This leaflet describes generally the use of Univac service Centers to pool data processing equipment (including both tabulating machines and computers) to produce payroll and personnel reports. The Remington Rand Univac form number is U1819.
This pinwheel, lever-set, non-printing calculating machine was made by the French firm of Chateau Frères, sold under the name Dactyle, and constructed on the design of the Swede W. T. Odhner. Odhner-style machines were first made in Russia (as Odhners), then in Germany (as Brunsvigas) and then in France (as the Dactyle, from about 1905).
In 1910, about a year after this machine was made, R. H. Marchant of San Francisco, the American agent for the Dactyle, decided to go into business himself, building a very similar machine. The Marchant Calculating Machine Company officially was incorporated in 1913, and made a wide range of calculating machines into the 1950s.
The machine, painted black, has nine levers toward the top for setting numbers. The operating crank is on the right side. In front is the carriage, with ten numeral wheels on the left for counting revolutions and 18 numeral wheels on the right for recording totals. The numeral wheels of the revolution counter are numbered from 0 to 9 in white and then from 8 down to 1 in red. The result wheels have the digits from 0 to 9 around the edge. The zeroing screws for the registers are at the two ends of the carriage.
A mark on the left front at the top reads: No. 5641.
This machine came to the Smithsonian from the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.
Reference:
E. Martin, The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen), trans. P.A. Kidwell and M.R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, p. 164.
This electrotype of “Hu’petha” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 28 (p.163) in an article by Alice C. Fletcher (1838-1923) and Francis La Flesche (1857-1932) entitled “The Omaha Tribe” in the Twenty-Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1905-1906.
This rectangular white plastic slide rule has scales for sprint times from 5 to 7 furlongs; two columns for use with the average pace method for handicapping horse races; three columns for use with the highlight pace time method of handicapping; and scales for route times from 1 to 1-1/4 miles. This outer folder is marked: Ray Taulbot's Pace Calculator (/) WITH AMER-VAR; Published by (/) AMERICAN (/) TURF MONTHLY (/) 505 EIGHTH AVENUE (/) New York, N.Y. 10018; PRINTED IN U.S.A. COPYRIGHT — 1979 Amerpub Company.
The slide, which fits inside the folder, bears scales for speed rating, half-mile sprint highlight pace time, and six furlong route highlight pace time. It is marked: BASTIAN BROS. CO., ROCHESTER N. Y. A sliding plastic indicator has a broken end. An instruction booklet (copyrighted in 1979) was received with the rule; both fit into a black plastic case marked: RAY TAULBOT'S (/) PACE CALCULATOR (/) AMERPUB COMPANY (/) 505 8TH Avenue (/) New York, N. Y. 10018.
Ray Taulbot (1895–1969) was the longtime managing editor of American Turf Monthly, a magazine for horse racing enthusiasts published by the Amerpub Company. He is credited with several innovations in handicapping races, particularly by rating a horse in comparison to the overall pace of a race. He believed horses must be judged by their own speed and by how close they were to the winner. A chart on the back of the calculator allowed bettors to combine the results of the Pace Calculator with the Amer-Var rating, which took into account the horse's age, the length of the race, the amount of the purse, the time of year, and the type of race. Taulbot's methods dated at least to the 1960s, but this device was made in 1979. American Turf Monthly continues to reprint Taulbot's articles.
For other devices made by Bastian Brothers, see 1987.0183.01 and 1988.0323.03.
References: Ray Taulbot, Thoroughbred Horse Racing: Playing for Profit (Philadelphia: A. Walker Co., 1949); Howard G. Sartin, "Winning Today with Ray Taulbot's Pace Calculator," American Turf Monthly, January 2000, http://www.americanturf.com/pace/sartinarticle.cfm; F. Finstuen, "Handicapping Derby Thoroughbreds: Edward's Minit, Race-O-Matic, and Kel-Co II Slide Rules," Journal of the Oughtred Society 10, no. 2 (2001): 19–24.
This white plastic circular rule has a clear plastic indicator attached with a metal grommet in the center. The rule has scales of H (horizontal factor), theta (vertical angle), and V (vertical factor). A diagram on the instrument gives the formulas for these factors. The instrument is marked: KB (/) STADIA REDUCTION COMPUTER (/) KEGELMAN BROS. (/) HUNTINGDON VALLEY PA. (/) COPYRIGHT, 1956 (/) BY WILLIAM KEGELMAN P.E. It is in a cream-colored paper envelope stamped: WILLIAM KEGELMAN (/) 393 COUNTY LINE ROAD (/) HUNTINGDON VALLEY, PA.
George Kegelman (1900–1985) began his career with Heller & Brightly of Philadelphia. He established his own shop around 1943 and began to work with his brother, William (1907–1985). In 1951, the pair formed Kegelman Brothers, which became best known for its Model 101 engineers transit. William Kegelman received a copyright (A245443) for this device, which was intended to process readings taken with the transit, on July 9, 1956.
For other slide rules for reducing data from observations made with stadia rods, see MA.333636, 1977.1141.41, 1983.0472.01, 1987.0221.01, and 1987.0221.02.
References: Robert C. Miller, "George Kegelman and Kegelman Brothers: Mathematical and Optical Instrument Makers," Rittenhouse 5 (1991): 56–58; Charles E. Smart, The Makers of Surveying Instruments in America Since 1700 (Troy, N.Y.: Regal Art Press, 1962–1967); Catalog of Copyright Entries: Books and Pamphlets, 3rd ser. 10 (1956): 324, 1161; Kegelman Bros., Instruction Manual for Engineers Transit (Hunting[d]on Valley, Pa., 1957) 9–10 (see 2001.0282.02).
Agracetus’s ACCELL gene gun, featured on this mug, delivers foreign genes into plant cells in order to create transgenic plants. To learn more about the ACCELL gene gun, please see object number 1993.0345.01, the Agracetus gene gun.
This machine is an automated DNA/RNA synthesizer, Model 394 from Applied Biosystems, Inc. It was on the market from 1991 to 2007. DNA/RNA synthesizers can produce short single strands of nucleotides known as oligonucleotides. These “oligos” can be linked together to create longer strands of DNA or RNA. Synthetic DNA or RNA is used by researchers both to study how genes work and for the purposes of genetic engineering and PCR (see object 1993.0166.01). Often it is easier to make a stretch of DNA or RNA with a synthesizer than it is to isolate that same stretch of DNA or RNA from a natural source. Synthetic oligos can also be created with slight changes from the naturally occurring forms, allowing researchers to study the impact of modifying the molecule.
The ability to synthesize oligos has been around since the late 1950s, when Har Gobind Khorana (1922-2011) discovered a method to make them in the lab using solution phase chemistry. In the 1960s, Robert Letsinger (1921-2014) devised a method for assembling oligos using solid phase chemistry, which constructs the oligo by linking its chemical building blocks onto a polymer bead scaffolding. This advance, along with slight adjustments to Khorana’s original protocol, simplified the reaction to the point where the first automated machines to perform oligo synthesis could be built in the late 1970s. At the time, however the reaction relied on very unstable chemicals that had to be prepared by a highly trained chemist just before the machine could be run.
By the 1980s further adjustments to the reaction and reagents made it possible for someone without a great deal of experience in chemical preparation to operate the machines, opening up their use to a wider audience and increasing their commercial viability. This work was accomplished by Marvin H. Caruthers (born 1940) and his research team at the University of Colorado. Caruthers, along with Leroy Hood of Caltech, founded Applied Biosystems, Inc. (ABI), to market these simpler-to-use DNA synthesizers. The first ABI synthesizer, Model 380A, shipped in 1983. This object, Model 394 introduced in 1991, was the second wave of Applied Biosystems’s DNA/RNA synthesizers. It consumed chemicals more efficiently than the previous model and could synthesize up to four oligos at one time.
Sources:
“Gene Synthesis Demystified.” Czar, Michael J., J. Christopher Anderson, Joel S. Bader, Jean, Peccoud. Trends in Biotechnology. 27 February 2009 (2):63–72.
Manual for DNA Synthesizer Models 392 and 394, Applied Biosystems, Inc.
“A Short History of Oligonucleotide Synthesis.” Hogrefe, Richard. TriLink BioTechnologies. http://www.trilinkbiotech.com/tech/oligo_history.pdf
Caruthers, Marvin H. “The chemical synthesis of DNA/RNA: our gift to science.” The Journal of biological chemistry vol. 288,2 (2013): 1420-7.
This 12-inch triangular boxwood rule has indentations along each side, and the sides are faced with white celluloid. On one side, one edge has a scale divided to 1/16" and numbered by ones from 0 to 12. The other edge has scales for 3/32" and 3/16" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 3/32", numbered from left to right by fours from 0 to 124, and numbered from right to left by twos from 0 to 62. This side is marked: 1621P KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. N.Y. PARAGON.
One edge of the second side has scales for 1" and 1/2" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1/2", numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 10 and from right to left by twos from 0 to 20. The other edge has scales fro 1/8" and 1/4" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1/8", numbered from left to right by fours from 0 to 92 and from right to left by twos from 0 to 46.
One edge of the third side has scales for 3/4" and 3/8" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 3/8", numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 14 and from right to left by twos from 0 to 28. The other edge has scales for 1-1/2" and 3" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1-1/2", numbered from left to right by twos from 0 to 4 and from right to left by ones from 0 to 2. This side is marked: RHW.
A triangular green cardboard box has masking tape at both ends. A red and green paper label is marked: K + E PARAGON (/) ARCHITECTS' TRIANGULAR SCALE (/) 1621P 12 IN. (/) MADE IN U.S.A. TM'S REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.
Keuffel & Esser began to offer model 1621P between 1901 and 1909, when it cost $2.50. The firm introduced the logo shown on the box in 1943. In 1944, this instrument sold for $7.50. The company changed its model numbers in 1962. According to the donor, the instrument was used by her husband, the electrical engineer Robert H. Wieler (1923–1993).
References: Catalogue and Price List of Keuffel & Esser Co., 33rd ed. (New York, 1909), 190; Catalogue and Price List of Keuffel & Esser Co., 40th ed. (New York, 1944), 138.
In the years following the Civil War, American mathematics teachers began to use oversized compasses like this one to draw circles on a chalkboard. This example was sold by the Frederick Post Company of Chicago. It consists of two maple arms, each about sixteen inches (41 centimeters) long, which are held together by a wing nut at one end. At the other end are a rubber tip and a piece of chalk.
Makers often sold such instruments as part of a set that also included a straight edge, a protractor, a T square, and a triangle. After passage of the National Defense Education Act in 1958, such instruments could be purchased by secondary schools with subsidies from the federal government. This particular instrument was used by Margaret G. Aldrich (1918-2007), who taught at Montgomery College from 1957 to 1984, chairing of the math department on the Takoma Park campus for many years. She had an undergraduate degree in mathematics and an M.A. in psychology, both from the University of Minnesota.
Blackboard dividers that are different from this instrument are advertised as model number 1781 in the Frederick Post Company's 1930 and 1936 catalogs. The instrument is not shown in the 1949–1950 catalog.
Bruce V. Moore (1891—1977), an industrial psychologist at Pennsylvania State College (later Pennsylvania State University) published this test leaflet in 1941. It consists of twenty word problems involving use of arithmetic, with spaces for writing the answer.
This is one of a series of psychological tests given to the Smtihsonian by Cincinnati Boss Company.
Reference:
For Moore’s autobiography, see the website of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology at: http://www.siop.org/presidents/Moore.aspx.
These bright yellow eighty-column punch cards are rounded at the corners except at the upper right corner, which is cut off in a straight line. The cards contain fields in which the date was indicated with two digits for the year, two for the month and two for the day of the month. A mark in the bottom left corner reads: SDC A1004. According to the donor, they were from a firm of dry cleaners that used tabulating equipment in the 1960s (and perhaps the 1950s) for record keeping.
Two copies of an advertising flyer for the Ross Precision Computer, the Ross Meridi-o-graph, and the Ross Rapid Computer were received with 1996.3077.01. The flyer provides photographs and descriptions of the three instruments. It also cites press releases published in Scientific American 114, no. 3, January 15, 1916, and Engineering News 75, no. 21, May 25, 1916.
Also received was a short letter initialed by the inventor of these devices, Louis Ross, and addressed to Roy Kegerreis of New York City. The letter, dated July 31, 1918, notes the availability of the instruments and offers them on a trial basis. Enclosed were a 3-1/4" by 6-1/2" printed note addressed "To Men in the Army and Navy," describing the suitability of the instruments for military purposes. A second printed note, of the same size, announced the addition of trigonometric scales to the Precision Computer even though the price remained at $20.00.
Wolfgang Haken and Kenneth Appel’s proof of the four color problem was one of the first theorems published that required computers in its confirmation. The Englishman Francis Guthrie had conjectured in 1852 that four colors suffice to color any map drawn on a sheet of paper in such a way that countries sharing a common border are different colors. Heinrich Heesch showed in 1969 that the conjecture could be solved by considering a set of some 8,900 configurations with boundaries of up to eighteen edges. Haken and Appel, working with computer scientist John Koch, reduced the number of configurations examined to 1,936. For each case, their program that four colors sufficed to color it. When Appel and Haken announced their result, their employer, the University of Illinois mathematics department, altered its postal meter to print "Four Colors Suffice." This is such a postal meter stamp.
For a related computer printout, see 1999.0339.01.
The front of this white and green plastic rule with beveled edges has a scale divided to 1/10" and numbered by ones from 0 to 6 along its top edge. The bottom edge has a scale for 1/4" to the foot, divided to 1/40" and numbered by twos from 0 to 24. The rule is marked: K+E 1419W KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. The back has scales for 3/8" to the foot, divided to 1/50" and numbered by twos from 0 to 30, and for 5/16" to the foot, divided to 1/30" and numbered by twos from 0 to 18. A brown leather sheath holds the rule. Compare to 1981.0933.14 and 1998.0032.09.
Keuffel & Esser began offering model 1419 in plastic in 1949. At $1.80, the instrument represented a significant savings over the $4.20 price for the boxwood version of model 1419. The trade-off was that the marks were not engine-divided. The firm changed its model numbers in 1962. According to the donor, the instrument was used by her husband, the electrical engineer Robert H. Wieler (1923–1993).
References: Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser Co., 41st ed. (New York, 1949), 153, 159; Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Andrew Alpern Collection of Drawing Instruments (Columbia University, 2007), 105, http://www.columbiauniversity.org/cu/lweb/img/assets/8897/alpern.pdf; accession file.
The adjustable tracer arm on this German silver and bronzed brass instrument is evenly divided to tenths of a unit, with each unit equal to 5mm, and numbered from 5 to 36. The measuring wheel, vernier, and registering dial are white plastic. A second vernier is severely tarnished, made of German silver, and used with the scale on the tracer arm. The carriage for the measuring wheel is marked with a serial number: 12960. The pole arm fits inside a square tube and cylindrical weight, allowing the arm's length to be adjusted. The pole arm has a scale like the scale on the tracer arm, but it is numbered from 30 to 35.
Unlike earlier versions of the instrument, such as 1999.0250.01, the tube has an opening with a vernier. The tube is marked on top: K+E KUEFFEL & ESSER CO. (/) PARAGON. It is also marked: MADE IN (/) GERMANY. The side of the tube is marked: 12960. An oblong German silver testing rule is marked for 5 sq. in., 10 sq. in., and 100 sq. cm. A wooden case covered with black leather is lined with chamois leather. The top of the case is marked: K+E. The serial number and tracer and pole arm settings are written in ink on a K&E label pasted inside the lid. The number 20,475 is written in pencil on the label. See 1991.0882.02 for instructions.
K&E imported planimeters from the Coradi firm in Zurich to sell as model 4242 from 1901 to about 1936. When K&E began to offer model 4242 as part of its Paragon line, it changed suppliers to a German company. The instrument was not available during World War II. K&E introduced its K+E logo in 1949, and it added a tracer lens between 1958 and 1960. The price was $98.00 in 1949 and $90.00 in 1956. According to the donor, this instrument was used by her husband, the electrical engineer Robert H. Wieler (1923–1993).
The instrument was received at the Smithsonian in 1998.
References: Clark McCoy, "Collection of Pages from K&E Catalogs for the 4242 Family of Polar Planimeters," http://www.mccoys-kecatalogs.com/PlanimeterModels/ke4242family.htm; accession file.
