Dietzgen 967A Beam Compass
Dietzgen 967A Beam Compass
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- This steel instrument is plated with chromium and stored in a leatherette pocketbook case lined with purple velvet. The inside of the flap is marked: DIETZGEN. The back of the case is marked: GERMANY. The beam compass consists of a solid tubular beam, 13" long and 3/16" in diameter; a second solid tubular beam, 6" long and 3/16" in diameter; a coupling for joining the beams with a thumbscrew; a needle point with a micrometer adjustment; a second needle point; a pencil point; a pen point; and a cylindrical case holding one extra lead and two additional needles. The handles on the points are cylindrical with a honeycomb pattern. The thumbscrew on the needle point with micrometer is marked: DIETZGEN GERMANY.
- The Eugene Dietzgen Co., a Chicago manufacturer and retailer of mathematical instruments, advertised the model 967A "Champion" brand beam compass and case in the late 1930s for $8.50. Dietzgen may have purchased instruments in the Champion line from Bayerische Reisszeugfabrik, a company in Nuremberg, Germany, that was owned by Joseph Dietzgen and made ECOBRA brand slide rules. See 1984.1071.04.
- References: Catalog of Eugene Dietzgen Co., 15th ed. (Chicago, 1938), 141; Dietzgen Essential Drawing Instruments and Materials, cat. no. 38A (Chicago, [1939]), 11.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- beam compass
- date made
- ca 1938
- maker
- Ecobra
- place made
- Germany: Bavaria, Nuremberg
- Physical Description
- chromium (overall material)
- leather (overall material)
- velvet (overall material)
- steel (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 34.7 cm x 6.1 cm x 2 cm; 13 21/32 in x 2 13/32 in x 25/32 in
- ID Number
- 1984.1071.02
- accession number
- 1984.1071
- catalog number
- 1984.1071.02
- Credit Line
- Gift of Sebastian J. Tralongo
- subject
- Mathematics
- Drawing Instruments
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Dividers and Compasses
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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