This desktop slide rule has a cylindrical brass drum covered with paper printed with 40 A scales. A wooden knob is fastened to each end of the drum. The drum fits in an open rotating brass frame; 20 brass slats span the frame. The right side of the paper on the drum is printed in italics: Patented by Edwin Thatcher [sic], C.E. Nov. 1st 1881. Made by Keuffel & Esser Co. N.Y.
The slats are lined with cloth and covered with paper. Each slat is printed with two B and two C scales. The first A scale runs from 100 to 112; the fortieth runs from 946 to 100 to 105. The first B scale runs from 100 to 112; the fortieth runs from 946 to 100 to 105. The first C scale runs from 100 to 334; the fortieth runs from 308 to 305.
The front of the frame is spanned by a brass pyramidal bar. A brass and metal mount with three thumbscrews is attached to the bar. The mount may be adjusted by height, and it slides along the bar. A magnifying glass was to be positioned on the mount, but it is missing in this example.
The frame is screwed to a mahogany base. A paper with instructions is glued to the top front of the base. The top back of the base is engraved: KEUFFEL & ESSER Co (encircling N.Y.); 4013 (/) 3518; TRADE MARK (below the K&E lion logo). A sticker on the back of the base is marked: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (/) 6076 – AMS. This rule was found in the Smithsonian collections, but it was presumably associated with the Agricultural Marketing Service, an agency established within the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1939. The rule may have been purchased earlier but not inventoried, since AMS was preceded by several government bureaus, including the Office of Markets, which was founded in 1913.
Keuffel & Esser Company of New York sold versions of the Thacher cylindrical slide rule from about 1883 until about 1950. There were two models, one with a magnifying glass (K&E model 1741 before 1900, K&E model 4013 after) and one without (K&E model 1740 before 1900, K&E model 4012 after). This is a model 4013; the serial number suggests it was manufactured around 1915 and after MA.321789. The marking on the core also no longer references W. F. Stanley, the English firm that originally manufactured the instrument for sale by K&E. Stanley continued to provide the engine-divided scales after K&E began making the rest of the instrument in 1887. K&E took over printing the scales in the 1910s. Model 4013 sold for $45.00 in 1913.
Compare markings on the core to MA.315663. See also MA.327886.
References: Wayne E. Feely, "Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rules," The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 50 (1997): 125–127; Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser Co. (New York, 1913), 294; National Archives, "Records of the Agricultural Marketing Service [AMS]," Guide to Federal Records, Record Group 136, http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/136.html; "Agricultural Marketing Service," Allgov: Everything Our Government Really Does, http://www.allgov.com/Agency/Agricultural_Marketing_Service__.
This circular slide rule consists of a silver-colored metal dial, 8-1/2" wide, mounted on a silver-colored metal disc. Three oblong holes on the base disc permit the reading of trigonometric scales on a white celluloid and cardboard disc that is between the metal discs. The celluloid disc is marked: COPYRIGHTED (/) L. ROSS, SAN FRANCISCO (/) PATENTS PENDING.
On the front of the instrument, the top dial is divided along the outer edge into 400 equal parts. In each quadrant of the dial, the scale is marked from 100 to 1,000, with every tenth division marked. Inside of this scale, there is a spiral scale with 25 coils divided logarithmically from 0 to 1,000, making the rule equivalent to a linear slide rule about 50 feet long. These scales are marked in purple and are worn away in several places, including around much of the edge and underneath where the indicators rest.
Affixed to the center of the disc is a brown metal linear rule, 1-1/8" wide, marked with N, M (Sum), D (Difference), and Root scales. This rule is made of three pieces, but the center no longer slides. Also affixed to the center is a yellow celluloid hairline indicator, 3/4" wide, and a second yellow celluloid indicator, 1-1/2" wide. This indicator is marked on the left side by fours from 0 to 100, labeled Quadrants, and on the right side at varying intervals from 100 to 1,000, labeled Nos. It is attached to a metal handle lined with yellow-white celluloid. The handle is also attached to a pivot at the center back of the instrument. The handle is marked: THE ROSS (/) PRECISION COMPUTER (/) Computer Mfg. Co. (/) San Francisco. The handle has reminders for setting the device for multiplication, division, and proportion, and there is a thumbscrew for making adjustments.
The instrument also came with a loose, wedge-shaped piece of yellow celluloid with a hole at one end for attaching to the center of the computer. It is marked with the names of various trigonometric functions and various angles. The round part of the instrument fits into a black leather case with two snaps, stamped both inside and outside: x THE ROSS ÷ (/) PRECISION COMPUTER (/) COMPUTER MFG. CO. (/) SAN FRANCISCO U.S.A. (/) PAT. PEND. COPYRIGHTED. An instruction manual (1996.3077.02) and a letter and advertising literature (1966.3077.03) sent to the purchaser, Roy Kegerreis of New York, were received with this instrument. The letter is dated July 31, 1918, and the manual was copyrighted in 1919.
Louis Ross of San Francisco designed three circular slide rules in the 1910s: the Precision Computer, the Meridi-o-graph, and the Rapid Computer. Advertisements and reports of surviving instruments indicate that the Precision Computer varied in appearance and size.
The Computer Manufacturing Company sold the Precision Computer for $20.00. A clamp for mounting the rule above a desk sold separately for $2.50. The company claimed its customers included the Panama Canal Commission, DuPont Powder Works, and General Electric. The company's offices were originally located on 25 California Street in San Francisco; in 1921, the factory moved from 268 Market to 340 Sansome. The Sansome address is handwritten inside the instruction manual, suggesting Kegerreis learned about the computer in 1918 but did not purchase one until 1921.
Dr. Roy Kegerreis (1886–1968) obtained his BS in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University in 1907, his MS in Mathematics from Harvard, and his PhD in Physics from the University of Michigan in 1917. At the time he purchased this slide rule, he apparently was living in New York City. Kegerreis went on to get an MD in 1934, and he worked for many years as a radiologist. This slide rule was given to the Smithsonian by his daughter, in his memory.
References: Accession file; Edwin J. Chamberlain, "Long-Scale Slide Rules," Journal of the Oughtred Society 8, no. 1 (1999): 24–34, "Long-Scale Slide Rules Revisited," 13, no. 1 (2004): 23–43, and "Circular Slide Rules with Very Long Scales," 17, no. 1 (2008): 52; "A Five-Place Calculating Device," Electrical World 66, no. 11 (1915): 604; "San Francisco Companies Move to New Quarters," San Francisco Business 3, no. 19 (November 11, 1921): 22; "Ross Precision Computer," NIST Museum Digital Archives, http://nistdigitalarchives.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15421coll3/id/266.
This relatively late Burroughs bookkeeping machine has a gray metal cover. In the front are two sets of digit keys, one white and one black, as well as various functions keys. In front of these are space return, motor tab, and full cents bars, as well an an unlabeled bar. Behind the two rows of digit keys is a QWERTY keyboard with four rows of keys. Symbols indicated on some of these keys are unconventional. A lever at the right sets the machine for different registers. A wide carriage is behind the keyboard. The machine has an electric motor.
A mark on the front reads: Burroughs. A mark on a red paper tag attached to the machine reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #212. A metal tag screwed to the front of the machine reads: A3451.
The Burroughs Series M was introduced in 1951. This example was in the collections of the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation.
Reference:
Burroughs Corporation Papers, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This full-keyboard, printing electric bookkeeping machine has a grayish tan metal case with streamlining. It has 11 columns of square color-coded gray and off-white plastic digit keys, with nine keys in each column. Three columns of smaller rectangular keys indicate dates and types of transactions. The nine possible transaction types are denoted by the 2-digit letter combinations “CD”, “DS”, “RT”, “EX”, “FT”, “CS”, “CM”, “JE”, and “AL”. The year keys are for 50 (1950), 51 (1951), and 52 (1952). To the right of the keyboard are function bars and levers.The printing mechanism and wide carriage are at the back. A roll of paper stored with the machine has five columns of numbers and symbols printed on it. No stand is present.
A red tag attached to the object reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #181.The machine is marked on the front: Burroughs.This was model #181 in the collection of the Patent Division of Burroughs Corporation.
According to the accession file, this model had serial number A-971043. According to records of Burroughs, Series F machines of that serial number were made in 1949.
This model has a metal mechanism at the back and a wide carriage in front of this. In front of the carriage is a typewriter keyboard and space bar, and in front of these are two rows of white keys. The keys at the front include one set of digit keys and various function keys. The paper in the carriage has numbers printed sideways.
Toward the front of the machine, behind the typewriter keyboard, is a paper dial, under clear plastic, that has various phrases typed on it (e.g. “TOTAL CF”, “TRANSFER CF2-CF1”). Behind the carriage are three sets of rods on the top of the machine. To the right is a large cylinder mounted horizontally, with several toothed cylinders on it. The machine has no case. Mounted vertically at the back is a large thin disk with various holes in it. A small package of parts was received with the machine.
A red tag attached to the machine reads: PATENT DEPT. (/) #32. A metal tag attached to the bottom at the base reads: B.A.M.CO. (/) MODEL (/) [. . .]. A white tag attached to the machine reads: NOTICE (/) This machine to be preserved as a (/) model until at least 1958 for possible (/) use in any litigation or controversy which (/) may develop in connection with the feature (/) Sensing Controls (/) J. E. McVay (/) 7/25/38. Another white tag attached to the machine reads: U.S. PATENT OFFICE (/) MUELER (/) VS. CROSMAN (/) Intf. No. 72784 (/) MUELER EXH. No. 4 (/) B. Frank Whiberg (/) Notary Public.