Flat Cases

A Eugene Dietzgen Company set of drawing instruments.

While retailers often called this style of case a "pocket case," we have chosen the name "flat case" to avoid confusion with the earlier form of vertical pocket case shown on another page. Flat cases were usually fastened with a sliding pin known as a "bar-lock." They were sold most widely in the 20th century by firms such as Keuffel & Esser.

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Keuffel & Esser Set of Drawing Instruments

This wooden bar-lock case is covered with leather and lined with blue velvet. The front is marked: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. NEW YORK.
Description
This wooden bar-lock case is covered with leather and lined with blue velvet. The front is marked: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. NEW YORK. The set contains: two steel drawing pens with ivory handles (5-5/8" and 4-3/4"); 3-1/2" German silver and steel compass with removable pen point; 5-5/8" German silver and steel dividers missing one leg with extension bar and pen and pencil point attachments; and a divider point that does not fit either the compass or dividers. The arrangement of instruments does not match any set advertised in Keuffel & Esser catalogs between 1880 and 1936.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
MA.335335
accession number
305958
catalog number
335335

Schoenner Set of Drawing Instruments Sold by E. L. Washburn & Co.

This wooden case is covered with black leather and lined with blue satin and velvet. The case has a steel locking pin. The bottom of the case has a red and white sticker marked: PRE-1960 (/) PROPERTY OF (/) Edward A. Chapin. (/) SMITHSONIAN (/) ENTOMOLOGY.
Description
This wooden case is covered with black leather and lined with blue satin and velvet. The case has a steel locking pin. The bottom of the case has a red and white sticker marked: PRE-1960 (/) PROPERTY OF (/) Edward A. Chapin. (/) SMITHSONIAN (/) ENTOMOLOGY. The inside of the lid is marked: E. L. Washburn & Co (/) New Haven, Conn. The set includes:
1) 6" German silver compass with bendable legs and removable pencil point, pen point, and lengthening bar. On one side, the joint is marked: D.R.P. On the other side, the joint has the Schoenner logo: an S, a G, and two intersecting arrows with two heads superimposed on each other. Inside one leg is marked: SCHOENNER GERMANY.
2) 5-3/4" German silver fixed-leg dividers. On one side, the joint is marked: D.R.P. On the other side, the joint has the Schoenner logo: an S, G, and two intersecting arrows with two heads superimposed on each other. Inside one leg is marked: SCHOENNER GERMANY.
3) 3-3/8" German silver bow dividers, bow pen, and bow pencil.
4) 4" and 5-1/8" ebony, German silver, and steel drawing pens.
5) 1-1/4" cylindrical metal case with four pencil leads. Two additional leads and a 1/2" round brass weight are loose in the case.
6) 1" metal joint tightener.
Besides the extra leads and weight, the set appears to be intact. For other sets manufactured in part or whole by Schoenner, a German firm that operated between 1851 and World War II, see 1977.0279.01, 1977.1101.0097, 1979.0868.01, 1989.0305.05, 1990.0350.01, and 317925.04. E. L. Washburn, a medical doctor, began to make and sell surgical instruments and supplies in New Haven, Conn., in 1866. He had partners until 1876, when he became sole proprietor and named the business after himself. By 1899, he also sold mathematical instruments. The firm was still operating in 1938.
Edward Albert Chapin (1894–1969), curator of entomology at the National Museum of Natural History, owned these instruments. He completed undergraduate work at Yale in 1916 and then moved away from Connecticut, so it is likely he purchased the instruments during his studies. He worked for the Smithsonian from 1934 to 1954 and left the set behind when he retired. U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist Richard White may then have used the instruments.
References: Leading Business Men of New Haven County (Boston: Mercantile Publishing Company, 1887), 134; New Haven Directory (New Haven: Price & Lee Co., 1899), 734; Smithsonian Institution Archives Acc. 11-085, "Chapin, Edward Albert 1894–, Edward Albert Chapin Field Notebooks, 1937–1947," http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_298428; accession file.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1915
distributor
E. L. Washburn & Co.
maker
Schoenner, Georg
ID Number
1996.0295.01
catalog number
1996.0295.01
accession number
1996.0295

Dietzgen 1288-3 Set of Drawing Instruments

A clear plastic envelope with two blue snaps and marked DIETZGEN contains a black hard plastic case that fastens with two sliding bars. The top of the case is marked: DIETZGEN (/) STELLAR (/) 1288-3 (/) MADE IN GERMANY. Red and yellow foam inside the lid has come unglued.
Description
A clear plastic envelope with two blue snaps and marked DIETZGEN contains a black hard plastic case that fastens with two sliding bars. The top of the case is marked: DIETZGEN (/) STELLAR (/) 1288-3 (/) MADE IN GERMANY. Red and yellow foam inside the lid has come unglued. The instrument tray is lined with red velvet. A brochure demonstrating the features of this set and a yellow cleaning cloth lie on top of the tray. The set includes:
1) 6" chromium-plated fixed-leg needle-point dividers. Black plastic covers the joint and is marked on one side: DIETZGEN. The other side is marked: GERMANY.
2) 4-1/2" chromium-plated bow pencil.
3) 6-1/2" chromium-plated bow pencil.
4) 1-3/8" black plastic cylindrical case for leads, containing three leads, three needle points, and one black plastic pen nib.
The joint tightener is missing. A slot in the case holds a piece of green paper marked: SPACE FOR DIETZGEN DRAFTING PENCIL. According to the brochure, this model number was normally sold without the pencil. These instruments were part of the Stellar product line.
The donor, Ed Severino, began his career in the 1940s as an engineer with General Electric Company in Schenectady, N.Y. After eight years, he went to teach mathematics and science at Mont [sic] Pleasant High School in Schenectady, where he became head of the Technical Department. According to the donor, this set of drawing instruments is of the type trainees used in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Severino was director of his high school's General Electric Apprentice Training Educational Program.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1980
distributor
Eugene Dietzgen Company
ID Number
2006.0230.02
accession number
2006.0230
catalog number
2006.0230.02

Vemco Blue Dot Set of Drawing Instruments

This yellow metal case is covered with black imitation leather, lined with black foam, and fastened with a brass snap on a leather tab. The case is marked: VEMCO. A brochure for VEMCO's three types of drafting machines and drafting machine accessories is inside the case.
Description
This yellow metal case is covered with black imitation leather, lined with black foam, and fastened with a brass snap on a leather tab. The case is marked: VEMCO. A brochure for VEMCO's three types of drafting machines and drafting machine accessories is inside the case. The set includes:
1) 6-1/2" stainless steel fixed-leg needle-point dividers marked on both sides: VEMCO USA. Blue dots are near the tips of the dividers.
2) 6-3/4" stainless steel bow pencil with blue dots near the points. The central nut is marked: VEMCO (/) MOD. L560 (/) U.S.A. PAT.
3) 4-3/4" stainless steel bow pencil with blue dots near the points. The central nut is marked: VEMCO (/) MOD. S570 (/) U.S.A. PAT.
4) 1-1/2" clear plastic cylindrical case with two leads and three needle points.
5) 2-1/8" stainless steel needle point in a small manila envelope marked: Contents (/) 61-9 Long Shoulder Needle (/) For Use With (/) VEMCO Pen Attachments.
6) 6" stainless steel extension bar marked: TOP.
7) 2-1/2" stainless steel extension needle point.
Francis E. Vaughan and Floyd Eubanks founded V & E Manufacturing, or Vemco Corporation, in Pasadena, Calif., in 1939 to make high-quality drafting instruments. Eubanks patented eight drafting machines and drawing instruments in the early 1940s. The marks on the bow pencils probably refer to his patents, "Compass" (U.S. Patent 2,297,999 issued October 6, 1942), and "Compass" (U.S. Patent 2,298,000 issued October 6, 1942), which dealt with the design of the instrument and the process by which the metal parts were punched out during manufacturing. According to the donor, this set was manufactured in 1987.
References: Vemco Drafting Products Corporation, http://www.vemcocorp.com/; accession file.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1987
maker
Vemco Corporation
ID Number
1987.0589.03
accession number
1987.0589
catalog number
1987.0589.03

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