Object Details
- King-Seeley Thermos Company
- Description
- The objects children take to school can communicate messages. In the 1970s, the U.S. government encouraged more general use of the metric units of weight and measure, units that had been adopted in almost all other nations. To teach children about metric units, some parents purchased this lunch box.
- The lid of this metal box illustrates four things commonly measured with metric units (the output of power generators, the size of car and motorcycle engines, Olympic distances, and prescription drugs). The back shows decimal units of length, weight, volume, and temperature. One side shows the U.S. decimal currency, while the other shows natural phenomena associated with decimal units (the century plant, the centipede, and the millipede). The top has a scale of inches with their equivalent lengths in centimeters. The bottom illustrates decimal units of time.
- The lunch box contains a blue thermos with a white rim and red cap. It holds eight ounces of liquid.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of George A. Norton III
- ca 1976
- ID Number
- 1992.0404.01
- accession number
- 1992.0404
- catalog number
- 1992.0404.01
- Object Name
- lunchbox
- Physical Description
- metal (box and lid material)
- plastic (handle material)
- Measurements
- overall: 7 1/4 in x 8 5/8 in x 4 in; 18.415 cm x 21.9075 cm x 10.16 cm
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Metric System
- Science & Mathematics
- Measuring & Mapping
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Olympics
- Eating
- Education
- Mathematics
- Record ID
- nmah_376204
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-a29b-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
