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.

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.
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
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).
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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).
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
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
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.
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
This stapled ten-page leaflet arrived with 1982.0386.02. It is marked "Printed in Japan" and probably dates to the mid-1930s.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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).
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
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.
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
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).
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
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.
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
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).
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
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.
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
In 1950 and 1951, three Illinois Institute of Technology engineering professors participated in the development of the Versalog slide rule, manufactured by Hemmi of Tokyo, Japan, for the Frederick Post Company of Chicago. E. I. Fiesenheiser, R. A. Budenholzer, and B. A.
Description
In 1950 and 1951, three Illinois Institute of Technology engineering professors participated in the development of the Versalog slide rule, manufactured by Hemmi of Tokyo, Japan, for the Frederick Post Company of Chicago. E. I. Fiesenheiser, R. A. Budenholzer, and B. A. Fischer subsequently prepared this 115-page hardcover volume explaining the slide rule's capabilities. They covered the care of the instrument, its twenty-three scales, multiplication and division, squares and cubes, exponentials and logarithms, and trigonometric operations. Each professor also contributed a chapter on applications in his specialty: civil, mechanical, or electrical engineering.
This copy is stamped inside the front cover and on the edges: WILLIAM KRUTZ ESQ. See 1978.0800.01.
Reference: E. I. Fiesenheiser, The Versalog Slide Rule: An Instruction Manual (Chicago: The Frederick Post Company, 1951), http://sliderulemuseum.com/Manuals/M34_Post_Versalog_1951.pdf.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1951
publisher
Frederick Post Co.
maker
Frederick Post Co.
ID Number
1978.0800.02
accession number
1978.0800
catalog number
1978.0800.02
ID number 1987.0085.01, a model 68–1210 Log Log Duplex Decitrig slide rule by Keuffel & Esser of New York, was received with these two paperback booklets. The citation information for the first booklet is: Lyman M. Kells, Willis F. Kern, and James R.
Description
ID number 1987.0085.01, a model 68–1210 Log Log Duplex Decitrig slide rule by Keuffel & Esser of New York, was received with these two paperback booklets. The citation information for the first booklet is: Lyman M. Kells, Willis F. Kern, and James R. Bland, K&E Slide Rule Manual: Log Log Duplex Decitrig, 4th ed. (New York: Keuffel & Esser Co., 1955). Kells, Kern, and Bland were all mathematics professors at the United States Naval Academy; they first prepared this manual in 1943. They designed the book for students to learn to operate slide rules on their own, without the aid of a teacher.
The manual covers the following topics: multiplication and division; the proportion principle and combined operations; squares and square roots, cubes and cube roots; trigonometry; the log log scales; and logarithms and the slide rule. Included are exercises, answers, and a historical note (featuring K&E's contributions to the development of slide rules). The manual was previously K&E model number 4187S.
The second pamphlet is small (4 X 3 inches) and titled: "How to Take Care of Your Slide Rule." It was copyrighted in 1944, 1949, 1958, and 1962. Users are to clean the slide rule only with a moistened cloth. Instructions are provided for adjusting and aligning the slide rule.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1955-1962
author
Kells, Lyman M.
Kern, Willis F.
Bland, James R.
publisher
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
1987.0085.02
accession number
1987.0085
catalog number
1987.0085.02
This 20-page booklet was received with 2001.0282.01.
Description
This 20-page booklet was received with 2001.0282.01. Surveyors used stadia computers to reduce the data they collected from making observations with a transit and a stadia rod, to determine the vertical angle of elevation and the horizontal distance of the stadia rod.
William Kegelman, who manufactured transits with his brother and partner, George, from about 1944 to 1988, copyrighted a "stadia reduction computer" in 1956. This device is described on pages 9–10 of the booklet; the booklet's citation information is Kegelman Bros., Instruction Manual for Engineers Transit (Hunting[d]on Valley, Pa., 1957).
Reference: Robert C. Miller, "George Kegelman and Kegelman Brothers: Mathematical and Optical Instrument Makers," Rittenhouse 5 (1991): 56–58.
Location
Currently not on view
copyright date; date made
1957
maker
Kegelman Bros.
ID Number
2001.0282.02
accession number
2001.0282
catalog number
2001.0282.02
This 24-page booklet was received with 1981.0922.12. Its citation information is: Maurice L. Hartung, Dial Rule Circular Slide Rule: Your Model No. 101-C Instruction Manual (Chicago & Alhambra, Calif.: Pickett & Eckel, Inc., 1957).
Description
This 24-page booklet was received with 1981.0922.12. Its citation information is: Maurice L. Hartung, Dial Rule Circular Slide Rule: Your Model No. 101-C Instruction Manual (Chicago & Alhambra, Calif.: Pickett & Eckel, Inc., 1957). The back is marked: PRINTED IN U.S.A.; FORM M-18. The Pickett logo on the front cover was used between 1958 and 1962.
The manual provides instructions and processes for the C and CI scales, multiplication, division, combined operations, the A and Af scales (for square roots), logarithms and adding fractions, the LL scale, the DS and DT scales (for drill sizes and double depth of threads), the M scale (for metric conversions), and the S, ST, and T scales (for trigonometry). There are 24 problems and answers on the back page.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1958
publisher
Pickett Industries
author
Hartung, Maurice L.
ID Number
1981.0922.13
accession number
1981.0922
catalog number
1981.0922.13
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.
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

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