Object Details
- Description
- This instrument has brass slides with steel points. On one end, the points are 3/8" long; on the other, they are 1-3/4" in length. The longer points are corroded. Thumbscrews on both sides adjust the instrument along a gear and tooth mechanism (or "rack movement") on the back slide. The front slide is marked on both sides of the slot with what appears to be a single proportional scale for lines: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 7, 8, 9, 10. A wooden case fastened with brass hooks is lined with dark blue velvet. Red lines and numbers are on the bottom of the case. No legible maker's mark is present.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Ursula N. Forbes
- ca 1900
- ID Number
- 1986.0316.01
- accession number
- 1986.0316
- catalog number
- 1986.0316.01
- Object Name
- proportional dividers
- dividers
- Physical Description
- brass (overall material)
- velvet (overall material)
- wood (overall material)
- steel (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 2.5 cm x 23 cm x 4.5 cm; 31/32 in x 9 1/16 in x 1 25/32 in
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Dividers and Compasses
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Drawing Instruments
- Record ID
- nmah_904362
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a7-2f9b-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
