Engineering, Building, and Architecture - Overview
Not many museums collect houses. The National Museum of American History has four, as well as two outbuildings, 11 rooms, an elevator, many building components, and some architectural elements from the White House. Drafting manuals are supplemented by many prints of buildings and other architectural subjects. The breadth of the museum's collections adds some surprising objects to these holdings, such as fans, purses, handkerchiefs, T-shirts, and other objects bearing images of buildings.
The engineering artifacts document the history of civil and mechanical engineering in the United States. So far, the Museum has declined to collect dams, skyscrapers, and bridges, but these and other important engineering achievements are preserved through blueprints, drawings, models, photographs, sketches, paintings, technical reports, and field notes.
"Engineering, Building, and Architecture - Overview" showing 53 items.
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Otis King's Pocket Calculator Model L Cylindrical Slide Rule
- Description
- This six-inch cylindrical slide rule consists of a chromium-plated holder, a metal cylinder that slides into the holder, and a black metal tube that fits around and slides up and down on the cylinder. The telescoping rule is ten inches long when extended and equivalent to a rectangular slide rule 66 feet in length. Two short white lines on the tube and a black mark on the chrome cap at the end of the cylinder serve as the indicator. A paper spiral logarithmic scale is attached to the top half of the holder. A second, linear and logarithmic, paper scale is attached to the cylinder. The logarithmic scales are used to multiply and divide, and the linear scale is used to find logarithms.
- At the top of the cylinder is printed: PATENT No 183723. At the bottom of the cylinder is printed: OTIS KING'S POCKET CALCULATOR; SCALE No 430. The top of the scale on the holder is printed: SCALE No 429; COPYRIGHT. The bottom is printed: OTIS KING'S PATENT No 183723. The end of the holder is engraved: MADE IN (/) Y9481 (/) ENGLAND.
- Otis Carter Formby King invented this form of slide rule in 1921, and Carbic Limited of London, England, manufactured it until 1972. The serial number, Y9481, suggests a date about 1965–1969 for this example. A collector of computing devices donated it to the Smithsonian.
- See also 1987.0788.01 and 1989.3049.02. For documentation, see 1981.0922.10 and 1981.0922.11.
- References: Peter M. Hopp, Slide Rules: Their History, Models, and Makers (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 1999), 274, 281; Otis Carter Formby King, "Calculating Apparatus," (U.S. Patent 1,645,009 issued October 11, 1927); Richard F. Lyon, "Dating of the Otis King: An Alternative Theory Developed Through Use of the Internet," Journal of the Oughtred Society 7, no. 1 (1998): 33–38; Dick Lyon, "Otis King's Patent Calculator," http://www.svpal.org/~dickel/OK/OtisKing.html.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1965-1968
- maker
- Carbic Limited
- ID Number
- 1981.0922.09
- catalog number
- 1981.0922.09
- accession number
- 1981.0922
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Routledge's Engineer Linear Slide Rule
- Description
- This is a two-foot, two-fold boxwood rule with a brass hinge and endpieces. Half of one side is a slide rule with A and D scales on the base and B and C scales on the slide. As with MA*306697.01, the C scale is the same as the A and B scales (the square of the D scale), instead of the same as the D scale, as on modern Mannheim slide rules. Below the D scale is marked: SQUARE CYLINDER GLOBE (3 times) ROUTLEDGE'S ENGINEER.
- The first three marks form headings for the tables on the other half of this side when the instrument is folded. The tables give conversion factors from the volumes of geometric solids to units of volume, in both the "old" and imperial systems; conversion factors from the volumes of geometric solids to the weights in pounds of various substances; the areas of polygons from 5 to 12 sides; the gauge points of a circle; and gauge points for pumping engines, to find the diameters of steam cylinders that will work pumps of specified diameter at 7 pounds per square inch.
- The other side has a scale of 24 inches along one edge, divided to sixteenths of an inch for 9 inches and to eighths of an inch for the rest of the scale. There are also scales for making scale drawings that are 1, 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4 inches to the foot. This side is marked: T. ASTON THE ORIGINAL MAKER WARRANTED. One outside edge has scales for 10 and 12 parts to the inch; the other outside edge divides one foot into 100 parts.
- This form of slide rule was invented by Joshua Routledge, a seller of iron goods, in 1808 or 1809. He discussed it in the 1813 (4th) edition of Instructions for the Engineer's Improved Sliding Rule. According to Gloria Clifton, there were two rule makers named Thomas Aston, presumably a father and son, who were in business at various addresses in Birmingham, England, from 1818 to 1862. The references to pre-imperial system units of measure suggest the rule might have been made shortly after the imperial system was adopted in 1824. This instrument was found in the home of Grace Speer, granddaughter of Alfred Speer (1823–1910), an inventor and wine merchant in Passaic, N.J.
- References: John V. Knott, "Joshua Routledge 177[3]–1829," Journal of the Oughtred Society 4, no. 2 (1995): 25; Philip E. Stanley, "Carpenters' and Engineers' Slide Rules: Routledges' Rule," Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 37, no. 2 (1984): 25–27; Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers (London: National Maritime Museum, 1995), 11–12; accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1824-1862
- maker
- Aston, T.
- ID Number
- 1981.0934.01
- catalog number
- 1981.0934.01
- accession number
- 1981.0934
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Otis King's Pocket Calculator Model L Cylindrical Slide Rule
- Description
- This six-inch cylindrical slide rule consists of a chromium-plated holder, a metal cylinder that slides into the holder, and a black metal tube that fits around and slides up and down on the cylinder. The rule is ten inches long when extended. Two short white lines on the tube and a black mark on the chrome cap at the end of the cylinder serve as the indicator. A paper spiral logarithmic scale is attached to the top half of the holder. A second, linear and logarithmic, paper scale is attached to the cylinder. The logarithmic scales are used to multiply and divide, and the linear scale is used to find logarithms.
- At the top of the cylinder is printed: PATENT No 183723. At the bottom of the cylinder is printed: OTIS KING'S POCKET CALCULATOR; SCALE No 430. The top of the scale on the holder is printed: SCALE No 429; COPYRIGHT. The bottom is printed: OTIS KING'S PATENT No 183723. The end of the holder is machine engraved: MADE IN (/) Y5466 (/) ENGLAND.
- The instrument arrived in a mailing tube with return address: CALCULATOR COMPANY (/) POST OFFICE BOX 593 (/) LAKEWOOD, CALIFORNIA 90714.
- Otis Carter Formby King invented this form of slide rule in 1921, and Carbic Limited of London, England, manufactured it until 1972. The Calculator Company served as Carbic's distributor in the United States. The 5-digit ZIP code on the mailing tube indicates this example was made after 1963. The serial number, Y5466, suggests a date around 1965–1969.
- See also 1987.0788.01 and 1981.0922.09. The slide rule was received with a trifold instruction sheet, 1989.3049.03, and an advertising pamphlet, 1989.3049.04.
- References: Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 44; Richard F. Lyon, "Dating of the Otis King: An Alternative Theory Developed Through Use of the Internet," Journal of the Oughtred Society 7, no. 1 (1998): 33–38; Dick Lyon, "Otis King's Patent Calculator," http://www.svpal.org/~dickel/OK/OtisKing.html.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965-1968
- maker
- Carbic Limited
- ID Number
- 1989.3049.02
- nonaccession number
- 1989.3049
- catalog number
- 1989.3049.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Fuller's Spiral Cylindrical Slide Rule
- Description
- This rule consists of an outer wooden cylinder that slides up and down and rotates. Two brass rings lined with felt are inside this cylinder. The cylinder is covered with paper marked with a single spiral logarithmic scale graduated into 7250 parts and having a length, according to the maker, of 500 inches (nearly 42 feet). Inside the outer cylinder is a longer wooden cylinder, covered with paper marked with decimal, conversion, and sine tables. A solid mahogany handle is at one end. A third cylinder of brass is inside the instrument. A brass index is screwed to the top of the handle. A second, longer brass index is screwed to the mahogany base and marked with a scale of equal parts used in finding logarithms.
- The tables on the middle cylinder include: decimal equivalents of feet and inches in feet; decimal equivalents of quarter weights and pounds in hundredweights; decimal equivalents of ounces and pounds in fractions of a pound; decimal equivalents of pounds, shillings, and pence in fractions of a pound; decimal equivalents of pence in shillings; days of the year as a fraction of the year; decimal equivalents of subunits of an acre; properties of various metals and woods; decimal equivalents of minutes of a degree in degrees; the Birmingham wire gauge; various conversion factors (mostly for weights and measures); and natural sines.
- The outer, sliding cylinder is marked near the top: FULLERS SPIRAL SLIDE RULE. Near the bottom is marked: ENTD. STATS. HALL; STANLEY, Maker, LONDON. The bottom is stamped: 1099. The top of the long brass index is engraved: 1099 (/) 98. According to Wayne Feely, these numbers indicate the instrument has serial number 1099 and was made in 1898.
- The rule is in a rectangular mahogany case marked in script on the top: Calculator. A blue sticker attached to the inside lid of the case reads: DRAWING MATERIAL (/) FRED. A. SCHMIDT. WASHINGTON D.C. (/) 516 (/) 9TH ST. (/) BRANCH (/) 1722 (/) PA. AVE. (/) TRADE MARK (beneath a drawing of intertwined dividers, right-angled ruler, and French curve). The inside of the lid is also stamped: MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. A yellow rectangular label is printed: To H.M. Government Science & Art Depnt. Council of India, Admiralty, &c. (/) MADE BY (/) W. F. STANLEY, (/) Optical, Philosophical & Mathematical (/) INSTRUMENT MANUFACTURER, (/) ENGINE DIVIDER, &c. (/) MATHEMATICAL DEPARTMENT, GREAT TURNSTILE, HOLBORN, W.C.
- George Fuller, professor of civil engineering at Queen's University in Belfast, Ireland, patented this instrument in 1878. The Stanley firm made about 14,000 Fuller's spiral slide rules over nearly one hundred years. According to Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia, Fred A. Schmidt, vendor of draftsmen's supplies, moved from 504 9th Street N.W. to 516 9th Street, with a branch at 1722 Pennsylvania Avenue, between 1895 and 1900.
- According to the donor, this example came from the family of her first husband, Fred Robert Troll (1920–1971), a sanitary engineer who attended Columbia University. The original purchaser may have been his father, Frank Troll, or his uncle, who was an artist who traveled frequently.
- See also MA*311958, MA*316575, and MA*313751.
- References: William Ford Stanley, Mathematical Drawing and Measuring Instruments, 6th ed. (London: E. & F. N. Spon, 1888), 248–249; W. F. Stanley, Surveying and Leveling Instruments, 3rd ed. (London, 1901), 542–543; Wayne E. Feely, "The Fuller Spiral Scale Slide Rule," Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 50, no. 3 (1997): 93–98.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1898
- maker
- Stanley, William Ford
- ID Number
- 1998.0046.01
- catalog number
- 1998.0046.01
- maker number
- 1008/98
- accession number
- 1998.0046
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hawthorn's Mechanics' Slide Rule
- Description
- From the late 18th to the mid-19th centuries, British engineers began to use slide rules. This ivory and silver instrument is a four-fold engineer's rule that unfolds to a length of 24 inches. On half of one side is a slide rule with A and D scales on the base and B and C scales on the slide. The A and D scales seem to run continuously, although the slide only moves on the second six inches of the rule.
- The words IRON and ROPE appear several times along the edge of the A scale. Along the edge of the D scale is marked: DESCRIPTION SQUARE CYL[I]ND[ER] GLOBE SQUARE CYL[I]ND[ER] WEIGHT STRAIN WORK INCLIN[E] POLYGON SIDE GOVERNORS H[ORSE]P[OWER] ENGIN[E]S STE[A]M TEM[PERATURE]. When the rule is folded, these markings correspond to the tables on the other half of the instrument.
- The other half of this side has a table of gauge points for the A scale. Instructions printed on the rule suggest that calculations on the slide rule were intended to be made with calipers. Additional tables and instructions for working with ropes and chains are on this half, which is marked: IMPROVED & ARRANG[E]D (/) BY RT HAWTHORN (/) CIVIL ENGINEER (/) NEWCASTLE TYNE.
- The other side has a scale of 24 inches divided to eighths of an inch along the edge. The metal joint has a protractor divided in increments of 5 degrees and marked by tens from 0 to 180. When the instrument is folded around the joint, there are tables for the extreme strain possible in bars and beams of various substances and for equivalent measures. The joint is marked: G. R. STEPHENSON (/) ENGINEER (/) Adam Pensom.
- In 1832 civil engineer Robert Hawthorn (1796–1867) designed a new form of slide rule for manufacturing locomotives and other engines. In 1859 dealers sold the rule for 5 shillings and 6 pence. The names on the joint may refer to the British civil engineer George Robert Stephenson (1819–1905), nephew to the engineer George Stephenson (1781–1848), who sought mechanical advice from Hawthorn's father, and to Adam Pensom (b. 1824), who was a retired gas engineer living in London, according to the 1881 British census. The Smithsonian acquired this object in 1973.
- References: Robert Hawthorn, Instructions for the Use of the Mechanics' Sliding Rule (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1841), available online at http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/physics_museum/hawthorne/; "Mr. Robert Hawthorn," Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 27 (1867–1868): 590–592; advertisement by John Archbutt, The Mechanics' Magazine, n.s., 1, no. 10 (March 4, 1859): 486; Peter M. Hopp, Joint Slide Rules (Jeremy Mills Publishing: Lindley, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, 2009).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1832
- maker
- Hawthorn, Robert
- ID Number
- MA*306697.01
- accession number
- 306697
- catalog number
- 306697.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Fowler's Long Scale Calculator Circular Slide Rule
- Description
- In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several circular slide rules were made to resemble pocket watches. Fowler & Co., of Manchester, England, was a particularly notable manufacturer of this type of slide rule. The company was in business from 1898 to 1988 and made a large variety of calculators, although the labor-intensive nature of its manufacturing process produced expensive instruments that never sold in large numbers.
- This example is the "long scale" model, consisting of a metal case with a ring, two knobs, and two rotating paper discs covered with glass. The front has a short logarithmic scale and a long logarithmic scale, laid out in six concentric circles rather than in a spiral. These scales are rotated by the knob on the left. The glass is marked with two hairlines. The interior of the disc reads: FOWLER'S (/) LONG SCALE CALCULATOR (/) PATENT (/) FOWLER & Co MANCHESTER.
- The other knob rotates the seven scales on the back of the instrument: multiplication and division, reciprocals, logarithms, square roots, logarithmic sines, logarithmic tangents, and a second scale for logarithmic sines. The interior is marked: FOWLER'S (/) CALCULATOR (/) PATENT (/) FOWLER & Co MANCHESTER. There is one hairline indicator on the glass. The slide rule is with a tarnished square metal case, lined with purple velvet. The outside of the case is engraved: Fowler's (/) CALCULATOR. The inside is stamped: Fowler & Co. (/) CALCULATOR (/) SPECIALISTS (/) Manchester (/) ENGLAND.
- William Henry Fowler (1853–1932) and his son, Harold Fowler, took out several British patents for improvements to circular calculators between 1910 and 1924. The first Fowler calculator with two knobs on the rim was patented in 1914. In 1927, Fowler & Co. introduced the Magnum Long Scale Calculator, which extended the scale length to 50 inches. Thus, this example is dated between 1914 and 1927.
- Charles Looney (1906–1987), the donor of this slide rule, catalogued engineering drawings and trade literature at the Smithsonian after he retired from the University of Maryland–College Park, where he served as chair of the Department of Civil Engineering. He also donated his library of books and pamphlets to the Museum.
- References: Peter M. Hopp, "Pocket-Watch Slide Rules," Journal of the Oughtred Society 8, no. 2 (1999): 45–51; Richard Blankenhorn and Robert De Cesaris, "The Fowler Calculators: A Catalogue Raisonné," Journal of the Oughtred Society 11, no. 2 (2002): 3–11; Museum of History and Science in Manchester, "Fowler & Co.," http://www.mosi.org.uk/media/33870536/fowlerandco.pdf; accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1914-1927
- maker
- Fowler & Co.
- ID Number
- MA*333849
- catalog number
- 333849
- accession number
- 303780
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent Model for Cylindrical Slide Rule Invented by George Fuller
- Description
- This is the U.S. patent model for a cylindrical slide rule invented by George Fuller (1829–1907), a British civil engineer and professor of engineering at Queen's College, Belfast. Fuller received patents in Great Britain (no. 1044) in 1878 and in the United States in 1879. W. F. Stanley of London manufactured the rule from 1879 until 1975, and it was marketed in the United States by Keuffel & Esser, Dietzgen, and other dealers.
- The model has a wooden handle and shaft, with a wooden cylinder that slides up and down the shaft. A paper covered with scales fits around the cylinder. The lower edge of the cylinder has a scale of equal parts. The remainder bears a spiral scale divided logarithmically. A rectangular clear plastic pointer has broken from its attachment on the handle and is tucked into a red ribbon tied around the cylinder. A paper patent tag is marked: No. 291.246; 1879 (/) G. Fuller. (/) Calculators. (/) Patented Sept 2. (/) 1879. A printed description from the patent application of April 16, 1878, is glued to the back of the tag. The tag is attached to the handle with a red ribbon.
- L. Leland Locke, a New York mathematics teacher and historian of mathematics, collected this patent model and intended it for the Museums of the Peaceful Arts in New York City. When that institution encountered financial difficulties in 1940, Locke gave a collection of objects, including this model, to the Smithsonian Institution.
- For production models of this instrument, see MA*313751, MA*316575, and 1998.0046.01.
- References: George Fuller, "Improvement in Calculators" (U.S. Patent 219,246 issued September 2, 1879); The Report of the President of Queen's College, Belfast, for the Year Ending October, 1876 (Dublin, 1877), 9, 29–30, 107–110; James J. Fenton, "Fuller's Calculating Slide-Rule," Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 22 (1886): 57–61; Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 42–43.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1878
- patentee
- Fuller, George
- maker
- Fuller, George
- ID Number
- MA*311958
- accession number
- 155183
- catalog number
- 311958
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Keuffel & Esser 1740 Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rule
- Description
- In 1881, Edwin Thacher, a "computing engineer" for the Keystone Bridge Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received a patent for an improvement in slide rules. Thacher was a graduate of Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute who spent much of his career designing railway bridges. To assist in his calculations, he designed a cylindrical slide rule. Thacher's rule, though it fit on a desk, was equivalent to a conventional slide rule over 59 feet long. It had scales for multiplication and division and another scale, with divisions twice as large, for use in finding squares and square roots. But it had no trigonometric scales.
- To produce his "calculating instrument," Thacher turned to the London firm of W. F. Stanley. The company even designed a special dividing engine for preparing the scales for the instrument. These were printed on paper sheets, which were pasted to the drum and the slats. In this example, the paper is also printed in italics on the right side: Patented by Edwin Thatcher [sic], C.E. Nov. 1st 1881. Divided by W. F. Stanley, London, 1882.
- The drum is rotated with wooden handles. The cylinder of slats is held in place with a brass frame, which is affixed to a wooden base. A paper of DIRECTIONS AND RULES FOR OPERATING is lacquered to the front of the base. The rear of the base bears a small silver metal label engraved: Keuffel & Esser (/) New York. F. F. NICKEL is painted underneath the base.
- Keuffel & Esser Company of New York sold versions of the Thacher cylindrical slide rule from at least 1883 until about 1950. There were two models, one with a magnifying glass (K&E model 1741, later K&E model 4013), and one without (K&E model 1740, later K&E 4012). This is a model 1740. The front right corner of the instrument's metal frame is engraved with the number 107. A paper K&E label on the inside lid of the instrument's mahogany case is marked in ink: 1740/661 (/) Thachers (/) Calculating (/)Instr. The top front of the bottom of the case is also carved with 661. In 1887, the model 1740 sold for $30.00.
- Frank Ferdinand Nickel purchased this example around 1883 and donated it to the Smithsonian in 1945, through his son, Henry W. Nickel. The elder Nickel was born in Hanau, Germany, in 1857. He came to the United States around 1883 and worked as a mechanical engineer in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. He also taught at Columbia University in the 1910s. He wrote Direct-Acting Steam Pumps (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1915).
- See also 1987.0107.08 and 1987.0808.01.
- References: Edwin Thacher, "Slide-Rule" (U.S. Patent 249,117 issued November 1, 1881); "Thacher's Calculating Instrument or Cylindrical Slide Rule," Engineering News 16 (18 December 1886): 410; Wayne E. Feely, "Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rules," The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 50 (1997): 125–127; Wilfred Scott Downs, ed., "Nickel, Frank F.," Who's Who in Engineering, vol. 3 (New York, 1931), 957; Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser (New York, 1887), 128. This was the first K&E catalog to list the model 1740.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1883
- maker
- Stanley, William Ford
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- ID Number
- MA*312866
- accession number
- 169701
- catalog number
- 312866
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Keuffel & Esser 4015 Fuller's Spiral Cylindrical Slide Rule
- Description
- This rule consists of an outer wooden cylinder that both slides up and down and rotates. Two brass rings lined with felt are inside this cylinder. The cylinder is covered with paper marked with a single spiral logarithmic scale graduated into 7,250 parts and having a length, according to the maker, of 500 inches (nearly 42 feet). This length permitted computations up to four or five significant digits.
- Inside the outer cylinder is a longer wooden cylinder, covered with paper marked with decimal, conversion, and sine tables. A solid mahogany handle is at one end. A brass index is screwed to the top of the handle. A second, longer brass index is screwed to the mahogany base and marked with a scale of equal parts used in finding logarithms. A third, removable, nickel-plated brass cylinder is inside the instrument and attached to the base. There is no case.
- The tables on the middle cylinder include: decimal equivalents of feet and inches in feet; decimal equivalents of quarter weights and pounds in hundredweights; decimal equivalents of ounces and pounds in fractions of a pound; decimal equivalents of pounds, shillings, and pence in fractions of a pound; decimal equivalents of pence in shillings; days of the year as a fraction of the year; decimal equivalents of subunits of an acre; properties of various metals and woods; decimal equivalents of minutes of a degree in degrees; the Birmingham wire gauge; various conversion factors (mostly for weights and measures); and natural sines.
- The outer, sliding cylinder is marked near the top: FULLERS SPIRAL SLIDE RULE. Near the bottom is marked: ENTD. STATS. HALL; STANLEY, Maker, LONDON. The bottom is stamped: 1389. The top of the long brass index is engraved: 1389 (/) 1901. According to Wayne Feely, these numbers indicate the instrument has serial number 1389 and was made by Stanley in 1901. A white celluloid tag affixed to the handle reads: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. (/) ST. LOUIS. CHICAGO. (/) NEW YORK. (/) U.S.A. In the 1901 Keuffel & Esser catalog, Fuller's Spiral Slide Rule is listed as Model 4015 and priced at $30.00.
- See also MA*311958, 1998.0046.01, and MA*316575.
- References: Wayne E. Feely, "The Fuller Spiral Scale Slide Rule," Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 50, no. 3 (1997): 93–98; Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser (New York, 1901), 290; James J. Fenton, "Fuller's Calculating Slide-Rule," Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 22 (1886): 57–61; Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 42–43; George Fuller, Instructions for the Use of the Fuller Calculator (London: W. F. Stanley & Co., Ltd., [about 1950]), http://www.mccoys-kecatalogs.com/KEManuals/4015/4015.htm. An 1879 first edition of the instructions manual was received with the instrument and is stored in the accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1901
- inventor
- Fuller, George
- retailer
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- maker
- Stanley, William Ford
- ID Number
- MA*313751
- catalog number
- 313751
- maker number
- 1380/1901
- accession number
- 179682
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ship Model, Tobacco Ship Brilliant
- Description
- This is a 1/8-scale model of the tobacco ship Brilliant, a 250-ton vessel built in Virginia in 1775 for British owners. The Brilliant's first and probably only commercial venture from Virginia took place when it set sail for Liverpool, with a full hold of tobacco, in the summer of 1775. Typically the Brilliant would have returned with manufactured goods, but because of growing hostilities between Britain and the colonies, the ship remained in England. Records show that the Brilliant made one voyage to Jamaica and returned to London in 1776. Later that year, the Royal Navy purchased the vessel for just over £3,000 and converted it to a ship of war for service in the American Revolution.
- The ship Brilliant had three masts and square-rigged sails. Its lower deck was 89'-3" long, its breadth was 27'-1/2", and the depth of the hold was 12'-2". The ship was built of oak, pine, and cedar. When purchased for war service, the Royal Navy assessed its hull, masts, and yards at £2,143. The cordage, including halyards, sheets, tack, and anchor cables, were assessed at £340. Brilliant's sails, 27 in all, were valued at £143. Five anchors were assessed at £58, while a long boat with a sailing rig and oars was estimated to be worth £45. Other items aboard the Brilliant were inventoried, including block and tackle, metal fittings, iron-bound water casks, hour and minute glasses, compasses, hammocks, an iron fire hearth, and 10 tons of coal.
- After its conversion in 1776 as a ship of war in the Royal Navy, the Brilliant was commissioned as the HMS Druid. Its first voyage westbound across the Atlantic was as an escort for a convoy to the West Indies. The vessel served as the Druid until 1779, after which it became the fire ship Blast. In 1783, it was sold out of the service for £940 and, for the next 15 years, the former Virginia tobacco ship served as a whaler in Greenland. The vessel was lost in the Arctic in 1798.
- This model was built by Charles and N. David Newcomb of Bolingbroke Marine in Trappe, Md. The model makers began their work in March 1975, scaling every timber to size and making everything out of the same type of wood as the original. They devised miniature rope-making equipment to manufacture the 5,000 feet of rigging and anchor cable required in 20 different sizes. Women from the Newcomb family and the surrounding community made the rigging and sails.
- The model makers left the starboard side of the vessel unplanked to reveal the timbering and joinery of the hull and to permit a view of the vessel’s living accommodations in the stern and cargo stowage, complete with tobacco hogsheads.
- Date made
- 1978
- ship built
- 1775
- voyage to Jamaica
- 1776
- became a ship of war in Royal Navy
- 1776
- ship lost at sea
- 1798
- maker
- Newcombe, Charles J.
- Newcomb, N. David
- ID Number
- TR*335672
- catalog number
- 335672
- accession number
- 1978.0403
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center