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 35 items.
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Hemmi Duplex Slide Rule Retailed by Post (Versalog 1460)
- Description
- The Frederick Post Company, a 20th-century manufacturer and retailer of scientific instruments based in Chicago, did not make its own slide rules. From 1932, its exclusive supplier of linear slide rules was Hemmi, a Japanese firm. Hemmi was known for using a large-diameter variety of bamboo grown in Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. Company founder Jiro Hemmi (1878–1953) patented this innovation in several nations, including the United States in 1920.
- While Post usually sold standard Hemmi models, around 1951 Hemmi created two ten-inch slide rules solely for Post, which sold in the United States as the model 1450 Versatrig and model 1460 Versalog. The Versalog was especially popular, selling several hundred thousand copies.
- This example is bamboo, coated on all sides (except the ends) with white celluloid. The rule is held together with metal posts, one of which is engraved on the front: Wm. Krutz. The glass indicator has a metal frame with plastic sides. One side is marked: HEMMI JAPAN. The other side bears a Post logo in red, which has largely been rubbed away. The red Post logo and the serial number 015836 appear on the right front of the slide. The serial number indicates the rule was manufactured in 1959. This is confirmed by the date code JI on the bottom edge of the rule, which corresponds to a manufacturing date of September 1959.
- The top edge of the rule is marked: CAT. NO. 1460; VERSALOG; FREDERICK POST CO.; HEMMI BAMBOO – JAPAN. The front of the base has LL0, LL/0, K, DF, D, R1, R2, AND L scales. The front of the slide bears CF, CIF, CI, and C scales. The LL/0, CIF, and CI scales are numbered in red. The back of the base has LL/1, LL/2, LL/3, D, LL3, LL2, AND LL1 scales. The back of the slide has T, Sec T and ST, Cos and S, and C scales. The LL/1, LL/2, LL/3, T, and Sec T scales are numbered in red. All the other scales are navy.
- The rule fits into a black Fabrikoid case with a leather flap (stamped POST). The case could be hung from the user's belt, and it is labeled: W. K. KRUTZ. The case is stored in a red, white, and black cardboard box, along with a guarantee from Post and a ruler-sized white plastic set of conversion tables, copyrighted in 1950 by the Eugene Dietzgen Co., another prominent slide rule manufacturer. The rule also arrived with an instruction booklet, 1978.0800.02.
- References: Jiro Hemmi, "Slide-Rule" (U.S. Patent 1,329,902 issued February 3, 1920); Walter Shawlee II, Ted Hume, and Paul Ross, "The Post Slide Rule Archive," Sphere Research Corporation, http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/post.html; Bob Otnes, "Notes on Frederick Post Slide Rules," Journal of the Oughtred Society 7, no. 1 (1998): 7–10; Paul Ross and Ted Hume, "Slide Rules of the Frederick Post Company," Journal of the Oughtred Society 9, no. 2 (2000): 37–46; Ted Hume, "The Popular Post Versalog Slide Rule," Journal of the Oughtred Society 15, no. 1 (2006): 53–55; William Lise, "Japanese Slide Rules," 19 August 2004, accessed via Internet Archive Wayback Machine; E. I. Fiesenheiser, The Versalog Slide Rule: An Instruction Manual (Chicago: The Frederick Post Company, 1951).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1959
- maker
- SUN HEMMI JAPAN CF
- inventor
- Frederick Post Co.
- ID Number
- 1978.0800.01
- catalog number
- 336682
- accession number
- 1978.0800
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Otis King's Pocket Calculator Model L Cylindrical Slide Rule
- Description
- This six-inch cylindrical slide rule consists of a chromium-plated holder, a metal cylinder that slides into the holder, and a black metal tube that fits around and slides up and down on the cylinder. The telescoping rule is ten inches long when extended and equivalent to a rectangular slide rule 66 feet in length. Two short white lines on the tube and a black mark on the chrome cap at the end of the cylinder serve as the indicator. A paper spiral logarithmic scale is attached to the top half of the holder. A second, linear and logarithmic, paper scale is attached to the cylinder. The logarithmic scales are used to multiply and divide, and the linear scale is used to find logarithms.
- At the top of the cylinder is printed: PATENT No 183723. At the bottom of the cylinder is printed: OTIS KING'S POCKET CALCULATOR; SCALE No 430. The top of the scale on the holder is printed: SCALE No 429; COPYRIGHT. The bottom is printed: OTIS KING'S PATENT No 183723. The end of the holder is engraved: MADE IN (/) Y9481 (/) ENGLAND.
- Otis Carter Formby King invented this form of slide rule in 1921, and Carbic Limited of London, England, manufactured it until 1972. The serial number, Y9481, suggests a date about 1965–1969 for this example. A collector of computing devices donated it to the Smithsonian.
- See also 1987.0788.01 and 1989.3049.02. For documentation, see 1981.0922.10 and 1981.0922.11.
- References: Peter M. Hopp, Slide Rules: Their History, Models, and Makers (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 1999), 274, 281; Otis Carter Formby King, "Calculating Apparatus," (U.S. Patent 1,645,009 issued October 11, 1927); Richard F. Lyon, "Dating of the Otis King: An Alternative Theory Developed Through Use of the Internet," Journal of the Oughtred Society 7, no. 1 (1998): 33–38; Dick Lyon, "Otis King's Patent Calculator," http://www.svpal.org/~dickel/OK/OtisKing.html.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1965-1968
- maker
- Carbic Limited
- ID Number
- 1981.0922.09
- catalog number
- 1981.0922.09
- accession number
- 1981.0922
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Keuffel & Esser Instructions for 4098 Ever-There Slide Rule
- Description
- The citation information for this 16-page tissue paper pamphlet is: Instructions for Operating Ever-There Slide Rule No. 4098 (New York: Keuffel & Esser, 1932). The pamphlet describes an earlier version of 1989.0325.06. It lists various uses for slide rules and provides detailed drawings and explanations for reading numbers and making calculations on the slide rule. Sample problems are solved in multiplication and division, proportion, squares and square roots, cubes and cube roots, trigonometry, and logarithms.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1932
- maker
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- ID Number
- 1981.0933.09
- accession number
- 1981.0933
- catalog number
- 1981.0933.09
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Routledge's Engineer Linear Slide Rule
- Description
- This is a two-foot, two-fold boxwood rule with a brass hinge and endpieces. Half of one side is a slide rule with A and D scales on the base and B and C scales on the slide. As with MA*306697.01, the C scale is the same as the A and B scales (the square of the D scale), instead of the same as the D scale, as on modern Mannheim slide rules. Below the D scale is marked: SQUARE CYLINDER GLOBE (3 times) ROUTLEDGE'S ENGINEER.
- The first three marks form headings for the tables on the other half of this side when the instrument is folded. The tables give conversion factors from the volumes of geometric solids to units of volume, in both the "old" and imperial systems; conversion factors from the volumes of geometric solids to the weights in pounds of various substances; the areas of polygons from 5 to 12 sides; the gauge points of a circle; and gauge points for pumping engines, to find the diameters of steam cylinders that will work pumps of specified diameter at 7 pounds per square inch.
- The other side has a scale of 24 inches along one edge, divided to sixteenths of an inch for 9 inches and to eighths of an inch for the rest of the scale. There are also scales for making scale drawings that are 1, 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4 inches to the foot. This side is marked: T. ASTON THE ORIGINAL MAKER WARRANTED. One outside edge has scales for 10 and 12 parts to the inch; the other outside edge divides one foot into 100 parts.
- This form of slide rule was invented by Joshua Routledge, a seller of iron goods, in 1808 or 1809. He discussed it in the 1813 (4th) edition of Instructions for the Engineer's Improved Sliding Rule. According to Gloria Clifton, there were two rule makers named Thomas Aston, presumably a father and son, who were in business at various addresses in Birmingham, England, from 1818 to 1862. The references to pre-imperial system units of measure suggest the rule might have been made shortly after the imperial system was adopted in 1824. This instrument was found in the home of Grace Speer, granddaughter of Alfred Speer (1823–1910), an inventor and wine merchant in Passaic, N.J.
- References: John V. Knott, "Joshua Routledge 177[3]–1829," Journal of the Oughtred Society 4, no. 2 (1995): 25; Philip E. Stanley, "Carpenters' and Engineers' Slide Rules: Routledges' Rule," Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 37, no. 2 (1984): 25–27; Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers (London: National Maritime Museum, 1995), 11–12; accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1824-1862
- maker
- Aston, T.
- ID Number
- 1981.0934.01
- catalog number
- 1981.0934.01
- accession number
- 1981.0934
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
ECOBRA 1611 Duplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This ten-inch aluminum linear duplex slide rule is coated with white enamel and has aluminum endpieces. One side of the base has scales for sin/cos, tg/ctg (tangent/cotangent), DF, D, and the square root of 1 – x2 (a Pythagorean or P scale). On the slide are CF, CI, and C scales. The right end of the slide is marked: ECO BRA (/) Nr. 1611. The lower right corner of the base is marked: System (/) DARMSTADT. On the other side, the base has K, A, LL3, LL2, and LL1 scales. The slide has B, lg, and C scales. The numbers on the C, LL3, LL2, and LL1 scales are green, which is unusual. The indicator is plastic with aluminum edges. The letter Q is on the hairline on one side. On the other side, Q is on the hairline and W and PS are on shorter hairlines at the top of the indicator. These hairlines are for circle conversion and peripheral horsepower conversion, respectively.
- The rule fits in a cardboard box covered with maroon synthetic leather. The top edge of the box is marked No. 1611. The front is marked with the Ecobra logo, and the back is marked MADE IN GERMANY.
- Alwin Walther (1898–1967) of the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt, Germany, developed the Darmstadt system of scales in 1934. His arrangement was aimed particularly at engineers. ECOBRA or Eco Bra was a brand name of Bayerische Reisszeugfabrik, a Nuremberg maker of drawing instruments that was purchased by Joseph Dietzgen in 1909. The company began producing slide rules before World War II, and after the war, Eugene Dietzgen Company of Chicago distributed ECOBRA rules in the United States. Metal rules were more popular in the United States than they were in Europe.
- Reference: Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 34–35, 52–53.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1945
- maker
- Ecobra
- ID Number
- 1984.1071.04
- accession number
- 1984.1071
- catalog number
- 1984.1071.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Knox Hydraulic Pump Slide Rule
- Description
- This rule consists of a clear plastic envelope, glued together along the back bottom edge, and a white plastic slide. The front is marked: KNOX (/) SO. WALPOLE/W. SPRINGFIELD. MASS./BRIDGEPORT, CONN. (/) PNEUMATIC & (/) HYDRAULIC SYSTEMS & (/) COMPONENTS. By setting the force in pounds opposite the PSI of a line, a user can read the diameter of a cylinder in inches. By setting the rule to the desired diameter of a cylinder, the user reads the displacement in cubic inches opposite the length of a stroke in inches. By setting the back of the rule to a desired pump delivery in gallons per minute, the user reads the time in seconds opposite displacement in cubic inches and the velocity of oil flowing through the pipe (in feet per second) opposite the area of the pipe in square inches.
- Knox, Inc., manufactured hydraulic pumps. From its headquarters on Foxhill Drive in South Walpole, Mass., the company filed for trademarks in 1966 and 1968 and was assigned U.S. Patent 3,599,849 in 1971. Thus, this rule likely dates to around 1970. By 1980, the company was renamed Knox-Norton, Inc., and headquartered in Hartford, Conn.
- Reference: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Electronic Search System.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1970
- maker
- Knox, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1988.0795.02
- accession number
- 1988.0795
- catalog number
- 1988.0795.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hemmi Simplex Slide Rule Retailed by Post (1447)
- Description
- This ten-inch one-sided bamboo rule is coated with white celluloid only on the front. There is no indicator. The base has A, D, and K scales. The slide has B, CI, and C scales on one side and S, L, and T scales on the other side. The CI scale is numbered in red. The base is held together with a sheet of metal and with clear celluloid that has red hairlines at each end. The back of this metal and celluloid backing contains a chart on white plastic. The chart provides various relationships or conversions between the C and D scales as well as fundamental trigonometric relationships.
- The instrument is marked in red at the top center of the base: FREDERICK POST CO. 1447. It is marked in black at the top right: HEMMI JAPAN. The Post logo (in red) appears at the right side of the slide. The back is stamped with the date code TD, indicating the rule was manufactured in April 1969. The style of the Post logo is consistent with this date.
- The Frederick Post Company of Chicago imported slide rules made by the Japanese firm of Hemmi from about 1932 to the 1970s, with a brief interruption during World War II. Post sold Model 1447 from about 1949 to about 1971.
- Chemist Albert S. Matlack donated this slide rule. He recalled that it was mainly used by his laboratory technician at the Hercules Research Center in Wilmington, Del.
- References: International Slide Rule Museum, "Slide Rule Dates and Time-Lines," http://sliderulemuseum.com/SR_Dates.htm; Drafting Materials for Engineering, Architecture, and Art by Post, 19th ed. (Chicago: The Frederick Post Co., 1949–1950), 68–69; Carmen Drahl, "The Guy With the Questions at NOS: Albert S. Matlack," 7 June 2011, http://cenblog.org/newscripts/2011/06/the-guy-with-the-questions-at-nos-albert-s-matlack/..
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1969-04
- maker
- SUN HEMMI JAPAN CF
- retailer
- Frederick Post Co.
- ID Number
- 1989.0032.02
- accession number
- 1989.0032
- catalog number
- 1989.0032.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Otis King's Pocket Calculator Model L Cylindrical Slide Rule
- Description
- This six-inch cylindrical slide rule consists of a chromium-plated holder, a metal cylinder that slides into the holder, and a black metal tube that fits around and slides up and down on the cylinder. The rule is ten inches long when extended. Two short white lines on the tube and a black mark on the chrome cap at the end of the cylinder serve as the indicator. A paper spiral logarithmic scale is attached to the top half of the holder. A second, linear and logarithmic, paper scale is attached to the cylinder. The logarithmic scales are used to multiply and divide, and the linear scale is used to find logarithms.
- At the top of the cylinder is printed: PATENT No 183723. At the bottom of the cylinder is printed: OTIS KING'S POCKET CALCULATOR; SCALE No 430. The top of the scale on the holder is printed: SCALE No 429; COPYRIGHT. The bottom is printed: OTIS KING'S PATENT No 183723. The end of the holder is machine engraved: MADE IN (/) Y5466 (/) ENGLAND.
- The instrument arrived in a mailing tube with return address: CALCULATOR COMPANY (/) POST OFFICE BOX 593 (/) LAKEWOOD, CALIFORNIA 90714.
- Otis Carter Formby King invented this form of slide rule in 1921, and Carbic Limited of London, England, manufactured it until 1972. The Calculator Company served as Carbic's distributor in the United States. The 5-digit ZIP code on the mailing tube indicates this example was made after 1963. The serial number, Y5466, suggests a date around 1965–1969.
- See also 1987.0788.01 and 1981.0922.09. The slide rule was received with a trifold instruction sheet, 1989.3049.03, and an advertising pamphlet, 1989.3049.04.
- References: Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 44; Richard F. Lyon, "Dating of the Otis King: An Alternative Theory Developed Through Use of the Internet," Journal of the Oughtred Society 7, no. 1 (1998): 33–38; Dick Lyon, "Otis King's Patent Calculator," http://www.svpal.org/~dickel/OK/OtisKing.html.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965-1968
- maker
- Carbic Limited
- ID Number
- 1989.3049.02
- nonaccession number
- 1989.3049
- catalog number
- 1989.3049.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Keuffel & Esser 4088-5 Polyphase Duplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This duplex linear slide rule is made of mahogany coated with celluloid. There are DF and D scales on one side of the base and K, A, D, and L scales on the other side. There are CF, CIF, and C scales on one side of the runner and B, S, T, and CI scales on the other side. The scales are 20 inches long (the "5" in the model number refers to a rule with scales 20 inches long) and closely divided. The indicator is made of glass with a plastic frame.
- The base is marked: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO.N.Y.; PAT. JUNE 5. ’00; DEC. 22. ’08; MADE IN U.S.A. The runner is marked: 4088-5. The serial number, on the other side of the runner, is: 72287. The slide rule is stored in a dark brown cardboard and glued leather box.
- Keuffel & Esser published catalogs in 1899, 1902, 1905, 1909, 1912, 1915, 1921, 1927, and 1936. Model 4088-2 (8 in.) and 4088-3 (10 in.) slide rules first appeared in the 1913 printing of the 1912 catalog (facing p. 304). Model 4088-5 was first mentioned in 1921 (p. 239) and then again in 1927 (p. 302). In 1927 and in the 1930s (but not in 1921), the front of the runner had a B scale in addition to the S, T, and CI scales. By 1936, the 4088-5 was replaced by the N4088-5 (p. 314). On this basis, the rule dates from between 1922 and 1935. Additionally, the donor reported that he received the slide rule from a friend in about 1930. The instrument sold for $20.00 in 1927. Compare this object to MA*318476 and 1986.0790.02.
- References: Willie L. E. Keuffel, "Slide-Rule" (U.S. Patent 651,142 issued June 5, 1900) and "Slide-Rule" (U.S. Patent 907,373 issued December 22, 1908); Peter M. Hopp, Slide Rules: Their History, Models, and Makers (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 1999), 193; Clark McCoy, Keuffel & Esser Catalogs, http://www.mccoys-kecatalogs.com.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1922-1936
- maker
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- ID Number
- 1994.0376.001
- catalog number
- 1994.0376.001
- accession number
- 1994.0376
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pickett 904-ES Decimal Keeper Duplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This aluminum duplex slide rule has a yellow coating and a clear plastic indicator. The "ES" in the model number refers to the rule's "Eye Saver" yellow color. The rule and indicator are held together with aluminum braces that have protruding grooves. The front of the rule has K, A, DF, D, and L scales, with CF, S, T, CI, and C scales on the slide. The scales are 9-1/2 inches long. The back of the rule has a D* scale, with T*, S* Cl*, and C* scales on the slide. Instead of covering the typical one decade of C and D scales, the scales with asterisks cover twenty decades, from 1010 to 10-10. These scales helped inexperienced users keep track of the decimal point. They performed their calculation first on the back, to determine the order of magnitude, and then a second time on the front, to make the answer precise to three significant figures.
- The front of the slide is marked: MODEL 904-ES (/) TRIG AND (/) DECIMAL KEEPER (/) SPEED RULE. A Pickett logo is at the other end of the slide, with the number 47 printed above the logo. The back of the rule is marked: PATENT (/) APPLIED FOR; DECIMAL KEEPER; PICKETT & ECKEL, INC. (/) CHICAGO 3, ILL. - ALHAMBRA, CAL. The logo on this rule is that used by Pickett from 1958 to 1962. The shape and material of the cursor and the braces suggest a date of 1957–1959. Hence, the object appears to have a rough date of 1958–1959.
- The donor patented an "automatic decimal point slide rule" and assigned the patent to Pickett. He also distributed Pickett slide rules through his own mail order firm of Devonics, Inc.
- The rule was received in a plastic bag. For somewhat related documentation, see 1995.0126.04. See also Lawrence J. Kamm, "Automatic Decimal Point Slide Rule" (U.S. Patent 2,893,630 issued July 7, 1959).
- References: Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 75–76, 100; Ron Manley, "Pickett 904-ES – Trig and decimal keeper," http://www.sliderules.info/collection/10inch/090/1096-pickett-904.htm; "Slide Rule Dates and Time-Lines," http://sliderulemuseum.com/SR_Dates.htm.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1958-1959
- maker
- Pickett & Eckel, Incorporated
- ID Number
- 1995.0126.01
- accession number
- 1995.0126
- catalog number
- 1995.0126.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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