Object Details
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- Description
- This desktop slide rule is in a wooden case that is significantly deteriorated on its inside. The rule has a cylindrical brass drum covered with paper printed with forty A scales. A wooden handle is fastened to each end of the drum. The drum fits in an open rotating brass frame; twenty brass slats span the frame. The right side of the paper on the drum is printed in italics: Patented by Edwin Thatcher [sic], C.E. Nov. 1st 1881. Divided by W. F. Stanley, London, 1882. Made by Keuffel & Esser Co. N.Y.
- The slats are lined with cloth and covered with paper. Each slat is printed with two B and two C scales. The first A scale runs from 100 to 112; the fortieth runs from 946 to 100 to 105. The first B scale runs from 100 to 112; the fortieth runs from 946 to 100 to 105. The first C scale runs from 100 to 334; the fortieth runs from 308 to 305.
- The frame is screwed to a mahogany base. A paper with instructions is glued to the top front of the base. An ivory label for Keuffel & Esser Co. is screwed to the front right corner. The top back of the base is engraved: KEUFFEL & ESSER Co (encircling N.Y.); 4012 (/) 1689; TRADE MARK (below the K&E lion logo). Another ivory K&E label is fastened inside the lid of the case. A paper K&E label pasted inside the lid is stamped in faded purple ink: No. 4013 (/) Serial 1689. Written in pencil is: Mar 22/07.
- The Thacher cylindrical slide rule was sized for a desk, but its scales were equivalent to those on a conventional slide rule over 59 feet long. It had scales for multiplication, division, and squares and square roots. There were no trigonometric scales.
- Keuffel & Esser sold model 4012 from 1900 to about 1950. The markings and serial number indicate this example dates to 1907. Model 4012 cost $35.00 in 1909. The U.S. Department of Agriculture transferred this example to the Smithsonian in 1964.
- See also MA.312866, MA.326628, and MA.323504.
- References: Wayne E. Feely, "Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rules," The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 50 (1997): 125–127; Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser Co., 33rd ed. (New York, 1909), 304.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Transfer from U.S. Department of Agriculture
- 1907
- ID Number
- MA.322730
- accession number
- 252315
- maker number
- 1689
- catalog number
- 322730
- Object Name
- calculating rule
- slide rule
- Physical Description
- wood (part material)
- cloth (part material)
- brass (overall material)
- paper (part material)
- Measurements
- overall: 16.5 cm x 60.2 cm x 17 cm; 6 1/2 in x 23 11/16 in x 6 11/16 in
- place made
- United States: New York, New York City
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Slide Rules
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Rule, Calculating
- U.S. National Government, executive branch
- Mathematics
- Business
- Record ID
- nmah_690143
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-0a35-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
