Measuring & Mapping

Where, how far, and how much? People have invented an astonishing array of devices to answer seemingly simple questions like these. Measuring and mapping objects in the Museum's collections include the instruments of the famous—Thomas Jefferson's thermometer and a pocket compass used by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition across the American West. A timing device was part of the pioneering motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge in the late 1800s. Time measurement is represented in clocks from simple sundials to precise chronometers for mapping, surveying, and finding longitude. Everyday objects tell part of the story, too, from tape measures and electrical meters to more than 300 scales to measure food and drink. Maps of many kinds fill out the collections, from railroad surveys to star charts.

Working at the Lamont Geological Observatory, a Columbia University facility in Palisades, N.Y., Frank Press and his mentor, Maurice Ewing, developed seismometers that responded to surface waves of long-period and small-amplitude, whether caused by explosions or by earthquakes.
Description
Working at the Lamont Geological Observatory, a Columbia University facility in Palisades, N.Y., Frank Press and his mentor, Maurice Ewing, developed seismometers that responded to surface waves of long-period and small-amplitude, whether caused by explosions or by earthquakes. The first long-period vertical seismometer at Lamont came to public attention in early 1953 with news that it had recorded waves from a large earthquake that had recently occurred at Kamchatka, in the Soviet Union. A painting of a subsequent but similar Lamont instrument appeared on the cover of Scientific American in March 1959.
This example was made for the World Wide Standard Seismological Network. Established in 1961, the WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. The WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
Each of the 120 WWSSN stations had an instrument of this sort. This example was used in Junction City, Tex. It would have been linked to a matched galvanometer (such as 1999.0275.09) and a photographic drum recorder (such as 1999.0275.10). The “Sprengnether Instrument Co.” signature refers to a small shop in St. Louis, Mo., that specialized in seismological apparatus.
Like other long-period vertical seismometers developed at Lamont, this one was built around a “zero-length spring” of the sort that had been proposed in 1934 by Lucien LaCoste, a graduate student in physics at the University of Texas, and later incorporated into the gravity meters manufactured by LaCoste & Romberg.
Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962)
Ta-Liang Teng, “Seismic Instrumentation,” in Methods of Experimental Physics, vol. 24 part B, Geophysics (1987), pp. 56-58.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1961-1962
maker
W. F. Sprengnether Instrument Co.
ID Number
1999.0275.03
catalog number
1999.0275.03
accession number
1999.0275
The inscriptions on the face of this instrument read "COMPENSATED FOR TEMPERATURE” and “Taylor Instrument Companies / ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S.A. / E.D. No.
Description
The inscriptions on the face of this instrument read "COMPENSATED FOR TEMPERATURE” and “Taylor Instrument Companies / ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S.A. / E.D. No. 4380.” One scale around the circumference extends from -200 to +1800 meters; another extends from -1000 feet to +6000 feet; and a third extends from 24 to 31 inches of mercury. There is a brown leather case. The Taylor Instrument Companies began operating, as such, in 1904.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1904-1972
maker
Taylor Instrument Co.
ID Number
PH.333642
catalog number
333642
accession number
300659
This is a standard Brunton Pocket Transit that, despite the "LIETZ 8026-51" inscription, was probably made by Ainsworth, and likely dates from the third quarter of the 20th century. The U. S.
Description
This is a standard Brunton Pocket Transit that, despite the "LIETZ 8026-51" inscription, was probably made by Ainsworth, and likely dates from the third quarter of the 20th century. The U. S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency transferred it to the Smithsonian in 2000.
This compass has a folding sight at north. The lid, hinged at south and provided with a sight line and small hole, serves as the second sight. Since the lid is mirrored, the user can read the needle while sighting a distant object. The needle ring is graduated to degrees. The western half of the face is graduated in degrees, in quadrants from west, and provided with a clinometer for use when the instrument is horizontal, and a straight level for use when the instrument is vertical. Because the sides of the case are flat, the instrument can be set up vertically when used for vertical angles. There are also a metal tripod and a leather carrying case.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950-1975
dealer
Lietz, Adolph
maker
Ainsworth, William
ID Number
2000.0257.14
accession number
2000.0257
catalog number
2000.0257.14
The Beetle 500 is a short-range, infrared EDM with automatic readout. Introduced in 1975, it was said to be "The only compact edm at a compact price." It weighed 5.5 pounds, had a range of 1,600 feet, and cost $2,995.
Description
The Beetle 500 is a short-range, infrared EDM with automatic readout. Introduced in 1975, it was said to be "The only compact edm at a compact price." It weighed 5.5 pounds, had a range of 1,600 feet, and cost $2,995. It was designed and produced by Precision International, a firm established in June 1971 by men who had worked at the Engineering Development Center at Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Precision International was bought by Wild Heerbrugg in 1979, and by Cubic Precision in 1984. This example is marked "Precision International Beetle 500 Precision International Inc. Tullahoma Tennessee U.S.A. Serial No. 784."
The Beetle, originally known as the Cricket, had been developed on contract for Teledyne-Gurley. According to one account, the front section of the Precision International building contains offices "and the back serves as the manufacturing plant. An unusual sight is the printed circuit department, where three highly skilled women busily attach wires and connections to small circuit boards for the Cricket. The work demands painstaking precision." When the Cricket turned out to have a shorter range than anticipated, Teledyne-Gurley pulled out, and Precision International renamed the instrument the Beetle. Some 7,000 units were eventually produced. The Beetle was covered in part by patent (#4,105,332) for "Apparatus for producing a light beam having a uniform phase front and distance measuring apparatus" granted on August 8, 1978, to Walter Hohne and Robin Hines, and assigned to Precision International.
Ref: Precision International, Beetle 500.
Advertisement in Civil Engineering 46 (May 1976): 42.
Robin H. Hines, "A Geodetic and Survey Infrared Distance Measurement Instrument, Proceedings of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers 95 (1976): 204-211.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1975
maker
Precision International
ID Number
1996.0240.01
accession number
1996.0240
catalog number
1996.0240.01
Working at the Lamont Geological Observatory, a Columbia University facility in Palisades, N.Y., Frank Press and his mentor, Maurice Ewing, designed seismometers that responded to surface waves of long-period and small-amplitude whether caused by explosions or by earthquakes.
Description
Working at the Lamont Geological Observatory, a Columbia University facility in Palisades, N.Y., Frank Press and his mentor, Maurice Ewing, designed seismometers that responded to surface waves of long-period and small-amplitude whether caused by explosions or by earthquakes. Their horizontal seismometer was of the “garden-gate” form: here, the horizontal boom attaches to the lower end of a vertical post, and a diagonal wire extends from the upper end of the post to the outer end of the boom. The first example was installed in 1953.
This example was made for the World Wide Standard Seismological Network. Established in 1961, the WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests, and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. The WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
Each of the 120 stations in the WWSSN had two horizontal seismometers of this sort (one to capture the east-west component of the earth’s motions, and one to capture the north-south component). This example was used Junction City, Tx. It would have been linked to a matched galvanometer (such as 1999.0275.09) and a photographic drum recorder (such as 1999.0275.10). The “Sprengnether Instrument Co.” signature refers to a firm in St. Louis, Mo., that specialized in seismological instruments.
Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962).
W.F. Sprengnether Instrument Co., Inc., General Discription (sic) Long Period Horizontal Seismometer ([St. Louis], n.d.).
W.F. Sprengnether Instrument Co., Inc., Sprengnether Horizontal Component Seismometer, Series H ([St. Louis], n.d.).
Ta-Liang Teng, “Seismic Instrumentation,” in Methods of Experimental Physics, vol. 24 part B, Geophysics (1987), pp. 56-58.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1961-1962
maker
Geotechnical Corporation
W. F. Sprengnether Instrument Co.
ID Number
1999.0275.04
catalog number
1999.0275.04
accession number
1999.0275
Thanks to revolutions in microelectronics and display technologies, watches became tiny wrist computers in the 1970s. Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP-01 calculator wristwatch in 1977.
Description
Thanks to revolutions in microelectronics and display technologies, watches became tiny wrist computers in the 1970s. Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP-01 calculator wristwatch in 1977. Dubbed a “wrist instrument,” it combined interacting technologies: the time functions of a watch (time of day, alarm, timer, stopwatch, date and calendar) could work with an electronic calculator and memory. A wearer might calculate and display a time zone change, determine the number of days between calendar dates, or compute the anticipated cost of a lengthy long-distance phone call.
Entering information on the watch involved tapping on 28 buttons, most often with a stylus stored in the watch strap. Four raised buttons provided the wearer with frequently used information--the time of day, date, alarm, or memory.
The watch featured a quartz crystal time standard and a red LED (light emitting diode) display. It required three batteries, one to power six integrated circuits and two to drive the display. To conserve the battery, the display automatically turned off after a set period.
Sold in fine jewelry stores, these watches were costly—initially $650 for the stainless steel model or $750 for the gold-filled model. A precursor to the smartwatches of the 21st century, the HP-01 did not sell well, and Hewlett-Packard scrapped plans for a follow-up HP-02.
date made
1977
maker
Hewlett-Packard Company
ID Number
1994.0354.14
catalog number
1994.0354.14
accession number
1994.0354
In the 1970s, after metric units of measure had been adopted in Canada and Great Britain, some people in the United States advocated adoption of the metric system. A variety of special tables were made to help Americans convert between systems of measurement.
Description
In the 1970s, after metric units of measure had been adopted in Canada and Great Britain, some people in the United States advocated adoption of the metric system. A variety of special tables were made to help Americans convert between systems of measurement. This slide chart is one of them.
The paper cardboard sleeve is joined with adhesive and printed in red, yellow, pink, black and white. The front contains a table for converting inches to millimeters, another for converting pints to liters, a third for converting feet to meters and a fourth for converting gallons to liters. The reverse has tables for miles/kilometers, ounces/grams, pounds/kilograms and oF/OC.
A mark on the front reads: Metrics (/) made easy. Another reads: INCH/METRIC DIGITAL DIAL (/) A product of (/) Danatron (/) Corporation (3198 ‘C’, Airport Loop Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92828. A mark on the edge of the slide reads (as best as can be deciphered): Copyright 1977 Nelson Taxel Woodmere N.Y. 11598 Printed in U.S.A.
The object was found in the collections of the Division of Work and Industry of the National Museum of American History.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1977
maker
Danatron Corporation
ID Number
1988.3078.03
catalog number
1988.3078.03
nonaccession number
1988.3078
This object consists of a rectangular frame (steel, copper) holding signal wires (gold plated wires) separated by planes of high voltage wires (Cu-Be wire). Three planes of signal wires oriented at 60 degree increments; at +80, +20 and at -40.
Description
This object consists of a rectangular frame (steel, copper) holding signal wires (gold plated wires) separated by planes of high voltage wires (Cu-Be wire). Three planes of signal wires oriented at 60 degree increments; at +80, +20 and at -40. In operation, the entire chamber was filled with gas: 80% argon to provide an ionization medium for creating a detectable electrical signal; and 20% methylal, both as a spark extinguishing and as a cleaning agent (to prevent ageing of the wires due to carbon deposits). This chamber is one of four from left arm of the spectrometer setup at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS), which measured electrons and positrons resulting from decay of a hypothesized massive "J" particle.
Basic Principles and History
A multiwire proportional chamber (MWPC) is constructed with alternating planes of high voltage wires (cathode) and sense wires (anode), which are at ground. All the wires are placed in a special gas environment. Spacing between planes is usually on the order of millimeters and voltage differences are typically in the kilovolt range. When a charged particle passes through the gas in the chamber, it will ionize gas molecules. The freed electrons are accelerated towards the sense wire (anode) by the electric field, ionizing more of the gas. In this way a cascade of charge develops and is deposited on the sense wires. The smaller the diameter of the sense wires, the higher the field gradient near the wire becomes. This in turn causes a larger cascade, increasing the efficiency of the chamber.
Georges Charpak built the first MWPC in 1968. Unlike earlier particle detectors, such as the bubble chamber and the first generation of spark chambers, which can record the tracks left by particles at the rate of only one or two per second, the multiwire chamber records up to one million tracks per second and sends the data directly to a computer for analysis. In 1992 Charpak received the Nobel Prize for Physics in acknowledgment of his invention of the MWPC, an electronic particle detector that revolutionized high-energy physics experiments and has had applications in medical physics.
The MWPC in the J-particle experiment of S.C.C. Ting at Brookhaven
The 1976 Nobel Prize in physics was shared by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist who used Brookhaven's Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) to discover a new particle and confirm the existence of the charmed quark. Samuel C.C. Ting was credited for finding what he called the "J" particle, the same particle as the "psi" found at nearly the same time at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center by a group led by Burton Richter. The particle is now known as the J/psi.
Ting's experiment took advantage of the AGS's high-intensity, 30 GeV proton beams, which bombarded a stationary beryllium target to produce showers of particles. The decay modes of these particles were identified using a two-arm spectrometer detection system. J particles decay into various combinations of lighter particles; one of these combinations is an electron and a positron. A small fraction of these enter the detection system, one particle in each arm of the spectrometer. Then dipole magnets deflect them out of the plane of the intense beam and measure their momentum; Cerenkov counters measure their velocity; multi-wire proportional chambers their position; scintillator hodoscopes their moment of passage; lead-glass and lead-lucite shower counters their total energy.
In each spectrometer arm there are 4 MWPCs (Ao, A, B, C) with 2 mm wire spacing and a total of 4,000 wires on each arm. There are eleven planes of proportional wires (2 in Ao, 3 each in A, B, & C), and in A, B, & C the planes are rotated 20 degrees with respect to each other to reduce multitrack ambiguities. To ensure the chambers have 100% uniform efficiency at low voltage and a long live time in the highly radioactive environment, a special argon-methylal gas mixture at 2 deg. C was used.
The identification of the J-particle and its significance
A strong peak in electron and positron production at an energy of 3.1 billion electron volts (GeV) led Ting to suspect the presence of a new particle, the same one found by Richter. Their discoveries not only won the Nobel Prize; they also helped confirm the existence of the charmed quark -- the J/psi is composed of a charmed quark bound to its antiquark.
The J/ψ (or J/psi) is a very special particle. Its discovery was announced in 1974 independently by two groups: one lead by Samuel Ting at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in New York and the second lead by Burton Richter at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in California. J/ψ is special because it established the quark model as a credible description of nature. Having been invented by Gell-Man and Zweig as a bookkeeping tool, it was not until Glashow, Iliopoulos and Maiani (GIM) that the concept of quarks as real particles was taken seriously. GIM predicted that if quarks were real, then they should come in pairs, like the up and down quarks. Candidates for the up, down, and strange were identified, but there was no partner for the strange quark. J/ψ was the key.
Like the proton or an atom, the J/ψ is a composite particle. This means that J/ψ is made of smaller, more elementary particles. Specifically, it is a bound state of one charm quark and one anti-charm quark. Since it is made of quarks, it is a “hadron“. But since it is made of exactly one quark and one antiquark, it is specifically a “meson.”
For further details, see
http://hitoshi.berkeley.edu/129A/Cahn-Goldhaber/chapter9.pdf
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1976/ting-lecture.pdf
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1972-1973
designer
Becker, Ulrich
ID Number
1989.0050.01.1
accession number
1989.0050
catalog number
1989.0050.01.1
One signal amplifier on rectangular plastic circuit board. Apparently one of these preamplifiers would have been plugged into one corresponding socket of Mulitwire Proportional Chamber 1989.0050.01.1.
Description
One signal amplifier on rectangular plastic circuit board. Apparently one of these preamplifiers would have been plugged into one corresponding socket of Mulitwire Proportional Chamber 1989.0050.01.1. A sticker accompanying this object reads "8 wire signals [from associated socket on chamber] get amplified .0002V to .8V" (to output to the computer). Similarly for all sockets of all four chambers in each of the two arms of the spectrometer setup at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron, which was used to measure electrons and positrons resulting from decay of a hypothesized massive "J" particle.
Rectangular green plastic circuit board, with electronic components soldered on upper surface. As viewed from front of board: at left end of bottom edge are 12 contact strips, only 8 of which are connected to the circuits. Near the right end of the bottom edge are 10 such contact strips. Protruding from right edge are 10 pairs of short wires, which are inserted into a green plastic connector fitting, which has 9 contact sockets on the other side.
For background on the multiwire proportional chamber from J-particle experiment of S. Ting at Brookhaven see description for object ID no. 1989.0050.01.1
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1972-1973
designer
Becker, Ulrich
ID Number
1989.0050.01.2
accession number
1989.0050
catalog number
1989.0050.01.2
During the 1970s, after metric units of measure had been adopted in Canada and Great Britain, some people in the United States advocated adoption of the metric system. One of them was William W. K. Freeman, who owned this mug.
Description
During the 1970s, after metric units of measure had been adopted in Canada and Great Britain, some people in the United States advocated adoption of the metric system. One of them was William W. K. Freeman, who owned this mug. Freeman taught at the Tower School in Marblehead, Massachusetts. In 1974, he wrote a weekly column in the Salem Gazette entitled “Metric News Notes.”
The cream-colored mug has brown text that reads: drink metric. A label next to a line near the top reads: 250mL. Below the mark text reads: american (/) national (/) metric (/) council.
Reference:
Accession File.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1975
ID Number
1992.3204.01
nonaccession number
1992.3204
catalog number
1992.3204.01
This one-page, two-sided flyer was received with 1990.0689.01. At the top of the front, it is marked with the Sterling Plastics logo and the words: STERLING metric converter (/) BASED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS (SI).
Description
This one-page, two-sided flyer was received with 1990.0689.01. At the top of the front, it is marked with the Sterling Plastics logo and the words: STERLING metric converter (/) BASED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS (SI). The instructions explain how to read off the sixteen conversions between metric and English units that are found on the Metric Converter slide rule. Tables of metric prefixes and of common equivalents and conversions are also provided. At the bottom of the back, the flyer is marked: STERLING PLASTICS DIVISION OF BORDEN CHEMICAL, BORDEN INC. • SHEFFIELD ST., MOUNTAINSIDE, N.J. 07092 (/) PRINTED IN U.S.A. The Borden logo appears to the right of the mark.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1972
maker
Sterling Plastics
ID Number
1990.0689.03
accession number
1990.0689
catalog number
1990.0689.03
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.
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
Date made
ca 1976
maker
King-Seeley Thermos Company
ID Number
1992.0404.01
accession number
1992.0404
catalog number
1992.0404.01
This white plastic promotional rule has a scale of centimeters along the top edge, divided to millimeters and numbered by ones from 1 to 15, and a scale of inches along the bottom edge, divided to 1/16" and numbered by ones from 1 to 6.
Description
This white plastic promotional rule has a scale of centimeters along the top edge, divided to millimeters and numbered by ones from 1 to 15, and a scale of inches along the bottom edge, divided to 1/16" and numbered by ones from 1 to 6. The center of the rule is marked: For Good Measure from the National Bureau of Standards (/) Washington, D. C. 20234.
The back of the rule has a table comparing metric and customary units of length, volume, and weight. A second table explains the prefixes used in the metric system and gives conversions to yards, quarts, and pounds. The back is marked: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (/) National Bureau of Standards (/) Washington, D. C. 20234 (/) NBS Special Publication 376 (/) Issued December 1972 (/) For sale by the Superintendent of (/) Documents, U.S. Government Printing (/) Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 (/) (Order by SD Catalog No. C13.10:376). (/) Price 25 cents.
In order to encourage Americans to adopt the metric system, NBS (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) distributed this rule in the 1970s both individually and as part of a "metric kit," NBS Special Publication 410, which also included four informational pamphlets and a conversion card.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1972
maker
National Bureau of Standards
ID Number
1990.3146.02
catalog number
1990.3146.02
nonaccession number
1990.3146
Around 1970 many American companies and government agencies encouraged Americans to adopt the metric system.
Description
Around 1970 many American companies and government agencies encouraged Americans to adopt the metric system. Regal Beloit of Wisconsin and other manufacturers of cutting tools and gear boxes adopted the units of measure and distributed devices like this one to assist in their use.
The one-sided white cardboard rule is printed in orange and black and has eight windows. Two logarithmic scales on the slide are viewed through four of the windows so that the user can convert between yards or feet and meters; centimeters and inches; pounds and kilograms; and tons and metric tons. Two more logarithmic scales on the slide permit conversions between square yards and square meters; square centimeters and square inches; cubic yards and cubic meters; and liters and imperial gallons or U.S. gallons. Below the windows is a scale for converting between Celsius and Fahrenheit temperatures. The rule is marked: REGAL BELOIT. It is also marked metric/inch (/) CONVERTER. It is also marked SWANI PUBLISHING COMPANY (/) P.O. Box 284 • Roscoe, Illinois 61073 (/) 815 / 389-3065.
The back of the rule has small windows for reading conversions between fractional inches, decimal inches, and millimeters from columns of numbers printed on the slide. Tables of equivalents appear above more windows for reading conversions between inches and centimeters and miles and kilometers. After another table of prefixes and equivalents, instructions for using this side of the rule are provided. More small windows permit conversions between U.S. gallons and liters and cubic feet and cubic meters. At the bottom, the rule is marked: DISTRIBUTED BY (/) C-6862. The back of the slide is marked ©1971, IMPACT, Culver City, Callf. (/) Printed in U.S.A.
Impact was presumably a printing company. Swani was a division of Regal Beloit that published a few elementary textbooks on the metric system. Compare this rule to 1990.0689.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1971
maker
Impact
ID Number
1990.3231.01
nonaccession number
1990.3231
catalog number
1990.3231.01
This white rectangular cardboard rule is held together with four metal rivets. The front has logarithmic scales for making measurement conversions for length, mass, area, and volume. A chart for converting temperatures runs along the bottom edge.
Description
This white rectangular cardboard rule is held together with four metal rivets. The front has logarithmic scales for making measurement conversions for length, mass, area, and volume. A chart for converting temperatures runs along the bottom edge. The top is marked: THE NEWS (/) NEW YORK'S PICTURE NEWSPAPER Universal ENGLISH/SI (metric) Datalizer. The bottom is marked: © 1976 datalizer by DATALIZER SLIDE CHARTS, INC., Addison, IL 60101 PRINTED IN U.S.A. FORM NO. EM2.
The back has charts for converting between cubic meters and cubic feet; gallons and liters; miles and kilometers; inches and centimeters; and fractional inches and millimeters. A table of miscellaneous conversions appears in the center of the back.
Around 1960 a former employee of the Perry Graf Corporation (see 1979.3074.03) established Datalizer in Addison, a Chicago suburb. The company made this promotional rule during a time of considerable interest in adopting the metric system in the United States. The New York Daily News used the "picture newspaper" slogan between 1920 and 1991.
References: "Slide Chart Specialists," Datalizer Slide Charts, http://www.datalizer.com/about-us/; Lance Gould, "The Lenses And Legacy Of New York's Picture Newspaper," New York Daily News, January 25, 2002, http://articles.nydailynews.com/2002-01-25/entertainment/18195567_1_photographers-gallery-exhibit-exposed.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976
maker
Datalizer Slide Charts, Incorporated
ID Number
1981.0922.15
catalog number
1981.0922.15
accession number
1981.0922
In the 1970s, after metric units of measure had been adopted in Canada and Great Britain, some people in the United States advocated adoption of the metric system. Holubar Mountaineering Ltd.
Description
In the 1970s, after metric units of measure had been adopted in Canada and Great Britain, some people in the United States advocated adoption of the metric system. Holubar Mountaineering Ltd. of Boulder, Colorado, a manufacturer of outdoor clothing and camping supplies, distributed this cardboard slide chart. One side has a wind chill calculator. This had twelve columns of numbers with an actual temperature (given in both degrees Fahrenheit and degrees Celsius), at the head of each column. Figures in the column then gave the equivalent wind chill temperature for wind speeds in miles per hour (with the Fahrenheit scale) and in kilometers per hour (with the Celsius scale). Cold dangerous to health is indicated in shades of blue.
The reverse side of the chart has columns for converting from metric to English measures of length, mass, volume, and area. A number line has Fahrenheit temperatures on the top and Celsius temperatures on the bottom.
A mark on the sliding piece reads: GRAPHIC CALCULATOR CO., Barrington, Illinois 60010 Made in U.S.A. 12-76 -2349.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976
maker
Holubar Mountaineering Ltd.
manufacturer
Graphic Calculator Co.
ID Number
2001.3103.02
nonaccession number
2001.3103
catalog number
2001.3103.02
In the mid-1970s, the United States seriously considered making metric units mandatory as well as legal.
Description
In the mid-1970s, the United States seriously considered making metric units mandatory as well as legal. This filmstrip, audiotape, and leaflet were “prepared as an educational tool to help people learn the metric language,” and distributed by the Educational Relations Department of retailer J. C. Penney.
The filmstrip and tape have separate plastic containers. They fit with the leaflet in a cardboard box with an orange lid. Text on the front of the audiotape reads: The Metric Song. Additonal text there reads: JCPenny. Text on the containers for the tape and for filmstrip reads: 1974. The leaflet gives the lyrics of the song and describes the contents of the ten-minute filmstrip.
A mark in ink on the side of the box reads: R. M. T. The initials are those of R. Maxwell Tinsley, the father of the donor and a fellow of the U.S. Metric Association.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1974
maker
J. C. Penney Company, Inc.
ID Number
2001.3009.03
catalog number
2001.3009.03
nonaccession number
2001.3009
Following on its success with the first commercially successful digital quartz watch on the market in 1972, Time Computer Inc. (a descendant of Hamilton Watch Co., Lancaster, PA) put their calculator watch on the market in time for Christmas sales in 1975.
Description
Following on its success with the first commercially successful digital quartz watch on the market in 1972, Time Computer Inc. (a descendant of Hamilton Watch Co., Lancaster, PA) put their calculator watch on the market in time for Christmas sales in 1975. The first models featured 18K gold cases and sold for $3950. By spring of 1976, a stainless steel model like this one was available for about $500.
Company literature claimed the watch to be accurate to about a minute a year. The six-digit display could show time of hour, minute and second; plus month and day. Tapping the 0 key converted the watch from time mode to calculator mode, and tapping the command button returned it to time mode. The calculator watch has a six-digit display, but the ability to calculate to 12 digits. The watch came with a stylus to press the calculator’s keys. Four silver oxide batteries provided power.
date made
1976
manufacturer
Pulsar
ID Number
1994.0354.07
catalog number
1994.0354.07
accession number
1994.0354
In the 1970s, after metric units of measure had been adopted in Canada and Great Britain, some people in the United States advocated adoption of the metric system. The National Bureau of Standards of the U. S.
Description
In the 1970s, after metric units of measure had been adopted in Canada and Great Britain, some people in the United States advocated adoption of the metric system. The National Bureau of Standards of the U. S. Department of Commerce prepared this white plastic reference card to assist those wishing to use the unfamiliar units of measure. One side gave approximate conversion factors for computing metric measures from customary measures of length, area, mass and volume. This side also has a scale eight centimeters long divided to millimeters, and a chart with temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit along the top and temperatures in degrees centigrade along the bottom.
The other side of the card gives factors for converting from metric to common measures of length, area, mass, volume, and temperature. There also is a scale three inches long divided to 1/16th of an inch.
The card was a gift of machinist George A. Norton, a longtime employee of the National Museum of American History.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1972
maker
U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards
ID Number
1990.3231.02
catalog number
1990.3231.02
nonaccession number
1990.3231
In 1978, in order to assist Americans adjusting to the introduction of the metric system, the editors of the magazine Reader’s Digest in Pleasantville, New York, published this 48-page illustrated paper pamphlet for consumers.
Description
In 1978, in order to assist Americans adjusting to the introduction of the metric system, the editors of the magazine Reader’s Digest in Pleasantville, New York, published this 48-page illustrated paper pamphlet for consumers. It describes the interrelationships among metric units and ways to estimate them.
Further discussion considers the role of metric units in grocery shopping and cooking, home design and care, meteorology, sports, gardening, health care, and transportation.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1978
ID Number
1989.3123.03
nonaccession number
1989.3123
catalog number
1989.3123.03
This ten-inch, one-sided plastic rule has a yellow base, a white slide, and a transparent indicator. Identical logarithmic scales are on the top and the bottom of the base. Both sides of the slide are marked with pairs of metric and conventional units.
Description
This ten-inch, one-sided plastic rule has a yellow base, a white slide, and a transparent indicator. Identical logarithmic scales are on the top and the bottom of the base. Both sides of the slide are marked with pairs of metric and conventional units. On one side, the user can read off conversions between: inches and centimeters; meters and feet; meters and yards; miles and kilometers; square inches and square centimeters; square meters and square feet (times ten); square meters and square yards; and square miles and square kilometers. The other side of the slide permits readings of cubic inches and cubic centimeters (times ten); cubic meters and cubic feet (times ten); cubic meters and cubic yards; liters and quarts; ounces and grams (times ten); kilograms and pounds; metric tons and short tons; and gallons and liters.
The top left of the base is marked with the letters SP in a circle and the word STERLING. The top middle of the base is marked: METRIC CONVERTER. The bottom left of the base is marked: MADE IN U.S.A. The rule was received with its original packaging, a clear plastic cover on a blue paper backing. The packaging is marked at the top: SP STERLING #651 (/) metric (/) converter. At the bottom, it is marked: BORDEN ® (/) © 1972 STERLING PLASTICS (/) DIVISION OF BORDEN CHEMICAL, BORDEN INC. (/) MOUNTAINSIDE, N.J. 07092 (/) MADE IN U.S.A.
Sterling Plastics, a 20th-century manufacturer of drawing instruments for schools, was purchased by Borden Chemical in 1970. Since Sterling stopped making slide rules in 1972, this example of model number 651 was probably one of the last rules produced by the company. The five braces holding together the base of the instrument are also consistent with this date; early Sterling slide rules had only two braces. For instructions, see 1990.0689.03. For a Sterling slide rule with standard scales, see 1988.0807.01.
Reference: Mike Konshak, "Sterling Plastics," http://sliderulemuseum.com/Sterling.htm.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1972
maker
Sterling Plastics
ID Number
1990.0689.01
accession number
1990.0689
catalog number
1990.0689.01
This book of navigation charts for the Upper Mississippi River was published in 1972 by the U.S. Army Engineer Division, North Central Corps of Engineers, in Chicago. It was owned and used by Capt.
Description
This book of navigation charts for the Upper Mississippi River was published in 1972 by the U.S. Army Engineer Division, North Central Corps of Engineers, in Chicago. It was owned and used by Capt. Jack Libbey, a river pilot from Lansing, Iowa, who steered tows on the Mississippi for over 25 years. He piloted many types of tows, but among the largest he handled on a routine basis were those made up of 15 barges, each measuring 200’ long, 35’ wide, and carrying about 1600 tons of cargo. Overall, these tows measured 1200’ long and 105’ wide, and took a great deal of skill and knowledge to pilot safely.
The chart book reflects Libbey’s working knowledge of the Mississippi River, still the nation’s major conduit for transporting grain and other bulk commodities. To become a pilot, Libbey was trained, tested, and licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard. But like virtually all river pilots (including Mark Twain in the 1850s), he learned the ways of the river and the skills of the pilot from his elders and from experience.
That experience is revealed on these worn and weathered charts. Virtually every page has Libbey’s own markings and notations. In bold, red ink, he meticulously printed the names of major aids to navigation on both sides of the river, as well as the distance in miles from each marker to Cairo Point, the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers. Libbey’s handwriting stands out from the official markings and mapmakers’ symbols, and suggests the complex history of life along the river. Names like Winnebago, Muscatine, Maquoketa Levee, Zollicoffer, Pomme de Terre, and Wabasha reflect the region’s many cultural layers.
Captain Libbey also made navigational notes on the pages as a way of reminding himself to take special care in tricky situations. Steering under bridges in the shallow waters separating Iowa and Illinois inspired a number of notes, such as this one from December 10, 1975, concerning the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and Highway Bridge near Fort Madison, Iowa: “SB [Steering bridge] Keep stern on light and head on tank. When pilot house passes black bouy [sic] bring jackstaff around to 3rd pier out from channel span. Hold until red bouy below bridge opens up ½ way. Keep jackstaff on red bouy and stern 100 yds over from first Miss stacks. Slow ahead until lined up.”
Captain Libbey discussed being a pilot in an interview for the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife in 1996. He said, “ . . . you’re moving at a pretty good clip, you have all this momentum, and you can’t just steer it on a dime. And what we do, we send the deckhands out to talk us through the bridge . . . . That’s why you have marks also, so you know, you can kind of double check what they’re saying to you. Very, very important. And that’s what makes a good pilot . . . is being able to get through the bridges.”
Date made
1972
river pilot, owned and used chart book
Libbey, Jack
trained Captain Libbey
United States Coast Guard
publisher
U. S. Army Engineer Division, North Central Corps of Engineers
ID Number
2006.0103.03
accession number
2006.0103
catalog number
2006.0103.03
The DM-60, introduced in 1971, is a lightweight, infrared EDM, with a short range (distances from 1 foot to 1 mile) and a digital readout. New, it cost $3,988. An inscription on this example reads "CUBITAPE MODEL DM-60F SERIAL NO. 305 PATENT No. 3728025 CUBIC INDUSTRIAL CORP.
Description
The DM-60, introduced in 1971, is a lightweight, infrared EDM, with a short range (distances from 1 foot to 1 mile) and a digital readout. New, it cost $3,988. An inscription on this example reads "CUBITAPE MODEL DM-60F SERIAL NO. 305 PATENT No. 3728025 CUBIC INDUSTRIAL CORP. a subsidiary of Cubic Corporation SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA." The patent (#3,728,025) for "Optical Distance Measuring Equipment" is dated April 17, 1973. The trademark for the name "Cubitape" is dated January 8, 1974. Cubic Industrial Corporation was in business from 1971 to 1975. The DM-60 was remarkably successful. This example was used in Alaska, perhaps in association with the petroleum pipeline. The U. S. Army Engineers used many instruments of this sort for construction work, as well as for topographic and mapping surveys.
Ref: "Infrared Surveying Instrument is Automatic," Engineering News Record 186 (6 May 1971): 44.
Advertisement in Civil Engineering 41 (Sept. 1971): 26.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1971-1975
maker
Cubic Corporation
ID Number
1996.0194.01
accession number
1996.0194
catalog number
1996.0194.01

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