Pocket Case of Drawing Instruments
Pocket Case of Drawing Instruments
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- Description
- This 18th-century pocket-sized wooden case is covered with black shagreen, leather made from the skin of a shark or rayfish. A previous owner signed paper lining the lid: James Ross bought (/) of John E. Hornor [?] (/) Rice & 1710 N[illegible] (/) #181[illegible]. Inside the lid is also handwritten: J. E. Hornor [?] (/) $15.5024 (/) [illegible].
- Six instruments are currently inside the case: 1) a brass and steel pair of 6" dividers with one removable point; 2) a 1-1/8" round brass handle that does not fit anything in the case; 3) a brass and steel pen point for the dividers; 4) a 6-1/4" brass and steel drawing pen; 5) a brass crayon holder for the dividers; and 6) a 6" ebony parallel rule with scalloped brass hinges.
- When mathematician James McKenna gave this set of drawing instruments to the Smithsonian in 1934, he reported that an ancestor used it at Bedford, Pa., before 1800. A tool that was then in the case was scratched with the name John A. Stuart, suggesting that this surveyor in Bedford County who gave his name to a line laid out on Wills Mountain also owned the case at some point.
- References: Maya Hambly, Drawing Instruments, 1580–1980 (London: Sotheby's, 1988), 185–190; Peggy A. Kidwell, "American Parallel Rules: Invention on the Fringes of Industry," Rittenhouse 10, no. 39 (1996): 90–96.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- drawing instruments, set of
- date made
- 18th century
- Physical Description
- brass (overall material)
- steel (overall material)
- paper (overall material)
- wood (overall material)
- leather (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 17.5 cm x 7.2 cm x 3.7 cm; 6 7/8 in x 2 27/32 in x 1 15/32 in
- ID Number
- MA.310891
- catalog number
- 310891
- accession number
- 131549
- Credit Line
- Gift of James McKenna
- subject
- Mathematics
- Drafting, Engineering
- Surveying
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Drawing Instruments
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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