ideas should be penetrative, tenacious
and elastic. It should firmly hold the grain and should
afford complete protection against moisture. Does the
average lead-and-oil priming possess these qualities or
accomplish these results? Let the discouraging experi¬
ence of painters everywhere make answer. Assured of
purest oil, of unadulterated lead, of perfectly seasoned
wood, and lots of time, and durable work with lead-and-oil
is doubtless possible; but who can feel assured of these or
can give the time demanded? Raw oil does not commend
itself for priming purposes, and against boiled oil forcible
objections are found.
A priming composition to be perfect should escape all
these drawbacks and objections. It should be easy to ap¬
ply, should penetrate and hold, should promptly oxidize
and should so protect a piece of wood that it could be
soaked in water, hot or cold, without the grain being
caused to rise.
Precisely such a primer as this is Surfacer A, the prim¬
ing siirfacer of the ABC System.
The ABC System of Fainting.
7
Filling-Up Coats.
In the filling-up coats, or the coatings that immediately
supplement the priming coat, the same characteristics of
tenacity and elastic quality are called for. Without these
qualities, durability may not be hoped for. Can it be
claimed for the average lead-and-oil coating that it pos¬
sesses these properties? It may very justly be asserted
that durable painting has been accomplished with lead-
and-oil, yet it is an incontestible fact that for lead-and-oil
to cling, the coating must be oily; but oily coatings do not
quickly dry. If driers be employed to accelerate the
work, as is the case in these impatient times, will not the
durability of the mixture be proportionately impaired?
There are other influences also against which a filling
up coat must needs be fortified, viz., the absorbing power
of seasoned wood. The dry and thirsty fibers of a well
seasoned piece of wood are bound to exert their utmost
power of absorption to rob the lead of its oil, and atom by
atom they will get it, and the lead drained dry becomes in
time a brittle crust, liable to crush and peel off. But
because when lead-and-oil when quickly hardened will
cleave off, crack and chip in pieces, must it necessarily
follow that all other quickly drying surfacing material will?
Suppose we introduce something of an india-rubber-like
character for a surfacing material, something possessing
toughness and a tenacious element that will be lasting,
and on which, after it is dry, the absorbing power of the
wood has no effect; a composition which after filling the
pores of the wood shall solidly concrete and remain a fix¬
ture. Of substantially such a character is this Surfacer B,
of the ABC System.
8
The ABC System of Painting.
Roughstuff.
There are not a few painters with whom the necessity
of a perfect roughstuff obtains an importance not
exceeded by the primer. If the primer is the "founda¬
tion," assuredly the roughstuff becomes the "cap-stone."
Certain it is, that there is no composition with which the
old-school painter has to deal that more thoroughly taxes
his patience and ingenuity. Herein, indeed, center every
one of the " thousand shocks " that this system is " heir
to." In one of the most prominent carriage manufactories
in New England, so great is the importance attached to
the correct compounding of roughstuff that one of the pro¬
prietors, by trade a painter, makes it his special duty to
personally proportion and mix up every batch used in
the establishment. The idea that anything will do for
roughstuff " is full of error.
Obviously, all that pertains to finish is resident in this
coating, and not alone the finish of the car when first com¬
pleted, but the continuing appearance as well. The sur¬
face must be here secured, and in proportion as the sur¬
face is perfect or imperfect will the job be rated. A
poorly compounded roughstuff is liable to absorb water
during the rubbing-down process, and when this occurs,
grain showing, blistering and cracking are the natural
consequences.
A roughstuff to be perfect, should be entirely corres¬
pondent with the coatings which it covers. It should
possess cohesiveness and a sufficiently elastic toughness to
prevent flaking or cracking, yet should be as hard as ivory,
and of a nature to cut down freely under the pumice, and
without clogging the stone. It should not absorb, but
should yield a compact, solid, water-proof surface over
which varnish coats should stand out with permanent
brilliancy. These are the characteristics of Surfacer C, of
the ABC System, which surfacer takes the place of the
roughstuff of the old system.
The ABC System of Painting..
9
The ABC System.
The claims and aims of the new System are as follows,
viz.: To institute a new and improved order of things in
the paint shop; to systematize and simplify its processes;
to dismiss its drudgeries; to diminish its "deviltries;" to
establish uniformly perfect work, and to accomplish
durable painting with a rapidity hitherto unattainable.
The fundamental principles of the ABC System are
time-saving, labor-saving and generally facilitating; and it
bases its claims of superiority over all other systems of
surfacing, on the following special properties, viz.: Ex¬
ceeding durability, unequaled quickness, uniformly perfect
results, easy working quality, simplicity and method. Its
compositions are characterized by penetrativeness, tenacity,
coherency, and when combined, by elastic solidity; and its
progressive character centers in its plan to supply the
painter three separate ready-compounded surfacing mix¬
tures, embracing and constituting all the material necessary
for surfacing a job, viz.—for starting with it in the wood
and carrying it to a condition for receiving color coats;
these mixtures requiring no additions, and continuing
ready for instant use until wholly disposed of.
The component materials of the ABC Surfacers, being
the outcome of extended experiments and of prolonged
scientific study, are necessarily private and proprietary, but
our description of the characteristics of the Surfacers
must surely enable every intelligent craftsman to readily
perceive their entire adaptation to the ends they are
designed to fulfill. We make positive and distinctive
claims for each Surfacer. Each has a special ofifice and
object peculiar to itself, and to the place it occupies in
the system.
The arrangement and mode of application of the new
system is not essentially dissimilar to the plan and process
of the old system, it having been a special object with us
while organizing the new system, not to unnecessarily
I o The ABC System of Painting.
innovate in this direction, but rather to conform as nearly
as could be, to the working processes with which painters
universally are familiar.
The ABC System is constituted of the following
compositions, viz.:
1—surfacer A Priming Surfacer.
2—Surfacer B Loading Surfacer.
3—Surfacer C Leveling Surfacer.
4—Locomotive Surfacer " "
5—Stain Guide coat in rubbing down.
Surfacer A.
This Surfacer is applied to the wood as a priming and
foundation coat, and a single coating will render any kind
of wood perfectly and permanently water-proof. A car
primed with surfacer A, can be exposed to the weather
for months without the grain of the wood being raised.
It penetrates promptly and as promptly oxidizes or dries.
The striking pectdiarity of this first Surfacer as contrasted
to a priming of lead-and-oil, is that it becomes a fixture; for
being glutinous and cement-like, after filling and enfolding
the fibers, it solidly concretes and persistently' resists all
further effort of the wood to absorb it. It becomes irremov¬
able from the cells and fibers into which it has intrenched
itself, and therefore will not blister, nor crack, nor peel off.
A piece of white-wood, poplar, oak, ash, or hickory,
coated with Surfacer A, and allowed 48 hours to dry, may
be soaked in cold water for weeks, or boiled in hot water
for hours without perceptible effect on the wood. No
specially superior skill is called for in the applying of
either surfacer. Use ordinary brushes, separate brushes
for each Surfacer, of course, and apply precisely like
ordinary paint. Surfacer A requires from twenty-four to
forty-eight hours to dry, and one coat only need be used.
Add nothing to it, neither oil, driers, nor turpentine, and
The ABC System of Painting.
ii
herein is a guarantee of uniformity. In the lead-and^oil
system uniformity is well-nigh impossible; a little oil, a
little japan, or a little spirits of turpentine, is the customary
direction of foreman to workman, and be the quantity
what it may, it is a "little" every time; guessing takes the
place of measuring and uniformity is lost. The ABC
System is uniformity itself and uniform results may there¬
fore safely be counted on.
Surfacer B.
Surfacer B follows Surfacer A, and is applied directly
over that Surfacer when the same has become dry. Its
composition is somewhat similar to Surfacer A, except
that it possesses additions adapting it to its place in the
system. Its office, of course, is to more thoroughly load
the pores and grain of the wood, and it unites itself solidly
and inseparably with the priming coat. Surfacer B
requires thirty-six hours' drying time.
Puttying.
Puttying may be done on B, or first coat of C, as the
painter may prefer, but we think it advisable on many
accounts to putty on B.
Surfacer C.
The Last Coat to be Rubbed Down with
Block Pumice.
Our Leveling Surfacer C should not be confounded
with the ordinary "roughstuff" of the old system. Its
office is necessarily similar, but its composition is by no
12
The ABC "System of Painting.
means the same. Surfacer C possesses elements of
tenacity, permanence and durability, altogether unattain¬
able in any ordinary roughstuff. It retains its elasticity,
hence neither flakes off nor cracks. It can be used more
rapidly. It never changes, is always uniform, and is ready
for instant use. It flows out smooth, holding no brush
marks. It does not absorb like ordinary roughstuff, but
will "hold out" the varnish coats. Two separate shades
of Surfacer C, are furnished, one for light colored work,
and the other for dark colored work.
Stain or Guide Coat.
In furtherance of the purpose which is a fundamental
principle in the ABC System, viz.: To relieve the
painter as far as possible from the delay and drudgery of
mixing and compounding, we have therein included a ready
mixed stain, for use as a safe guide-coat in scouring.
Care is always called for in scouring. The stain coat
greatly facilitates the work, and should never be omitted.
As the ABC System proposes to leave little or no accu¬
mulation of material upon the wood, but to obtain the
surface practically in the wood and of the wood, its rub¬
bing down should be pursued with close attention and not
with too much haste. A heavy pressure upon the pumice
block, exerted with a view to quicken the work, can
scarcely be approved of, although a certain amount of
pressure is, of course, indispensable.
Adaptability of the ABC System.
The adaptability of the ABC Surfacers, to each and
every variety of car surfacing, and to both old and new
work, is thorough and complete. Everything that can be
The ABC System of Painting.
13
done with the old system can be done with the new, and
done more durably and rapidly too.
The ABC Surfacers are also adaptable to all grades of
work, from the finest palace car work to the painting of
baggage or second-class cars. We mean by this, that the
working process of the new system, like its material, is
" elastic," and that it is therefore susceptible of such mod¬
ification as may be necessary to suit it to the grade of
work wanted.
We claim that the nature of the ABC System material
guarantees durability in every case. A single coat of our
Surfacer A even, will insure the protection of the wood,
and hence if durability only was thought of, and filling up
and finish not considered, color and varnishes could follow
at once. This we do not advise, but state the fact to
indicate that the expensiveness or cheapness of any job
will depend entirely on the disposition of the painter to
make it one or the other.
Detailed Directions.
Surfacer A should be applied to all joints and on the
under side of battens before nailing on. It is far superior
to white lead for excluding dampness, and is more easily
applied. In coating the body Surfacers A and B should
be worked well into the nail holes, as they assist greatly in
retaining the putty.
Body.
SURFACER A—One coat
SURFACER B—One coat
Putty
SURFACER C—One coat
Re-putty
SURFACER C—Two coats (one each day)
STAIN—One coat
. 2
• iK
• %
. I
•
. 2
•
days
8 days
14
The ABC System of Painting.
Rub down with lump pumice stone. The car is now
ready for color.
Baggage and second-class cars should be proceeded with
in the same way as Passenger coaches, unless only a me¬
dium finish is required, in which case one or two coats of
the Surfacer C may be omitted.
Locomotive Cab.
Note that Surfacer A should be substituted for white
lead for coating the joints and under side of moulding.
SURFACER A—One coat 2 days
SURFACER B—One coat "
Putty yí "
SURFACER C—Two coats (one each day).... 2 "
STAIN • "
6}4 days
Rub down with lump pumice stone. The cab is now
ready for color.
Locomotive Tank.
Scour off the tank the same as in the old process.
SURFACER A—One coat 2 days
SURFACER B—One coat i}4 "
LOCOMOTIVE SURFACER—One coal i "
SURFACER C—One coat i "
STAIN "
6 days
Rub down with lump pumice stone. The tank is now
ready for color.
The ABC System of Painting. 15
Sample Order for Car Dept.
SURFACER A 15 Gallons.
SURFACER B 10
SURFACER C 3°
STAIN 10
Three Ten-gallon Mixing cans.
The order should state whether .light or dark C is
desired.
Sample Order for Locomotive Dept.
SURFACER A 5 Gallons.
SURFACER B 5 "
SURFACER C 5
LOCO. SURFACER—(in paste) for knihng. 5
STAIN 5
Three Five-gallon Mixing Cans.
Price List of Surfacers.
SURFACER A $4.00 pergal.
SURFACER B 4.00
SURFACER C 3.50
LOCOMOTIVE SURFACER 3.50
STAIN 1.50
Five-gallon Mixing Cans 2.00 Each.
Ten-gallon " " 3.00 "
These mixing cans are a necessity to the proper use of
the Surfacers, and will be sent with first order. As they
can be used for years, subsequent orders will be sent in
plain cans, for which no charge is made.
The Murphy Railway Varnishes.
PALE RAILWAY BODY VARNISH, . - $5 50
Eor Finishing Coats on Passenger Cars.
HARD DRYING BODY VARNISH, . , 5 00
For Under Coats on Passenger Cars.
RAILWAY RUBBING VARNISH, . . 4 50
For Under Coats on Passenger Cars.
INSIDE CAR VARNISH, . . . . 4 5°
For Interior Work of Passenger Cars.
ENGINE FINISHING VARNISH, . . 5 00
For Finishing Coats on Engines.
ENGINE RUBBING VARNISH, . . . 4 5°
For Under Coats on Engines.
BLACK RUBBING VARNISH, . . . 4 00
For Under Coats on Engines.
LOCOMOTIVE BLACK VARNISH, . . i 50
For Iron Work on Engines and Cars.
WHITE COPAL VARNISH, . . . . 4 00
For Head-Linings.
JAPAN GOLD SIZE, 3 5°
For Binding and Hardening Colors.
COACH MAKERS JAPAN, . . . . 2 00
For Drying and Binding Colors.
PALE DRYING JAPAN i 75
For Drying and Binding Colors.
The E/D: Alero Co,
íiEER CUTTING MILLS.
:^-711,West Sixth Street,
CINCINNATI, O.
ard is Printed upon yVhite Maple Wood, cut at above Mills,
160 thicknesses to the inch.