This wooden case is covered with black leather and lined with purple velvet. Several circles have been drawn on the top of the lid. The velvet inside the lid folds out to reveal a 6-3/4" wooden straight edge; a 3-1/2" metal L-shaped square; a 3-3/8" metal semicircular protractor divided to single degrees and numbered by tens from 10 to 170; and a 6" ivory plotting scale with one scalloped end. The plotting scale has diagonal scales at both ends. Above it are scales divided to 1/10" and numbered by ones from 6 to 1, and divided to 1/12" and numbered by tens from 50 to 10. The back of the plotting scale has a scale of chords and scales dividing the inch into 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, and 20 parts.
The bottom of the case has four pairs of German silver and steel dividers. Two pairs have a removable leg and are 5-3/8" long, one pair has fixed legs and is 4-7/8", and one pair has a removable leg and is 3-3/4". A pencil point is a little bit too short for the longest dividers, and a pen point is a little bit too long for the longest dividers. Another pen point and pencil point fit the shortest pair of dividers. A 2-3/4" drawing pen has a very short cylindrical handle. Three empty slots suggest that some of the original instruments in the set are missing. One slot is round for a ceramic cup; compare to 1990.0115.01.
The set was found in the Museum collections in 1979 with objects that suggest an association with Cleveland Abbe (1838–1916), an American engineer, astronomer, and meteorologist who worked for the U.S. Weather Service from 1871 until shortly before his death.
In the years before the Civil War, several Northern states opened free elementary or common schools. To communicate with large numbers of students, teachers used a wide range of objects, including these models of simple geometrical shapes. Connecticut school reformer and lecturer Josiah Holbrook developed a collection of apparatus for teaching by families and in schools. The models were part of this set. He designed them to help students learn the names of simple solids, basic rules for calculating the area of various flat surfaces, and elementary drawing. Holbrook advertised that his equipment was "Good enough for the best, and cheap enough for the poorest." It was used in thousands of schools. Even after Holbrook died in 1854, his family continued to manufacture school apparatus; these models date from about 1859.
