Object Details
- Description
- These plain dividers have grooved brass legs with steel points and are held together with a screw. Two small holes are in the joint on either side of the bottom end of the screw. The instrument arrived at the Smithsonian in a case (now lost) marked: Keuffel & Esser Co., New York. The dividers are similar to the 4-1/2" plain dividers from Switzerland advertised (without a case) in James Queen's 1883 catalog for $1.50. The instrument slightly resembles 4-1/4" plain dividers from France sold by K&E in the 1880s and 1890s for between 24 and 85 cents. It is not depicted in K&E's 1909 and 1936 catalogs.
- References: James W. Queen & Co., Priced and Illustrated Catalogue of Mathematical Instruments (Philadelphia, 1883), 22; Catalogue and Price-List of Keuffel & Esser Co., 23rd ed. (New York, 1892), 62, 102; Trade Price List. An Annex to the General Catalogue (Twenty-Eighth Edition) of Keuffel & Esser Co. (New York, n.d.), 30.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Eunice L. Hoffman
- late 19th century
- ID Number
- MA.335341
- accession number
- 305958
- catalog number
- 335341
- Object Name
- dividers
- Physical Description
- brass (overall material)
- steel (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: .9 cm x 11 cm x 1 cm; 11/32 in x 4 11/32 in x 13/32 in
- place made
- Europe
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Dividers and Compasses
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Dividers
- Drawing Instruments
- Record ID
- nmah_892942
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a7-3dea-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
