Manuals & Documentation

An image of various slide rules from the collection of the Division of Medicine and Science at the National Museum of American History.

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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Instruction Manual for Cooper 100-Inch Slide Rule

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.
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

Instructions for Otis King's Pocket Calculator

This pamphlet folds out to eight pages and was printed on light green paper by Carbic Limited, the British manufacturer of Otis King's Pocket Calculator, a cylindrical slide rule.
Description
This pamphlet folds out to eight pages and was printed on light green paper by Carbic Limited, the British manufacturer of Otis King's Pocket Calculator, a cylindrical slide rule. Carbic's address on the pamphlet—171, Seymour Place, London, W.I.—is scratched out and reprinted as 54, Dundonald Road, London, S.W.19. Dundonald Road was the last known location for Carbic, and the company was there by 1959. The calculator was available by mail order in 1960 for 62s. 6d. (roughly $175.00).
The pamphlet provides details of the scales on the Model K (which performed multiplication and division) and the Model L (which also provided readings of logarithms for determining roots and powers). The examples also include problems of proportion, percentages, constant factors, and calculations in pounds sterling (before decimalization of British currency). The last three pages provide instructions for operating the instrument.
See also 1987.0788.01 and 1987.0788.07.
Reference: "Finding the Answer is Simplicity Itself," advertisement for the Otis King Pocket Calculator, The New Scientist 5, no. 121 (March 12, 1959): 548 and 8, no. 213 (December 15, 1960): 1568.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1960-1962
maker
Carbic Limited
ID Number
1987.0788.06
accession number
1987.0788
catalog number
1987.0788.06

Advertisement for Otis King's Pocket Calculator

This flyer, printed in blue ink on white paper, is titled: Simplify any Calculation with an Otis King. The text identifies potential users and describes the functions of this cylindrical slide rule.
Description
This flyer, printed in blue ink on white paper, is titled: Simplify any Calculation with an Otis King. The text identifies potential users and describes the functions of this cylindrical slide rule. The back of the flyer lists six sample problems the Otis King Pocket Calculator could solve. It is stamped with the address of an English dealer of scientific instruments: H. T. POCKETT. (/) 25. NELSON ROAD. (/) GREENWICH. S.E.10. The price is listed as 47s. 6d. postpaid.
The flyer arrived with 1987.0788.01 and probably dates to the same period, from about 1960 to 1962. See also 1987.0788.06.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1960-1962
maker
Carbic Limited
ID Number
1987.0788.07
accession number
1987.0788
catalog number
1987.0788.07

Instructions for Otis King's Pocket Calculator

This trifold pamphlet reprints the text found in 1987.0788.06, except for the section on [Pounds] Sterling Calculations, which is omitted. The columns of text are also laid out slightly differently, so that the page length is shortened from eight pages to six.
Description
This trifold pamphlet reprints the text found in 1987.0788.06, except for the section on [Pounds] Sterling Calculations, which is omitted. The columns of text are also laid out slightly differently, so that the page length is shortened from eight pages to six. These instructions accompanied 1989.3049.02. See also 1989.3049.04.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1965-1968
maker
Carbic Limited
ID Number
1989.3049.03
nonaccession number
1989.3054
catalog number
1989.3054.01

Advertising Pamphlet for Otis King's Pocket Calculator

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.
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

Instructions for Otis King's Pocket Calculator

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.
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

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