Fingerprint Patterns - Whorl Tracings
Fingerprint Patterns - Whorl Tracings |
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Image #1 |
There are two components of a whorl classification. The first is the whorl pattern such a plain, double, central pocket and the second is the tracing. The tracing is relatively simple once you understand it. The key is understanding it. In the image at right we see a plain whorl pattern. To determine the tracing we must 1st identify the left delta which has been marked in yellow on the left side of the image.
Now, from the left delta (in yellow) we follow the 1st line below the delta across the image until we reach a point that is directly below the right delta. To simplify this I have drawn a blue line from the right delta down to signify this imaginary line. The red line signifies the tracing of the line across the image. Once these lines stop the point where the red and imaginary line (in blue) meet, we then count the number of intervening lines that are intersected by the imaginary line (the one in blue). The intersecting lines are noted in the light blue color and if we count them we come up with 6 intervening lines.
There are three types of tracings, outer, meet and inner. Outer means that there are 3 or more intersecting lines and they are outside of the pattern area. In this case we had 6 lines and they are outside the pattern area therefore this tracing is an outer tracing. If the number of intersecting lines (the ones in light blue) had been three or less, then this would have been a meet tracing.
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Image #2 |
Now let's take a look at Image #2 at left. In this image we again take the left-most delta and begin following a line until it intersects an imaginary line (in blue) with the right delta. The we count the intersecting lines (those in light blue) and we find that there are 8 intersecting lines. Remember the only thing we are looking for is 3 or more lines. In this case there is more than three and this time the intersecting point is inside the pattern area. This makes this an inner tracing. Again if the imaginary intersecting line is within 3 intervening lines of the right delta when counting across an imaginary line, then it would be a meet tracing. More than 3 to the inside of the pattern area makes it an inner tracing and more than 3 outside the pattern area make it an outer tracing.