Flemish Ell
Object Details
- Description
- This square, tapering wooden rule has a brass tip around the narrow end. Three sides are finely carved with fruit and vines, possibly oranges and pineapples. The fourth side is marked with inlaid brass dots: ANNO IIV DB 1757 NAVW. Inlaid brass bars provide measuring marks that are 1, 3.8, 6, 10.2, 18.7, 26, and 53 cm from the wide end. The spacing of the marks is similar to those on 318246. The overall length of the rule is 70 cm (27-1/2"), which is close to the usual length for a Flemish ell (68.6 cm, 27").
- Reference: Herbert Arthur Klein, The Science of Measurement: A Historical Survey (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974), 57.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ca 1757
- ID Number
- MA.319778
- accession number
- 239771
- catalog number
- 319778
- Object Name
- rule
- scale rule
- Physical Description
- brass (overall material)
- wood (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 2.5 cm x 70 cm x 2.6 cm; 31/32 in x 27 9/16 in x 1 1/32 in
- place made
- Flanders
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Scale Rules
- Measuring & Mapping
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Rule, Measuring
- Record ID
- nmah_904637
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a7-5108-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
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