Mathematical Table, Decimal Equivalents of Parts of an Inch

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.

Date Made: 1943

Maker: Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: Rhode Island, Providence

Subject: MathematicsManufacturing

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Mathematics, Mathematical Charts and Tables, Science & Mathematics, Measuring & Mapping

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Transfer from Division of Engineering and Industry

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1988.3078.01Catalog Number: 1988.3078.01Nonaccession Number: 1988.3078

Object Name: mathematical table

Physical Description: plastic (overall material)Measurements: overall: .1 cm x 5 cm x 11.2 cm; 1/32 in x 1 31/32 in x 4 13/32 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-a2f3-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1213741

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.