This brass rule has six diagonal scales (each 1-1/4" or 3.1 cm wide) next to each other, an unmarked slide (3.3 cm wide) with beveled edges at the top and bottom, and a stand or endpiece (3.3 cm deep). The Japanese Empire Department of Education displayed this object at the 1876 World's Fair, the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. It was subsequently transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Education (then part of the Department of the Interior) for a planned museum. The museum closed in 1906 due to high maintenance costs, and the object was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1910.
Other educational mathematical objects exhibited by Japan in 1876 include MA.261298, MA.261301, MA.261302, MA.261305, MA.261306, and MA.261313.
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