This flat wooden blackboard curve has a handle held horizontally by screws. The top edge is a parabola, the base is straight. Both the turning point at the top of the parabola and the midpoint of the base are marked. A hole at the center toward the top allows one to suspend the instrument.
Compare 1982.0795.37, which has a similar handle and general construction.
The instrument came to the Smithsonian from the Mathematics Department of the University of Michigan in 1964.
Reference:
Accession File.
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