Slide Rules -- Manuals & Documentation
Manuals & Documentation
Keuffel & Esser, Pickett, Dietzgen, and other major slide rule companies often included an instruction manual in the purchase of the instrument. Some donors have provided these booklets and other paper items, such as advertising flyers, directions for cleaning slide rules, warranty certificates, and even cash register receipts. The Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago previously owned and displayed one of the Thacher cylindrical slide rules, and it arrived with its exhibit label. To see the instruction manuals alongside the objects they explained, please see the index by makers & retailers page.
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Keuffel & Esser 4013 Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rule Exhibit Label
- Description
- This cardboard sheet describes a Thacher cylindrical slide rule with a magnifying glass that was manufactured and sold by Keuffel & Esser of New York in the early 20th century as model 4013. (In the late 19th century, K&E numbered the instrument as 1741.) It apparently was used as an exhibit label around 1966 at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago, the previous owner of the related instrument.
- See also MA.327886.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1966
- maker
- Museum of Science and Industry
- ID Number
- MA.271855.01.02
- accession number
- 271855
- catalog number
- 271855.01.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Instructions for Keuffel & Esser 4013 Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rule
- Description
- Edwin Thacher, the inventor of the cylindrical slide rule bearing his name, published instructions for using the instrument as Thacher's Calculating Instrument or Cylindrical Slide-Rule (New York: Van Nostrand, 1884). Keuffel & Esser of New York, which distributed and, later, manufactured Thacher slide rules, reprinted the booklet in 1903 and 1907 as Directions for Using Thacher's Calculating Instrument. This copy was printed in 1907 and sold for one dollar.
- The booklet explained the processes for calculations involving multiplication, division, proportion, powers, and square and cube roots. Thacher also provided solved examples for practice. He suggested "special applications" for his instrument, including conversion of weights and measures; currency exchange; pro-rating among accounts; calculating taxes, investment returns, and payrolls; and physical computations such as mechanical power, centrifugal force, and mensuration. K&E's Improved Reckoning Machine is advertised at the back of the booklet.
- See also MA.327886.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1907
- maker
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- ID Number
- MA.271855.01.03
- accession number
- 271855
- catalog number
- 271855.01.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Ross Precision Computer Related Documentation
- Description
- Two copies of an advertising flyer for the Ross Precision Computer, the Ross Meridi-o-graph, and the Ross Rapid Computer were received with 1996.3077.01. The flyer provides photographs and descriptions of the three instruments. It also cites press releases published in Scientific American 114, no. 3, January 15, 1916, and Engineering News 75, no. 21, May 25, 1916.
- Also received was a short letter initialed by the inventor of these devices, Louis Ross, and addressed to Roy Kegerreis of New York City. The letter, dated July 31, 1918, notes the availability of the instruments and offers them on a trial basis. Enclosed were a 3-1/4" by 6-1/2" printed note addressed "To Men in the Army and Navy," describing the suitability of the instruments for military purposes. A second printed note, of the same size, announced the addition of trigonometric scales to the Precision Computer even though the price remained at $20.00.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-07-31
- maker
- Computer Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1996.3077.03
- nonaccession number
- 1996.3077
- catalog number
- 1996.3077.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Ross Precision Computer Instruction Manual
- Description
- This deteriorating 16-page booklet was received with 1996.3077.01. It was copyrighted in 1919, but the address "340 Sansome St." is handwritten on page 3. Since the Computer Manufacturing Company of San Francisco did not move to this location until 1921, the instrument and manual were probably sent out in 1921 or later.
- The manual contains general instructions, instructions for using the dial alone, instructions for separately using the linear slide rule attached to the instrument, hints for speed and accuracy, fundamental examples, technical details for calculating with logarithms and exponents, and practical applications from payroll to cube roots. Stamped on pages 8–9 is the text: ANOTHER HINT FOR SPEED (/) In locating answer coil, when a (/) check is desired, set slide ROUGHLY. Pages 9–16 are accessed by folding out the pages from the binding.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1919
- maker
- Computer Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1996.3077.02
- nonaccession number
- 1996.3077
- catalog number
- 1996.3077.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Keuffel & Esser Instructions for Log Log Duplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This eight-page pamphlet was received with 1981.0933.01. It is undated, but Clark McCoy reports the text was written around 1914. This copy was probably printed later, around 1920. It explains the scales on K&E's model 4092 slide rule, works eleven sample problems, and advertises K&E calculating devices.
- Reference: Clark McCoy, ed., "K&E Log Log Duplex Slide Rules," http://www.mccoys-kecatalogs.com/KEManuals/manuals.htm#4092.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1920
- maker
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- ID Number
- 1981.0933.02
- accession number
- 1981.0933
- catalog number
- 1981.0933.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Keuffel & Esser Instruction Manual for Mannheim and Polyphase Duplex Slide Rules
- Description
- This 72-page salmon-colored paperback book was received with 1981.0933.03 and 1981.0933.05. Its citation information is: William Cox, The Mannheim (Polyphase) and the Duplex (Polyphase-Duplex) Slide Rules Complete Manual (New York: Keuffel & Esser Co., 1920). It sold for 50 cents. William Cox helped introduce the Mannheim slide rule to the United States, invented the duplex slide rule, and served as a mathematical consultant to Keuffel & Esser Company of New York, thus launching that firm into pioneering the American manufacture of slide rules. He first wrote this manual in 1891 and revised it in 1917, adding instructions for K&E's Polyphase Duplex slide rule (model 4088-3).
- A notice inside the front cover explained how K&E had updated the Mannheim line (models 4031–4056) since Cox first wrote the manual. Cox thoroughly described the characteristics, operations, and scales of Mannheim and Polyphase (which was especially useful for problems involving powers or roots) slide rules. He provided a lengthy table of equivalents for the base scales, C and D, as well as methods for working out mechanical and other formulas. He then went through a similar discussion for the eight-inch Duplex rule (model 4065) and for the ten-inch Polyphase-Duplex rule (model 4088). A supplement by J. M. Willard of the State College of Pennsylvania addressed the solution of problems in plane trigonometry. Finally, there are advertisements for K&E's general and specialty slide rules, the frameless indicator patented in 1915, a magnifier, and surveying equipment.
- References: William Cox, "Engineer's Slide-Rule" (U.S. Patent 460,930 issued October 6, 1891); Florian Cajori, A History of the Logarithmic Slide Rule and Allied Instruments (New York: Engineering News Publishing Company, 1909); Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 14, 35; Clark McCoy, ed., "K&E Slide Rule Manuals," http://www.mccoys-kecatalogs.com/KEManuals/manuals.htm.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1920
- author
- Cox, William
- ID Number
- 1981.0933.06
- accession number
- 1981.0933
- catalog number
- 1981.0933.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Instruction Manual for Cooper 100-Inch Slide Rule
- Description
- This undated 16-page booklet was received with MA.326237. It is titled, The 'Cooper' 100-inch Slide Rule (Patented). Designed for Use in Calculations Involving Multiplication, Division, Proportion, Percentages, Powers, Roots, Logarithms, etc. etc. The description of the calculator claims it reads to four decimal places. Instructions for currency conversion are also provided. Partial tables of decimal equivalents appear as an advertisement for The Instanter Decimal Tables, published by Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. of London.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- before 1923
- ID Number
- MA.259739.01
- accession number
- 259739
- catalog number
- 259739.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Keuffel & Esser Instruction Manual for Polyphase Duplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This 92-page salmon-colored paperback book was received with 1981.0933.03. Its citation information is: William E. Breckenridge, The Polyphase Duplex Slide Rule: A Self Teaching Manual (New York: Keuffel & Esser Co., 1924). Breckenridge earned an A.M. in mathematics from Columbia University in New York City, was chair of the mathematics department at Stuyvesant High School around 1909–1910, served as an associate editor of The Mathematics Teacher from 1913 to 1928, and apparently also taught at Columbia.
- Breckenridge explains the basic features and operations of the slide rule, discusses the history and theory of slide rules, provides methods for solving "advanced problems," treats plane trigonometry, solves triangle problems, and provides "typical examples relating to various occupations," such as secretarial work, excavation, and retail. Finally, he shows how to set the slide rule to solve various mechanical formulas and lists tables of equivalents for the basic C and D scales. In chapter one, a previous reader, presumably the donor, William J. Ellenberger, has checked off the examples and filled in the answers to the problems. An advertisement for K&E's other specialty and general slide rules appears at the back of the book. This manual sold for 50 cents.
- A digitized copy of The Polyphase Duplex Slide Rule is available at http://sliderulemuseum.com/Manuals/M205_KE_PolyphaseDuplexSlideRule_4088-3_1924.pdf.
- Reference: Keuffel & Esser Co., Price List, Applying to General Catalogue, 36th ed. (New York, 1925), 44, 90.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1924
- author
- Breckenridge, William E.
- ID Number
- 1981.0933.04
- accession number
- 1981.0933
- catalog number
- 1981.0933.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Directions for the Use of Hemmi Slide Rules
- Description
- This stapled ten-page leaflet arrived with 1982.0386.02. It is marked "Printed in Japan" and probably dates to the mid-1930s. It is titled, Short Directions for the Use of the "Hemmi's" Bamboo Slide Rules, and there are indications throughout the text that its author was not a native speaker of English.
- The leaflet explains what a slide rule is. There are sections for Hemmi Normal Slide Rules, the Electro Slide Rule with Log Log Scale, and the Improved Slide Rule. The leaflet also contains an illustration of reading graduations on the scales, an explanation of Hemmi's construction techniques, and various technical problems that could be solved with slide rules. ID number 1982.0386.02 resembles the slide rule illustrated on p. 1, although the drawing shows a ruler in inches on the top edge and depicts PATENT No 58115 as written on the indicator. The example in the collections lacks the ruler and the reference to what is presumably a Japanese patent.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1931-1939
- maker
- SUN HEMMI JAPAN CF
- ID Number
- 1982.0386.03
- accession number
- 1982.0386
- catalog number
- 1982.0386.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
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
-
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
-
Instruction Manual for Dietzgen 1771 Redirule Slide Rule
- Description
- This sixteen-page booklet lists no author or date. Its drawing of a slide rule corresponds to 1993.0357.02, with which it was received. The instructions explain how to: read the scales; multiply; place the decimal point; divide; combine multiplication and division; solve proportion problems; read the CI scale; compute squares and square roots and cubes and cube roots; solve problems in trigonometry; and work with logarithms.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1941-1972
- maker
- Eugene Dietzgen Company
- ID Number
- 1993.0357.02.01
- accession number
- 1993.0357
- catalog number
- 1993.0357.02.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
How to Use a Slide Rule
- Description
- The citation information for this eighteen-page booklet is: How to Use a Slide Rule (Chicago: Eugene Dietzgen Co., 1942). After a description of the features of the slide rules sold by Dietzgen, the booklet gives a tour of the slide rule for beginners. Instructions are provided for reading a basic set of Mannheim scales, such as those on MA.335270. Sample problems in multiplication, division, square roots, proportion, and trigonometry are solved. Additional scales, such as K and CI, are briefly described.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1942
- maker
- Eugene Dietzgen Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0933.07
- accession number
- 1981.0933
- catalog number
- 1981.0933.07
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Instructions for C-Thru Pocket Slide Rule
- Description
- This single sheet of paper was received with 1988.0807.02. It describes how to read the scales for two inexpensive student slide rules, the pocket-sized model 27 and ten-inch model 88, made by the C-Thru Ruler Company of Hartford, Conn. The postal code indicates a date between 1943 and 1963. The back of the sheet is stamped: GEORGE A. NORTON (/) 132 SWANN ROAD (/) WASHINGTON 23, D.C.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1943-1963
- maker
- C-Thru Ruler Company
- ID Number
- 1988.0807.06
- accession number
- 1988.0807
- catalog number
- 1988.0807.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Keuffel & Esser N4053 Polyphase Slide Rule Manual
- Description
- The citation information for this paperback book is: William E. Breckenridge, The Polyphase Slide Rule No. N4053: A Self Teaching Manual, 3rd ed. (New York: Keuffel & Esser Co., 1944). According to Clark McCoy, this example comes from the first of two printings of the manual with the 1944 copyright date; the cover and first few pages were changed in the second printing, which was also marked with the K+E logo that was introduced in 1949. This example has the earlier K&E lion logo.
- Breckenridge earned an A.M. in mathematics from Columbia University in New York City, was chair of the mathematics department at Stuyvesant High School around 1909–1910, served as an associate editor of The Mathematics Teacher from 1913 to 1928, and apparently also taught at Columbia. He first wrote this manual in 1924. It has 88 pages that describe the uses of slide rules and explain processes for making calculations and locating the decimal point. Breckenridge also discussed the history and theory of the slide rule before providing worked-out examples and exercises for readers to solve. There are also "advanced problems," material on plane trigonometry and triangles, and problems specific to certain occupations and tasks.
- At the back of the book, there are advertisements for K&E's specialty slide rules, the all-plastic Ever-There line of slide rules, and surveying instruments such as transits. This manual was received with MA.321780.
- References: Clark McCoy, ed., "The Polyphase Slide Rule No. N4053," http://www.mccoys-kecatalogs.com/KEManuals/4053-1944/4053-1944.htm; William E. Breckenridge, The Polyphase Slide Rule, [3rd ed.] (New York: Keuffel & Esser Co., 1944), http://sliderulemuseum.com/SR_Library_KE.htm.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1944
- author
- Breckenridge, William E.
- ID Number
- MA.304213.05
- accession number
- 304213
- catalog number
- 304213.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
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
-
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
- 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
-
Pickett Manual for Dual Base Log Log Slide Rules
- Description
- Pickett, Inc., was a slide rule manufacturer that started in Chicago in 1943, shifted most of its operations to Alhambra, Calif., in 1946, and moved to Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1964. Maurice L. Hartung, a mathematics professor at the University of Chicago, wrote several instruction manuals for the company, including How to Use Dual Base Log Log Slide Rules. This 93-page booklet was intended for use with Pickett models 2, 3, and 4. It contains sections on the general operation of a slide rule, the use of scales for trigonometry and roots, elementary vector methods, the use of logarithmic scales, practice problems, hyperbolic functions, and circular functions. Hartung also showed how the double T scales could solve side-angle-side triangle problems in one step. Model 600 was advertised at the back of the manual, and instructions for caring for Pickett slide rules were provided inside the back cover.
- Although Hartung wrote the manual in 1947, this printing was made after the company moved to Santa Barbara in 1964. See the associated items, 1980.0097.01 and 1980.0097.06.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date copyrighted
- 1947
- date printed
- ca 1965
- author
- Hartung, Maurice L.
- printer
- Pickett Industries
- ID Number
- 1980.0097.05
- accession number
- 1980.0097
- catalog number
- 1980.0097.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
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
-
Dietzgen Instruction Manual for Maniphase Slide Rule
- Description
- The citation information for this sixteen-page booklet is: Self-teaching Instruction Manual: Maniphase Slide Rule (Chicago: Eugene Dietzgen Co., n.d.). The slide rule depicted inside the manual is Dietzgen's "National," model 1767, and the manual was received with 1988.0367.01. Detailed instructions are provided for reading the scales, multiplication, placing the decimal point, division, proportion, squares and square roots, cube and cube roots, trigonometry, and logarithms. "Maniphase" on the cover refers to an arrangement of scales in which the company added K and CI scales to Mannheim rules; the word is printed on several slide rules sold by the Eugene Dietzgen Company. Indeed, the manual indicates portions of it could be used with other Dietzgen slide rules, such as model 1772A.
- Reference: Walter Shawlee, "The Dietzgen Company Archive," http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/dietzgen.html.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1950s
- maker
- Eugene Dietzgen Company
- ID Number
- 1988.0367.02
- accession number
- 1988.0367
- catalog number
- 1988.0367.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
