Science & Mathematics - Overview
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.
"Science & Mathematics - Overview" showing 17 items.
Page 1 of 2
Instruction Manual for Charles Bruning Model 2401 Slide Rule
- Description
- The citation information for this 16-page pamphlet is Charles Bruning Company, Inc., Instruction Manual for Bruning Slide Rule No. 2401 (New York, 1944). The cover notes that the company had applied for a patent on a slide rule indicator, but no such patent has been found. The manual begins with the claim that results on model 2401 were significant to three digits. After explaining the parts of a slide rule, the manual divides the process of learning to use a slide rule into twelve steps, each of which are discussed with examples, solutions, and exercises in the remainder of the pamphlet. This manual was received with 1991.0445.03.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1944
- maker
- Charles Bruning Company, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1991.0445.03.01
- accession number
- 1991.0445
- catalog number
- 1991.0445.03.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Instruction Manual for Keuffel & Esser Polyphase Duplex Pocket Slide Rule
- Description
- This 70-page booklet was received with 1993.0357.01. The book explains how to operate model 68–1555, which was model 4168 before 1962. Its citation information is: Keuffel & Esser Polyphase Duplex Pocket Slide Rule . . . Instruction Manual, 2nd ed. (New York: Keuffel & Esser Co., 1947). Presumably only the cover and illustration of the slide rule were updated in the 1960s. Topics covered include: multiplication and division, proportion, squares and square roots and cubes and cube roots, and plane trigonometry. Answers are provided at the back.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960s
- maker
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- ID Number
- 1993.0357.01.01
- accession number
- 1993.0357
- catalog number
- 1993.0357.01.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pickett Trig Slide Rule Instruction Manual
- Description
- This 64-page booklet was received with 1993.0559.01. Its citation information is: Maurice L. Hartung, How to Use . . . Trig Slide Rules (Chicago: Pickett & Eckel Inc., 1960). It sold separately for fifty cents. Hartung was the University of Chicago professor who was closely associated with Pickett & Eckel in the company's early years and who wrote several instruction manuals for the firm's slide rules.
- The booklet discusses slide rule operation, use of certain special scales, applications of trigonometry, and the principles underlying slide rules. Hartung focused on the operations of the instrument rather than on mathematical theory. There are problem sets at the end of each section, with answers in the back of the manual, and a few sets of "practical" (word) problems. Another copy of the booklet is scanned at http://sliderulemuseum.com/Manuals/M104_Pickett_HowToUseTrig_1960.pdf.
- Reference: "Maurice Leslie Hartung," Mathematics Genealogy Project, http://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=7964. Hartung received a life achievement award from the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics in 1977, http://ictm.org/ictmawards/lifeachievement.html.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960
- publisher
- Pickett Industries
- author
- Hartung, Maurice L.
- ID Number
- 1993.0559.01.01
- accession number
- 1993.0559
- catalog number
- 1993.0559.01.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pickett Decimal-Keeper Slide Rule Instructions
- Description
- This twelve-page booklet was received with 1995.0126.01. Titled "How To Use Decimal-Keeper Slide Rules," it is another of the instruction manuals Maurice L. Hartung wrote for Pickett & Eckel, Inc., a slide rule manufacturer based in Chicago and Alhambra, Calif. Hartung explained how Pickett had reduced the scales on slide rules in the Decimal-Keeper line so that one ten-inch Decimal-Keeper became equivalent to twenty ordinary ten-inch linear slide rules. These reduced scales are the scales marked with asterisks on Decimal-Keeper slide rules.
- There are also instructions for locating the proper section of the scale, carrying out division, computing trigonometric functions, calculating roots, finding logarithms, and adjusting and cleaning the slide rule. The booklet is undated. Separately, it sold for 50 cents and had model number M-17.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1960
- maker
- Pickett & Eckel, Incorporated
- ID Number
- 1995.0126.04
- accession number
- 1995.0126
- catalog number
- 1995.0126.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Manual for Gilson Midget Circular Slide Rule
- Description
- This twelve-page booklet was received with 1998.0119.01. It provides instructions for using the Midget circular slide rule manufactured by Gilson Slide Rule Company of Stuart, Fla. It describes each of the scales and gives a sample problem for computing a merchant's overhead costs as a percentage of profit. It advertises Gilson's Atlas and Binary slide rules and provides a list of formulas and equivalent measurements.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1940
- maker
- Gilson Slide Rule Company
- ID Number
- 1998.0119.03
- catalog number
- 1998.0119.03
- accession number
- 1998.0119
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Instruction Manual for Pickett & Eckel Log Log Trig Slide Rule
- Description
- The citation information for this small 32-page booklet is: Maurice L. Hartung, How to Use the 300 Log Log Trig Pocket Slide Rule (Chicago: Pickett & Eckel, Inc., 1949). It provides general information on how to use slide rules, including the arithmetical operations, locating the decimal point, combining multiplication and division, using the folded scales, calculating roots, trigonometry, and vectors.
- Model 300 was a six-inch, pocket-sized duplex slide rule and is not presently represented in the Smithsonian collections, although 1999.0096.01 is a ten-inch log log trig rule. Hartung was a University of Chicago professor who helped Pickett & Eckel market their products to schools and who wrote several instruction manuals for the company's slide rules. See 1979.0601.02.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1949
- maker
- Hartung, Maurice L.
- ID Number
- 1979.0601.03
- accession number
- 1979.0601
- catalog number
- 1979.0601.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Instruction Manual for Pickett & Eckel Deci Log Log Slide Rule
- Description
- This 32-page booklet was received with 1979.0601.02. Its citation information is: Maurice L. Hartung, How to Use the Deci Log Log Slide Rule (Chicago: Pickett & Eckel, Inc., 1947). Hartung, a University of Chicago professor and consultant to Pickett & Eckel, provided a basic overview of mathematical operations on the slide rule. He then explained placing the decimal point; the inverted scales; scales for squares and cubes, logarithms, and trigonometry; and solving problems using multiple scales. He next described the log log scales in a section that has several diagrams of slide rules.
- A pink paper sheet on caring for the slide rule is inside the booklet. A previous owner has written in a few corrections, including an updated population of the United States of 175 million in 1957.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1947
- maker
- Pickett Industries
- author
- Hartung, Maurice L.
- ID Number
- 1979.0601.04
- accession number
- 1979.0601
- catalog number
- 1979.0601.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pickett Manual for Model 3 Duplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This eight-page pamphlet, titled How to Use Model 3 Powerlog Slide Rules, is a supplement to Maurice L. Hartung, How to Use Dual Base Log Log Slide Rules (Santa Barbara, Calif.: Pickett, Inc., 1947). Hartung also wrote this pamphlet, probably around 1947. He explains scales not found on other Pickett models, namely, the extended square root, cube root, and tangent scales. Model 3 also had an extra log log scale (LL0).
- This printing was made after the company moved to Santa Barbara in 1964. See the associated items, 1980.0097.01 and 1980.0097.05.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date written
- 1947
- date printed
- ca 1965
- maker
- Hartung, Maurice L.
- printer
- Pickett Industries
- ID Number
- 1980.0097.06
- accession number
- 1980.0097
- catalog number
- 1980.0097.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Advertising Pamphlet for Otis King's Pocket Calculator
- Description
- The cover of this eight-page pamphlet is blue and black. It reads: HOW THE (/) OTIS KING (/) SPIRAL (/) SLIDE RULE (/) SAVES TIME (/) AND MISTAKES (/) IN ALL (/) CALCULATIONS (/) SIMPLE (/) QUICK (/) ACCURATE. The text describes the features and advantages of the Otis King cylindrical slide rule. Drawings demonstrate the three steps required to make calculations with the instrument. The pamphlet also lists 13 sample problems the Otis King Pocket Calculator could solve, 37 companies that were major customers of the rule, and 50 professions that usefully employed the rule. The back page carries five anonymous testimonials.
- This pamphlet arrived with 1981.0922.09 and 1981.0922.11. It is exactly the same as 1989.3049.04, except that it is not stamped with information about where the rule was purchased.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965-1970
- maker
- Carbic Limited
- ID Number
- 1981.0922.10
- accession number
- 1981.0922
- catalog number
- 1981.0922.10
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Instructions for Otis King's Pocket Calculator
- Description
- This 16-page pamphlet was printed on light green paper by Carbic Limited, the London manufacturer of the cylindrical slide rule invented by Otis King. It is titled: The Otis King Calculator: Instructions for Use. This form of pamphlet is typically found with King Calculators manufactured later than those that sold with Carbic's eight-page pamphlet. (See 1987.0788.06.) Thus, it was printed no earlier than the late 1960s. This pamphlet did, though, appear before the pound sterling was decimalized in 1971.
- An introduction to the instrument has been added, and explanations have been expanded for multiplication and division, logarithms, and understanding the scales. The further examples are nearly identical to those in the earlier form of instructions. The explanations of how to use the logarithmic capabilities of Model L are the same except that the word "unity" has been replaced by the number 1. Discussions of compound roots and approximation have been added, and the explanation of finding the decimal point is expanded.
- Reference: Dick Lyon, "Otis King's Patent Calculator," http://www.svpal.org/~dickel/OK/OtisKing.html.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1965-1970
- maker
- Carbic Limited
- ID Number
- 1981.0922.11
- accession number
- 1981.0922
- catalog number
- 1981.0922.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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