Japanese L-Square and Calipers

Description:

This 6-1/2" brass T-square is composed of two L-shaped brass pieces. The bottom piece slides along a groove in the long leg of the top piece. The outer edges on one side and the inner edges of the other side of all four legs are divided into units of 1-3/16" (3 cm). Each unit is thus roughly equivalent to the sun, a traditional Japanese unit of length that is 1/10 of a shaku, a "foot" measure. The units are subdivided into 50 parts. Whole and half-units are marked with zeroes.

The instrument was designed for measuring lengths, drawing right angles, and determining whether two lines are perpendicular to one another. When the two pieces are pulled apart, the instrument also functions as a caliper, to measure the width of a small object or the dimensions of part of a finished drawing. The English workshop of George Adams Jr. made a similar instrument from wood and brass in the late 18th century. Compare also to MA.261304 and to caliper rules such as MA.261299 and 1990.0099.01.

In 1876 the Japanese Empire Department of Education exhibited many instruments at the Centennial International Exhibition, a World’s Fair held in Philadelphia. After the exhibition, John Eaton, the U.S. Commissioner of Education, arranged for the transfer of Japan's entire exhibit to the Bureau of Education (then part of the Department of the Interior) for a planned museum. The museum closed in 1906, and much of the collection, including this object, was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1910.

References: William Ford Stanley, Mathematical Drawing and Measuring Instruments, 6th ed. (London: E. & F. N. Spon, 1888), 32–33; Howard Dawes, Instruments of the Imagination: A History of Drawing Instruments in Britain, 1600–1850 (The Dawes Trust Ltd., 2009), 80; "Caliper Rules," in A Source Book for Rule Collectors, ed. Philip E. Stanley (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2003), 178–180; Japan. Department of Education, An Outline History of Japanese Education: Prepared for the Philadelphia International Exhibition, 1876 (New York: D. Appleton, 1876), 121–122, 191–202; U.S. Centennial Commission, International Exhibition, 1876. Reports and Awards, ed. Francis A. Walker (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880), viii:143, 335; U.S. Bureau of Education, Annual Report of the Commissioner (1876), ccxi–ccxii.

Date Made: before 1876

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: Japan

Subject: MathematicsEducationDrafting, Engineering

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Mathematics, Squares and Triangles, Science & Mathematics

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Transfer from Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: MA.261296Accession Number: 51116Catalog Number: 261296

Object Name: set squareL-square

Physical Description: brass (overall material)Measurements: overall: 16.8 cm x 8.8 cm x .4 cm; 6 5/8 in x 3 15/32 in x 5/32 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a7-622a-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_904469

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