Science & Mathematics

The Museum's collections hold thousands of objects related to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Instruments range from early American telescopes to lasers. Rare glassware and other artifacts from the laboratory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, are among the scientific treasures here. A Gilbert chemistry set of about 1937 and other objects testify to the pleasures of amateur science. Artifacts also help illuminate the social and political history of biology and the roles of women and minorities in science.

The mathematics collection holds artifacts from slide rules and flash cards to code-breaking equipment. More than 1,000 models demonstrate some of the problems and principles of mathematics, and 80 abstract paintings by illustrator and cartoonist Crockett Johnson show his visual interpretations of mathematical theorems.

This simple German table was intended as an aid to multiplication and division. Each side of the blue and white paper disc has a blue and white paper arm pivoted from the center.
Description
This simple German table was intended as an aid to multiplication and division. Each side of the blue and white paper disc has a blue and white paper arm pivoted from the center. The disc has a diameter of 15 cm.; with the arm, the width is 15.6 cm.
Going in from the circumference, each arm has printed on it the numbers from 1 to 20 in a column. On each side of the disc there are 19 radial columns. On one side these are numbered from 2 to 20; on the other from 21 to 39. The “2” column contains multiples of 2, the “3” column multiples of 3, etc. To find, say, the product of 35 and 19, one lines up the arm next to the 35 column on the disc. Next to 19 on the arm is 665 (the desired product) on the disc.
The instrument is marked on both sides: PATENTA. It is also marked on both sides: D.R.G.M. (/) 145,796. The initials D.R.G.M. stand for Deutsches Reichgebrauchmuster, a temporary form of German intellectual property protection (not a full patent). D.R.G.M. numbers were first issued in 1891 and continued to be used through World War II. This number was issued in about 1901. A second form of the instrument, with more numbers, was issued later.
The object is described briefly in a column in the Zeitschrift für Mathematischen und Naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht in 1903. This example was found in the collections of the National Museum of American History’s Division of Transportation around 1980.
References:
“Besprechung von Lehrmitteln, Mathematik” Zeitschrift für Mathematischen und Naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht34, 1903, p. 67.
D. von Jezierski, trans. R. Shepherd, Slide Rules: A Journey through Three centuries, Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000, p. 102. This reference indicates that D.R.G.M. registered design 148526 was issued in 1901 and 173095 in 1902.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1901
ID Number
1988.0579.01
catalog number
1988.0579.01
accession number
1988.0579
Companies seeking to provide customers with advertisements they might consult repeatedly sometimes distributed convenient mathematical tables. This is an example of one of these. The small white plastic card has figures printed in blue.
Description
Companies seeking to provide customers with advertisements they might consult repeatedly sometimes distributed convenient mathematical tables. This is an example of one of these. The small white plastic card has figures printed in blue. The table gives decimal equivalents of parts of an inch ranging from 1/64” to 1” by sixty-fourth inch increments.
The other side of the card has a small drawing that shows the wooden building occupied by Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1848. It also shows the plant at the time the table was distributed, when it occupied 33 acres.
A mark on the back of the table reads: FORM 93 M.M.T. 7-43:100. Another mark reads: PRINTED IN U. S. A. This mark suggests that the card dates from 1943.
This table was found in the collections of what was then the Division of Work and Industry at the National Museum of American History.
Compare 1988.3078.02.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1943
maker
Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1988.3078.01
catalog number
1988.3078.01
nonaccession number
1988.3078
Companies seeking to provide customers with advertisements they might consult repeatedly sometimes distributed convenient mathematical tables. This is an example of one of these. The small white plastic card has figures printed in black.
Description
Companies seeking to provide customers with advertisements they might consult repeatedly sometimes distributed convenient mathematical tables. This is an example of one of these. The small white plastic card has figures printed in black. The table gives decimal equivalents of parts of an inch ranging from 1/64” to 1” by sixty-fourth-inch increments.
The other side of the card has three small drawings that show products of the L. S. Starrett Co. of Athol, Massachusetts. A mark on that side reads: THE TOOLS MECHANICS BUY (/) STANDARD FOR (/) ACCURACY, WORKMANSHIP, DESIGN, FINISH. A mark on the side of the card with the table indicates that it was made by Sanders Manufacturing Company of Nashville, Tennesee. That company has been in business since 1919.
This table was found in the collections of what was then the Division of Work and Industry at the National Museum of American History.
Compare 1988.3078.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1920-1960
maker
The L. S. Starrett Co.
ID Number
1988.3078.02
catalog number
1988.3078.02
nonaccession number
1988.3078
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 paper slide chart has a blue-gray envelope that includes a sliding chart printed in black on white.
Description
This paper slide chart has a blue-gray envelope that includes a sliding chart printed in black on white. It served as an advertisement for the leaded bronzes produced by Sumet Corporation of Buffalo, New York.
A window on the front of the envelope reveals a column of the slide that lists the commercial designation of a Sumet product, and its chemical composition (mainly copper and lead, with varying amounts of tin, and some zinc, nickel and phosphorus). Also listed for the product are such physical properties as tensile strength, elongation, Brinnell hardness, static load, and weight (in pounds per cubic inch). A window on the back shows a listing on the slide of the general applications of the same bronze.
A mark on the front reads: Technical Data (/) for LEADED BRONZE. A mark on the back reads: SUMET CORP., BUFFALO, N. Y. A copyright sign precedes the company name.
Bronzes with commercial designation from SM-4 through SM-18 were being produced by Sumet Corporation from at least 1931 to at least 1937. Hence the rough date of 1935 assigned to the object.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1935
maker
Sumet Corporation
ID Number
1988.3076.04
catalog number
1988.3076.04
nonaccession number
1988.3076
This slide chart advertises the properties of the ELASTUF machinery steels manufactured by Beals, McCarthy & Rogers, Incorporated, of Buffalo, New York. It consists of a paper envelope with metal rivets and a paper slide.
Description
This slide chart advertises the properties of the ELASTUF machinery steels manufactured by Beals, McCarthy & Rogers, Incorporated, of Buffalo, New York. It consists of a paper envelope with metal rivets and a paper slide. Lining up an arrow on the slide with a type of steel listed along the top of the front reveals in a window of the envelope a general description of the properties of the steel. The other side of a chart shows the physical properties of that type of steel (its tensile strength, yield point, elongation and reduction) for different bar sizes.
A mark along the bottom right of the back reads: COPYRIGHT 1947 BEALS, McCARTHY & ROGERS, INC. A mark on the slide reads: MANUFACTURED BY (/) GRAPHIC CALCULATOR CO. (/) CHICAGO 5, ILL. (/) MADE IN U.S.A.
For other products of Graphic Calculator Company, see 2000.3029.02 and 2000.3029.13.
Graphic Calculator Company was a slide rule and slide chart manufacturing and design company founded in Chicago in 1940 by Capron R. Gulbransen, and apparently still in business at the time of Gulbransen’s death in 1969. By 1965, the firm had moved to Barrington, Illinois.
Reference:
Obituaries, Chicago Tribune, August 11, 1969, p. A6
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1947
maker
Beals-McCarthy & Rogers
ID Number
1988.3076.02
catalog number
1988.3076.02
nonaccession number
1988.3076
This device is a rotating multiplication table. It consists of a wooden box containing a cylinder of sheet steel, which is rotated by turning a metal knob on the left side.
Description
This device is a rotating multiplication table. It consists of a wooden box containing a cylinder of sheet steel, which is rotated by turning a metal knob on the left side. A lid at the front of the box opens to reveal rows of numbers on a paper table pasted to the cylinder, and a paper strip with three horizontal rows of numbers pasted to the box in front of the cylinder. The numbers are handwritten in pen.
The leftmost numbers on the cylinder, indicated in red, increase from 1 to 75 as a knob on the side is rotated. The numbers in the top row, also indicated in red, increase from .05 5/11 to .35. From .05 5/11 through .10, these numbers increase by about .018 from one column to the next (each number at the head of a column is .01 9/11 larger than the previous one. Thus the second column has the heading .07 3/11), and from .10 through .35 they increase by .0125. The three rows of numbers on the sheet attached to the box are labeled 1/1, 1/2, and 1/4. Entries in the table are in black ink, and represent the product of the number in the uppermost row by that in the leftmost column, rounded off to the nearest hundredth (e.g., to cents). What the numbers in the table signify is unclear.
The instrument was collected in 1966 from Howard S. Pellatt, President of Dudley Shuttles. Dudley Shuttles was the descendent of a firm founded in 1825 in Wilkinsonville, Massachusetts, that made wooden shuttles for textile mills.
Compare 389100.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
MA.328416
accession number
272524
catalog number
328416
This pocket-sized book, distributed by the firm of Jones and Laughlins of Pittsburgh, Pa., is particularly designed to assist customers of that manufacturer of “steel, iron, and nails, patent cold-rolled shafting, pulleys, hangers and couplings, &c.” The tables were compiled by m
Description
This pocket-sized book, distributed by the firm of Jones and Laughlins of Pittsburgh, Pa., is particularly designed to assist customers of that manufacturer of “steel, iron, and nails, patent cold-rolled shafting, pulleys, hangers and couplings, &c.” The tables were compiled by mechanical engineer C. C. Briggs and, from 1898, revised by F. L. Garlinghouse. Surviving editions date from what may be the third edition of 1878 through the twentieth edition of 1942.
This volume is the eleventh edition, published in 1895. It includes some 487 pages of tables, listing such information for engineers as properties of various forms of iron and steel, material on the flow of water through pipes, formulae for the dimensions of small gears, information needed in the design of railroads, moments of inertia, bending moments and safe loads for beams, dimensions of columns, and strengths of bolts.
More mathematical tables deemed useful concern the circumference and area of circles of differing diameter; square, cubes, square roots, and cube roots of numbers; trigonometric functions; and the logarithms of trigonometric functions. More miscellaneous tables give rates of interest allowed in different states, interest tables, tables for conversions of weights and measures, the time in different places (neglecting the introduction of standard time), the amount of seed required to plant an acre of differing crops, and electoral votes cast in the presidential elections of 1884, 1888, and 1892.
The book of tables was received with a collection of drawing instruments. It is signed in ink inside the front cover: E. O. Hoffmann (/) 1573 - 30th St. N. W. (/) Washington, D. C. (/) 349 Carondelet St. (/) New Orleans, La. (/) U. S. Light House Service.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1895
author
C. C. Briggs, M. E.
ID Number
MA.335333
catalog number
335333
accession number
305958
The Costometer is a set of mounted mathematical tables designed to allow a payroll clerk who knows an employee's rate of pay and hours worked to simultaneously find his or her total weekly wage, deductions for federal and state unemployment taxes, deductions for Social Security t
Description
The Costometer is a set of mounted mathematical tables designed to allow a payroll clerk who knows an employee's rate of pay and hours worked to simultaneously find his or her total weekly wage, deductions for federal and state unemployment taxes, deductions for Social Security taxes, and the net pay after deductions. The device was introduced in 1936 to assist business computing payrolls in the wake of the U.S. Social Security Act. It was copyrighted that year by Dean Babbitt and LeRoi E. Hutchings, with contributions to the design by Herbert Austin Brown.
The instrument has an iron frame painted black and rotating paper tables on a continuous loop. Fabric and a metal plate cover much of the tables. A sliding window associated with each table is moved across it to select the column of numbers to be used. Numbers along the edges of the windows assist in reading the tables. In the center of the sliding plate is a face that represents 60 minutes and 12 hours, presumably to aid in converting time to metric units. A central dial rotates 360 degrees and is numbered from 0 to 9. Cranks for moving the tables are on the sides (one of 4 cranks is missing in this example). A switch for an electric motor is on the left side. The machine has a dust cover.
A mark on a plate on the front reads: Costometer (/) Corporation (/) New York, N.Y. (/) Made in United States of America. A mark on a small plate at the base of the back reads: A100Z1019. A mark on the tables reads: Copyright 1936 by Dean Babbitt and L.E. Hutchings. A mark on the front toward the back reads: Costometer (/) PATENT PENDING.
No patent corresponding to this object has been found. This example came to the Smithsonian from the collection of Victor Comptometer Corporation, and quite probably was originally in the collection of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company.
References:
“Mechanical Calculation Moves On,” Scientific American, 156 (February 1937): p. 114.
“Business Opportunities,” New York Times, August 30, 1936, p. F10. The same ad ran on the same page September 6, 1936.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1937
maker
Costometer Corporation
ID Number
MA.323623
accession number
250163
catalog number
323623
This device is a rotating multiplication table, probably intended as a currency converter.The wooden box contains a cylinder that is rotated by turning a metal wheel on the left side.
Description
This device is a rotating multiplication table, probably intended as a currency converter.
The wooden box contains a cylinder that is rotated by turning a metal wheel on the left side. A lid at the front of the box opens to reveal a paper strip with a horizontal row of numbers pasted to the box, a window below that shows a row of numbers on a paper pasted to the cylinder, and a paper strip with three horizontal rows of numbers pasted to the box below the window. The leftmost number on the cylinder increases as it is turned from 1 to 30. Numbers on the row of numbers above this window increase from 2 to 11, including intermittent values such as 2/3, 2/6, and 2/9.
Supposing that these numbers are in feet and inches, the product shown on the cylinder is given in fathoms [1 fathom = 6 feet = 72 inches]. Supposing that these numbers are in Massachusetts shillings and pence (6 shilling = $1 in 1818), the tables give the dollar and cents equivalents of multiples of Massachusetts currency.
The three rows of numbers below the window are labeled 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4. They give fractional values of the numbers in the top row, in the converted units (e.g. if the numbers in the top row represent shillings, they give values of fractions of that number of shillings, in cents).
The device is marked faintly in pencil on the bottom. This mark reads in part: May 1814.
According to the Ethnology catalog card, this object is American. It came with a large collection of Americana, particularly with school apparatus from New England.
Compare MA.328416.
Reference:
Zacariah Jess, The American Tutor’s Assistant, Philadelphia, 1818, p. 18.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1814
ID Number
MA.389100
catalog number
389100
accession number
182022
In the nineteenth century, several American inventors devised moving tables that allowed one to calculate interest. This is the U.S.
Description
In the nineteenth century, several American inventors devised moving tables that allowed one to calculate interest. This is the U.S. Patent Office model for a device designed to calculate the amount of interest upon any amount less than one thousand dollars for any number of days less than eighty-five at two rates, six and seven percent. It was invented by Albert C. Pierson of Rahway, New Jersey.
The instrument has three ten-sided rotating prisms, with the sides of each prism marked at the top with the digits from 0 through 9. The rightmost prism represents units, the middle one tens, and the leftmost hundreds in the amount of money borrowed or lent. Each side of each prism has two columns of 84 numbers, corresponding to interest charges for 1 to 84 days. The left column has interest charged at 6%, the right at 7%. Setting the prisms to the correct amount and then summing the numbers on the three prisms for the appropriate number of days gives the interest. A rotating strip on the left allows one to determine the number of days between two dates of the year.
This is the model for the first of two patents taken out by Albert C. Pierson (probably 1836–1870). Both relate to calculation.
Reference:
A. C. Pierson, “Improvement in Calculating Machines,” U.S. Patent 62,882, March 12, 1867 (the machine illustrated by this model).
A. C. Pierson, “Improvement in Calculating Machines,” U.S. Patent 73,995, February 4, 1868.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1867
patentee
Pierson, Albert C.
maker
Pierson, Albert C.
ID Number
MA.252689
catalog number
252689
accession number
49064
Printed multiplication tables have long been included as parts of general introductions to arithmetic and its applications in business.
Description
Printed multiplication tables have long been included as parts of general introductions to arithmetic and its applications in business. This table, which shows multiples of integers from 1 times 1 through 25 times 25, contains larger numbers than those found in most elementary texts. It also has no printing on the back. This suggests that it may have been printed as a broadside to be used separately.
An inscription in pencil on the back reads: Francis Lincoln (/) Fiskale (/) Mass.” Fiskale (known also as Fiskdale) is an area of Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The object was a donation of George H Watson of Sturbridge.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1850
Date made
1896-1897
ID Number
MA.72.5
accession number
280076
catalog number
72.5
This Universal Currency Converter is a plastic-covered paper holder that contains a plastic-covered paper core. The user slides the core to match a foreign currency to the U.S. dollar, given a known exchange rate, and then reads off conversions for other amounts of U.S.
Description
This Universal Currency Converter is a plastic-covered paper holder that contains a plastic-covered paper core. The user slides the core to match a foreign currency to the U.S. dollar, given a known exchange rate, and then reads off conversions for other amounts of U.S. currency. The table thus enables the user to avoid multiplication.
The back of the Unicon contains metric to common measure conversion tables for distances, liquid volumes, weights, temperature, time zones, and “unofficial” exchange rates, as well as a 6-inch and 15 cm ruler. These rates have some historical interest for nations that no longer exist, such as West Germany and the U.S.S.R.; for currencies that have been merged, such as that of various Eurpoean nations; and for changes in exchange rates. A sheet of instructions for the Unicon also has another table of weights and measures and a list of equivalent clothing sizes. The instrument and its instructions are stored in a plastic case, meant to be carried in the pocket of travelers.
A mark at the top front of the object reads: UNICON (/) UNIVERSAL CURRENCY CONVERTER (/) INSTANT * ACCURATE * ALWAYS CURRENT (/) CONVERTS ANY FOREIGN CURRENCY. A mark on the bottom front reads: Patent Pending Peoria Journal Star, Inc. 1971.
This example of the Unicon was given to the Museum by one of its inventors, David J. Schlink (1931–2010). Schlink and Walter K. Schwarz received U.S.Patent No. 3,680,775 on 1 August 1972 for the Unicon. They assigned the patent to Schlink’s employer, The Peoria Journal Star, Inc., of Peoria, Illinois. Under the name PJS Enterprises, the newspaper manufactured and sold the Unicon for $3.95 retail. Distribution soon was taken over by Unicon Enterprises of Peoria, which sold a later version of the instrument, the Unicon II, as late as 1988. By this time, foreign travelers also were advised to take along electronic calculators for currency conversion.
Schlink wrote two books on currency conversion, Money Sense Overseas (or,Unicon I), which sold in 1984 for $4.50 (ISBN 0912327006) and Unicon II, which sold in 1983 for $4.95 (ISBN 0912327014). It is not clear why Unicon II was copyrighted before Unicon I.
References:
Accession file.
W. K. Schwarz and D. J. Schlink, “Calculating Device,” U.S. Patent 3,680,775, August 1, 1972.
W. K. Schwarz and D. J. Schlink, “Calculating Device,” U.S. Patent 3,754,702, August 28, 1973.
W. K. Schwarz and D. J. Schlink, “Conversion Calculator,” U.S. Design Patent 231,796, June 11, 1974.
“Travel Log,” Boston Globe, January 14, 1973, p. A25.
Tom Grimm, “How to Avoid Currency Problems When Overseas,” Chicago Tribune, June 25, 1975, p. B14.
Betty Lukas, “Purse Is the Traveler’s Best Friend,” Los Angeles Times, September 8, 1985, p. G19.
Jonathan Storm, “Adventurous Tours for Women over 30,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 29, 1988.
“David J. Schlink,” Peoria Journal Star, September 24, 2010.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1971
maker
Peoria Journal Star
ID Number
MA.333847
catalog number
333847
accession number
303772
Both written language and written tables originated in the ancient Middle East. Scribes kept lists of numerical data, such as the number of sheep and goats transferred on different days of the month. A few of the clay tablets on which they wrote survive to this day.
Description
Both written language and written tables originated in the ancient Middle East. Scribes kept lists of numerical data, such as the number of sheep and goats transferred on different days of the month. A few of the clay tablets on which they wrote survive to this day. A tiny number of these tablets have rows and columns arranged in tables.. The rows may give totals of number of various forms of livestock transferred over time, with a column for the animals that were the responsibility of each person charged with such matters. Such documents date from around 2020 BCE.
Those learning and teaching mathematics in ancient Iraq rarely displayed information in tabular form. However, in 1922 the American collector George Plimpton purchased such a tablet. This replica of that unusual object was made in 1957 by L. C. Eichner. Plimpton donated the original object to Columbia University in the 1920s. The original dates from about 1800 BCE, and reportedly was excavated in what is now Iraq at the side of the ancient city of Lasra. The portion of the tablet that survives has four columns of numbers written in the sexagesimal (base 60) system of numbers.
Otto Neugebauer and A. J. Sachs offered a modern mathematical interpretation of the tablet in 1945. They noted that the numbers in the second and third columns of the table might represent the squares of the length of the shortest side and of the hypotenuse of right triangles, and interpreted the table as relating to Pythagorean triples. As the name Pythagorean suggests, such numbers had previously only been associated with later Greek mathematics. Other scholars have suggested that this was a part of a larger table of reciprocal numbers and related geometric figures, compiled by a teacher wishing to have examples of such reciprocals available for use in assignments.
References:
A. Aaboe, Episodes from the Early History of Mathematics, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964, pp. 30–31.
O. Neugebauer and A. J. Sachs, Mathematical Cuneiform Texts, New Haven: American Oriental Society and American Schools of Oriental Research, 1945.
O. Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, Providence, R.I.: Brown University Press,1957, pp. 36–40 and Plate 7a.
E. Robson, “Neither Sherlock Holmes nor Babylon: A Reassessment of Plimpton 322,” Historia Mathematica, 28 (2001), pp. 167–206.
E. Robson, “Words and Pictures: New Light on Plimpton 322,” American Mathematical Monthly, 109 (Feb 2002), pp. 105–120.
E. Robson, “Tables and Tabular Formatting in Babylon and Assyria, 2500 BCE–50 CE,” The History of Mathematical Tables from Sumer to Spreadsheets, eds. M. Campbell-Kelly, M. Croarken, R. Flood and E. Robson, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 18–47.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1957
maker
L. C. Eichner Instruments
ID Number
MA.315226
catalog number
315226
accession number
218473
This is the United States patent model for a multiplication table. It consists of a wooden disc pivoted to a wooden handle on which it revolves. The front of the part of the handle above the disc is a metal rod with the numbers 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1 through 10, and 20 engraved on it.
Description
This is the United States patent model for a multiplication table. It consists of a wooden disc pivoted to a wooden handle on which it revolves. The front of the part of the handle above the disc is a metal rod with the numbers 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1 through 10, and 20 engraved on it. The top of the disc has numbers engraved over its surface such that one can line up the handle with a number on the edge of the disc and find multiples of that number on the disc next to the engraved numbers on the handle.
A mark painted on the back of the handle and written on the back of the disc reads: J.D. SMITH.
This invention was patented in 1857 by James D. Smith (1834-1908), a native of Chatham, New York, who had moved to Brantingham in that state in 1841. He worked there in various businesses. In addition to this patent, Smith took out patents for an improvement in tool sharpeners (#87,212, February 12, 1869) and an improvement in station-indicators (#161170, March 23, 1875). No evidence has been found indicating that any of these inventions led to products.
In 1881, Smith moved to Albany to study law. He spent the rest of his career as an attorney.
References:
James D. Smith, “Machine for Multiplying Numbers,” U. S. Patent 18711, November 24, 1857.
“James D. Smith,” The Journal and Republican, Lowville, New York, June 4, 1908, p. 1.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1857
patentee
Smith, James D.
maker
Smith, James D.
ID Number
MA.252687
catalog number
252687
accession number
49064
Inventors have arranged multiplication tables on cylinders and on discs to ease use.
Description
Inventors have arranged multiplication tables on cylinders and on discs to ease use. This set of tables is designed to fit over the end of a pencil.
Near the top of this red pencil, just below the eraser, is a table of multiples of the numbers from 13 to 24 by the numbers 1 through 12. A metal cap numbered from 13 to 24 fits over the table at the top. A rotating metal cylinder fits into the cap, and is numbered 1 to 12 around the top. There is a small window in the cylinder below each of these numbers; the distance of the hole from the top varies with the size of the number. The “1” hole reveals multiples of 1 in the table, the “2” hole multiples of 2, etc. To find, say, 15 times 9, one sets the 9 column of the cylinder under the 15 of the cap and reads off 135.
A mark on the rotating cylinder reads: CHICAGO RECORDING SCALE CO. (/) WAUKEGAN. ILL. (/) PAT. PENDING. A mark on the pencil reads: U.S.A. SOUTHERN CROSS - No 2502.
The Chicago Recording Scale Company was in business in Waukegan, Illinois, from at least 1895 until at least 1910. I have seen no patent assigned to the company that corresponds to this object. The drawings for U.S. patent 613,432 for an improvement in pencil-boxes show something somewhat similar to this device, although the numbers included and the arrangement of windows is different. That patent was taken out by Stanislas Szenhak of “Warshaw, Russia,” and assigned to Julius Witkowski of Yokohama, Japan. Szenhak applied for a patent on August 19, 1898, and received it November 1, 1898. He also obtained a patent in Great Britain, where his invention was called a “toy for teaching arithmetic.”
This example of the device was given to the Museum by John William Christopher Draper and James Christopher Draper. Several objects in this gift were once the property of the New York meteorologist Daniel Draper, who took an active interest in the improvement of calculating instruments.
References:
Stanislas Szenhak, “Pencil-box,” U.S. Patent 613432, November 1, 1898.
P. A. Kidwell, “American scientists and calculating machines: from novelty to commonplace,” Annals of the History of Computing, 12, 1990, pp. 31–40.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Chicago Recording Scale Company
ID Number
MA.335350
catalog number
335350
accession number
304826
Before the introduction of calculating machines that could compute cube roots of numbers directly, calculating machine manufacturers distributed tables to assist in these calculations.
Description
Before the introduction of calculating machines that could compute cube roots of numbers directly, calculating machine manufacturers distributed tables to assist in these calculations. This table was developed by employees of Marchant Calculating Machine Company in Oakland, California, for use with its machines.
The table is of heavy paper, printed in black., and includes instructions on how it is to be used to find cube roots to the fifth and to the tenth significant figure. A drawing of a Marchant calculating machine is at the top, toward the left. A mark at the bottom left reads: TABLE 56. Another mark along the bottom reads: PRINTED IN U. S. A. A third mark along the bottom reads: COPYRIGHT 1941 MARCHANT CALCULATING MACHINE COMPANY, OAKLAND, CALIF., U. S. A.
Compare 313984.04, which gives a table for finding cube roots. The table came with Marchant calculating machine MA.334384. The donor, Richard H. Hronik (1911–2003), held a number of patents in transportation engineering and did design work relating to railroad systems built for the Indian government. He went on to work for the firm Melpar as a materials science engineer.
References: D. H. Lehmer, “Review of Square Root Divisors. . .,” Mathematical Tables and other Aids to Computation, 1, 1945, pp. 356–357.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1944
1941
maker
Marchant Calculators
ID Number
MA.313984.03
accession number
313984
catalog number
313984.03
By the late 1860s, railroads were vital to American commerce. This is the U.S. patent model for a rotating multiplication table used to compute freight charges.
Description
By the late 1860s, railroads were vital to American commerce. This is the U.S. patent model for a rotating multiplication table used to compute freight charges. It was patented by Albert Sinclair of West Waterville, Maine, in 1869.
The instrument has a cylindrical metal case painted black, with metal feet at each end. The case contains a rotating cylinder covered with a printed table of numbers, which represent amounts charged for shipping given quantities of freight at given rates. A long narrow opening across the case shows one line of this table. The rate charged (from 1 to 50 cents per hundred pounds) is given at the far left of the table, with total fees indicated for weights from 1 to 9, 10 to 100 (by tens), 200 to 1,000 (by hundreds), and 10,000 to 50,000 (by ten thousands) pounds. A paper sticker glued above the window lists these weights, as well as the cost of shipping the weights for rates of 1/4 cents, 1/2 cents, and 3/4 cents per hundred pounds. Such costs are added on to the figure shown in the table if the rate is not a whole number.
A blue paper sticker pasted to the case below the window gives instructions. A mark on it reads: SINCLAIR'S FREIGHT COMPUTER (/) FOR RAILROADS AND GENERAL FREIGHTING BUSINESS, (/) By the use of which, all multiplication and division in computing Freight is dispensed with. A reward of Ten Dollars is offered to the first person who can find an error of one cent in the computation of this machine or table.
Albert Sinclair also took out a patent for a broom earlier in 1869. The 1870 U.S. Census lists an Albert Sinclair, boardinghouse keeper, living in Lewiston, Maine, with his wife, Martha, and several children. Lewiston is about fifty miles southwest of Waterville. The 1860 census lists this Albert Sinclair and his family as living in Kalmar, Minnesota, where he was a farmer, thirty-nine years old, and born in Maine.
References:
U.S. Census records.
Albert Sinclair, “Broom,” U.S. Patent 92,483, July 13, 1869.
Albert Sinclair, “Improvement in Price-Calculating Devices,” U.S. Patent 97,974, December 14, 1869.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1869
patentee
Sinclair, Albert
maker
Sinclair, Albert
ID Number
MA.252696
accession number
49064
catalog number
252696
patent number
97974
This United States patent model has a rectangular wooden frame with five grooves, each of which holds a bar (made from a different kind of wood) that slides crosswise. Two flat wooden pieces cover much of the bars on the left side, with a gap between them.
Description
This United States patent model has a rectangular wooden frame with five grooves, each of which holds a bar (made from a different kind of wood) that slides crosswise. Two flat wooden pieces cover much of the bars on the left side, with a gap between them. Each bar has a set of twelve evenly spaced holes that are numbered from 11 down to 1 (the “0” holes are not numbered). Each bar also is indented at the top to hold a slip of paper that slides under the top of the machine. There are eleven further, unnumbered, holes to the right of each slip of paper. Setting up a number on the rods (to represent an amount of money or a length of time) reveals a number on the paper slips that represents an amount of tax or interest.
A piece of paper glued to the top of the device reads: S.S. Young’s Tax and (/) Interest Rule (/) Red March 18th 1851. The “d” in this mark is a superscript.
Samuel S.Young of Eaton, Ohio, took out three patents for computing devices. This is the patent model for the second, a rule for calculating interest, patented September 2, 1851 (U.S. Patent 8323). The first was an add to addition or adder, patented July 24, 1849 (U.S. Patent 6602), the third an arithmetical proof rule, patented October 26, 1858 (U.S. Patent 21921). The U.S. Census for 1850 lists an S. S. Young of Eaton, Ohio, who was forty years old that year and living with his wife and two children. His occupation is given as “gardener.” Apparently by 1860 he had moved to the nearby town of Washington and is listed as being a “horticulturalist” by profession. Young assigned his patent to John R. Stephen of Eaton, who is listed in the 1860 Census as a farmer.
Compare to the model for the first of his inventions, MA.252680.
References:
S. S. Young, “Rules for Calculating Interest,” U.S. Patent 8329, September, 1851.
U. S. Census Records
Robert Otnes, “Sliding Bar Calculators,” ETCetera, #11, June, 1990, p. 6.
P. A. Kidwell, “Adders Made and Used in the United States,” Rittenhouse, May, 1994, p. 80.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1851
patentee
Young, Samuel S.
maker
Young, Samuel S.
ID Number
MA.252683
catalog number
252683
accession number
49064
This slide chart, distributed by the Qunicy Compressor company of Quincy, Illinois, is designed to allow customers to select the appropriate model of Quincy air compressor to purchase, knowing the pressure at which the air is to be delivered and the number of cubic feet per minut
Description
This slide chart, distributed by the Qunicy Compressor company of Quincy, Illinois, is designed to allow customers to select the appropriate model of Quincy air compressor to purchase, knowing the pressure at which the air is to be delivered and the number of cubic feet per minute of air delivery desired. On one side, pressures range from 30 to 100 pounds On the other, they range from 110 to 250 pounds. For each model, the chart indicates the horsepower, speed, and piston displacement.
The chart consists of a paper envelope held together with metal rivets and a paper slide that moves crosswise. A mark near the bottom reads: Copyright 1941 Perry Graf Corp. Maywood, Ill. Slide charts made by Perry Graf that are in the Museum collections include 1979.3074.03, 1983.3009.04, 1983.3009.05,1983.3009.06, 1987.0108.03, and 1988.0325.01, and 1988.3076.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1941
maker
Quincy Compressor Co.
ID Number
1988.3076.01
catalog number
1988.3076.01
nonaccession number
1988.3076
This paper model slide chart has an envelope held together by staples and a rectangular slide, It contains tables relating to the size and shape of screw threads, as standardized in the mid-20th century United States.
Description
This paper model slide chart has an envelope held together by staples and a rectangular slide, It contains tables relating to the size and shape of screw threads, as standardized in the mid-20th century United States. Tables on one side are for the “National Fine Series,” those on the other side for the “National Coarse Series.” Fine screws move a relatively short distance each time the screw is turned, and have greater locking power.
Assuming that screws are of the general form proposed by William Sellers of Philadelphia in 1864, the chart gives the depth of the thread element, the width of the flat portion of the base, the tap drill size to be used in fabricating the screw, and the best wire size for measuring the screw (that is to say, the wire size that will just touch the thread at the pitch diameter). It also indicates the maximum and minimum dimensional tolerances for different classes of fit from the loosest (class 1) to the most precise (class 4).
A mark on the front reads: QUICK SLIDE (/) THREAD ELEMENTS. A mark on the back reads: COPYRIGHT 1946 BY CAPELL DESIGNING CO. BOX 993 CHURCH ST. STA. NEW YORK 8, N.Y. The back is stamped: [copyright symbol]CI I pub. 430. Below this is the date stamp: FEB - 7 1946. A nearby stamp reads: SURPLUS (/) DUPLICATE and shows the seal of the Library of Congress.
Rockford D. Robbins and John E. Capell of New York copyrighted the instrument in February of 1946. It seems likely that this was the copy of their device submitted to the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress. No manufactured example of the instrument is yet known.
References:
Bruce Sinclair, “At the Turn of a Screw: William Sellers, the Franklin Institute, and a Standard American Thread,”
Technology and Culture , vol. 10, No. 1 (Jan., 1969), pp. 20-34
United States Library of Congress, Catalog of Copyright Entries 1946 Works of Art . . .
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1946
maker
Capell Designing Company
ID Number
1983.3009.03
catalog number
1983.3009.03
nonaccession number
1983.3009
Manufacturers of adding and calculating machines distributed a variety of printed mathematical tables for users of their products.
Description
Manufacturers of adding and calculating machines distributed a variety of printed mathematical tables for users of their products. This example, printed in black on white cardboard, was prepared by Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company of Chicago, makers of the Comptometer adding machine. It was their Form No. 4 and lists the net result as a decimal of taking off two discounts in percent on an item sold. For example, the table indicates that if an item was selling at a 40% discount and then had an additional 10% discount on the price, the net price would be .54 times the original price. It was for use with a Comptometer. The form shows a Model J Comptometer, a machine produced in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Hence the date assigned.
A mark at the top of the table reads: Discount Table (/) showing net of $1.00 after discounts, shown (/) at top and side, are taken off (/) to be used in connection with the (/) COMPTOMETER (/) (TRADE MARK).
According to the donor, the table belonged to her aunt, the late Bessie Gold, who used it with a Burroughs calculator. Born in Russia about 1912, Gold came to the United States as a child. As an adult, she did office work in Richmond, Va.
For other tables distributed by Felt & Tarrant, see 1979.3074.09.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
maker
Felt & Tarrant Mfg. Co.
ID Number
2011.3049.01
nonaccession number
2011.3049
catalog number
2011.3049.01
This brightly colored metal plate has a profile of a monkey attached to it. Setting the feet of the monkey at two numbers that are indicated on a line along the bottom, one finds the product indicated on a table on the plate.
Description
This brightly colored metal plate has a profile of a monkey attached to it. Setting the feet of the monkey at two numbers that are indicated on a line along the bottom, one finds the product indicated on a table on the plate. The device was patented by William Robertson of Ohio, who took out patents June 27, 1916 and November 26, 1918. It was first manufactured in Ohio and then in Springfield, Massachusetts. In addition to being a charming aid to instruction, the object represents a curious combination of math teaching and popular culture. Consul was the name of a trained monkey popular in Britain and Europe at the turn of the century, and the subject of a 1909 film Consul Crosses the Atlantic.
Historian Caitlin Wylie has written on the object.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1903
ca 1910
ca 1919
maker
Robertson, William
ID Number
2014.0293.10
catalog number
2014.0293.10
accession number
2014.0293
This device combines a cylindrical table for multiplying numbers from 2 to 12 by numbers from 2 to 12 with a mechanical pencil.
Description
This device combines a cylindrical table for multiplying numbers from 2 to 12 by numbers from 2 to 12 with a mechanical pencil. It has a wooden exterior painted red with a metal piece near the writing end (there is no lead in this example) and a yellow plastic cover for the table. A mark on the pencil reads: MAGIC (/) MULTIPLYING (/) PENCIL (/) TURN HERE (/) PAT. PEND. APEX PRODUCTS CORP. N Y C.
The pencil is stapled to a paper display card that reads in part: Sensation (/) of the (/) School Year! (/) MAGIC (/) MULTIPLYING (/) PENCIL. It also reads: [copyright symbol] Apex Products Corp., N. Y. C. (/) 1939 Made in U.S.A. Patent Pending.
References:
[Advertisement], The Hartford Courant, September 1, 1946, p. sm 16. Magic Multiplying Pencil selling for 15 cents.
[Advertisement], Chicago Daily Tribune, August 24, 1947, p. 90. Magic Multiplying Pencil advertised as selling for 14 cents.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1945
maker
Apex
ID Number
2017.0148.01
accession number
2017.0148
catalog number
2017.0148.01

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.