Computers & Business Machines
Imagine the loss, 100 years from now, if museums hadn't begun preserving the artifacts of the computer age. The last few decades offer proof positive of why museums must collect continuously—to document technological and social transformations already underway.
The museum's collections contain mainframes, minicomputers, microcomputers, and handheld devices. Computers range from the pioneering ENIAC to microcomputers like the Altair and the Apple I. A Cray2 supercomputer is part of the collections, along with one of the towers of IBM's Deep Blue, the computer that defeated reigning champion Garry Kasparov in a chess match in 1997. Computer components and peripherals, games, software, manuals, and other documents are part of the collections. Some of the instruments of business include adding machines, calculators, typewriters, dictating machines, fax machines, cash registers, and photocopiers
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Remington Rand Univac Minimum Latency Calculator Slide Rule
- Description
- This circular device was an aid to programming the UNIVAC solid state computer. It consists of a paper disc, with equal divisions running from 1 to 200 near the edge, and a clear plastic rotating disc. These are pivoted together at the center. The upper disc is marked in red with two perpendicular diameters. The lower disc is marked: MINIMUM LATENCY CALCULATOR FOR THE UNIVAC SOLID-STATE COMPUTER. The UNIVAC had a magnetic storage drum on which locations were specified numerically. The latency calculator allowed programmers to write code for the machine to make the most efficient possible use of the drum memory.
- The back of the instrument gives a list of instruction codes and corresponding execution times for words. It is marked: Remington Rand Univac. It is also marked: U1767 Rev. 1 PRINTED (/) IN (/) U.S.A. The rule was received in a paper bag.
- Reference: Sperry Rand Corporation, Simple Transition to Electronic Processing, UNIVAC Solid-State 80, (1960), 18–26.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1950
- maker
- Remington Rand Univac
- ID Number
- 2005.0271.01
- accession number
- 2005.0271
- catalog number
- 2005.0271.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Dietzgen 1767 National Simplex Slide Rule
- Description
- In the 1950s, several manufacturers sold inexpensive plastic slide rules for use by students. This one-sided, ten-inch example, sold by the Chicago firm of Dietzgen has K, S, A, D, T, and L scales on the base. B, CI, and C scales are on the slide. The rule has a clear plastic frameless indicator with a hairline and black plastic endpieces. The top right corner of the base is marked: NATIONAL. Both ends of the slide are marked: DIETZGEN (/) NO. 1767. Both ends of the bottom of the base are marked: MADE (/) IN (/) U. S. A. A cream-colored synthetic leather case is marked: R. LAWSE. The rule was received with an instruction manual, 1988.0367.02.
- According to Peter Hopp and Bruce Babcock, Dietzgen manufactured model 1767 from 1955 to 1959. An earlier version of the National, the 1767P, had a different set of scales. It was manufactured from 1941 to 1952 and sold in 1952 for $1.75 or $18.25 for a dozen.
- References: Peter M. Hopp, Slide Rules: Their History, Models, and Makers (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 1999), 160; Bruce Babcock, "Dietzgen Catalog Matrix," Journal of the Oughtred Society 5, no. 2 (1996), http://sliderulemuseum.com/Manuals/Dietzgen_CatalogMatrix_BruceBabcock1996_chart.jpg.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1955-1959
- maker
- Eugene Dietzgen Company
- ID Number
- 1988.0367.01
- accession number
- 1988.0367
- catalog number
- 1988.0367.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Instruction Manual for Pickett 101-C Circular Slide Rule
- Description
- This 24-page booklet was received with 1981.0922.12. Its citation information is: Maurice L. Hartung, Dial Rule Circular Slide Rule: Your Model No. 101-C Instruction Manual (Chicago & Alhambra, Calif.: Pickett & Eckel, Inc., 1957). The back is marked: PRINTED IN U.S.A.; FORM M-18. The Pickett logo on the front cover was used between 1958 and 1962.
- The manual provides instructions and processes for the C and CI scales, multiplication, division, combined operations, the A and Af scales (for square roots), logarithms and adding fractions, the LL scale, the DS and DT scales (for drill sizes and double depth of threads), the M scale (for metric conversions), and the S, ST, and T scales (for trigonometry). There are 24 problems and answers on the back page.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1958
- publisher
- Pickett Industries
- author
- Hartung, Maurice L.
- ID Number
- 1981.0922.13
- accession number
- 1981.0922
- catalog number
- 1981.0922.13
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Kegelman Instruction Manual for Engineers Transit
- Description
- This 20-page booklet was received with 2001.0282.01. Surveyors used stadia computers to reduce the data they collected from making observations with a transit and a stadia rod, to determine the vertical angle of elevation and the horizontal distance of the stadia rod.
- William Kegelman, who manufactured transits with his brother and partner, George, from about 1944 to 1988, copyrighted a "stadia reduction computer" in 1956. This device is described on pages 9–10 of the booklet; the booklet's citation information is Kegelman Bros., Instruction Manual for Engineers Transit (Hunting[d]on Valley, Pa., 1957).
- Reference: Robert C. Miller, "George Kegelman and Kegelman Brothers: Mathematical and Optical Instrument Makers," Rittenhouse 5 (1991): 56–58.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- copyright date; date made
- 1957
- maker
- Kegelman Bros.
- ID Number
- 2001.0282.02
- accession number
- 2001.0282
- catalog number
- 2001.0282.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Pickett 101-C Circular Slide Rule
- Description
- This yellow aluminum circular slide rule has three clear plastic indicators, one blank. The other indicator on the front is marked in red to denote the C, CI, A, AF, L, FA, LL2, LL1, DS, DT, and M scales. The indicator on the back is marked in red to denote the C, S,ST, and T scales. A ring of numbers under the scales on the back permits conversions from fractions to decimals.
- The center of the front is marked: CIRCULAR SLIDE RULE – dial rule (/) PICKETT. The center of the back is marked: dial rule (/) NO 101-C. A triangular Pickett logo, of the form used between 1950 and 1958, appears at the bottom of the center; CHICAGO is printed below the logo.
- Pickett & Eckel, a slide rule manufacturer based in Chicago and Alhambra, Calif., distributed a small booklet with this instrument, one of the few circular slide rules sold by the company and possibly the only circular model it manufactured. Maurice L. Hartung, a University of Chicago mathematics professor associated with the company, wrote the instruction manual (1981.0922.13). The booklet is copyrighted 1957, and the logo on this copy was used by the company between 1958 and 1962. Thus, this slide rule dates to about 1958.
- References: Rodger Shepherd, "Pickett Metal Slide Rules," Journal of the Oughtred Society 1, no. 1 (1992): 5–8; Walter Shawlee, "Information About Pickett Slide Rules," Sphere Research Slide Rule Site, http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/pickett.html.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1958
- maker
- Pickett & Eckel, Incorporated
- ID Number
- 1981.0922.12
- catalog number
- 1981.0922.12
- accession number
- 1981.0922
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Makeba-Kombinator Pencil Slide Rule
- Description
- This instrument combines a mechanical pencil and a slide rule. The pencil has a metal body surrounding a black plastic tube, which is pulled out to move the scales. Four white plastic logarithmic scales are glued to the pencil. One pair of scales is divided logarithmically from 1 to 100 (as A and B scales), and the other pair is divided logarithmically from 1 to 10 (as C and D scales).
- The black plastic tube (underneath one of the A/B scales) is marked: MAKEBA-KOMBINATOR. The black plastic tube surrounds a metal tube and spring, which connect a metal tip and a plastic pusher. A pencil lead is inside the metal tube. A sliding plastic indicator is in a metal frame with a ridged edge for gripping.
- Makeba was established in Bautzen, Germany, in 1922. By the 1950s, it was a sub-brand of Markant, an East German company that copied designs for Pelikan fountain pens as late as the 1970s.
- Reference: Der neue Makeba-Kombinator: Fallstift mit Rechenschieber (Bautzen, East Germany: VEB Füllhalterfabrik Makeba, 1957). According to Worldcat, a copy of this publication is in the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek in Leipzig. See http://d-nb.info/574971327.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1957
- maker
- Makeba
- ID Number
- 1977.1120.01
- catalog number
- 336447
- accession number
- 1977.1120
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Charles Bruning 2401 Simplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This one-sided, five-inch white molded plastic linear slide rule has a glass indicator with a metal frame. The top edge is beveled and has a 12.5 cm scale, divided to millimeters. The top of the base has an A scale and is marked: CHARLES BRUNING CO. It is also marked: MADE IN U.S.A. The slide has B, CI, and C scales on one side and S, L, and T scales on the other side. The left end of the front of the slide is marked: 2401. The bottom edge of the rule is beveled and has a five-inch scale, divided to 32nds of an inch. Three screws on the back of the rule permit the top of the base to be adjusted.
- The instrument fits in a brown leather sleeve, which in turn fits in a red cardboard box. The box is marked: BRUNING (/) [Bruning logo of CB inside a diamond] (/) CHARLES BRUNING COMPANY, INC. A slip of paper inside the box advertises a magnifier that could be ordered for 60 cents from any of fourteen Bruning branch offices located across the United States. For an instruction manual received with the instrument, see 1991.0445.03.01.
- Charles Bruning (1866–1931) was born in Denmark and immigrated to the United States. In Chicago during the 1890s, he became interested in the blueprint business. In 1897 he set up his own blueprinting company in Manhattan, which was incorporated at the New York Blue Print Paper Company in 1901. Around 1920 he purchased American Blue Print Company of Chicago, and the combined firms became known as the Charles Bruning Company, Inc. The company's 1921 catalog lists eleven slide rules, although it is unclear whether any of these were actually manufactured by Bruning. By 1936 a new system of numbering was introduced. It assigned different model numbers to slide rules sold with different types of cases. This increased the number of model numbers to 14, but only 8 of these appear to be distinct. By 1952 most slide rules sold by Bruning were all-metal slide rules manufactured by Pickett & Eckel. This all-plastic rule is an exception.
- The instruction manual was copyrighted in 1944. This model is not shown in the 1939 Bruning catalog. By 1952 the indicator was of a different form. Hence, this rule likely dates from 1944 to 1951. The Charles Bruning Company merged with the Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation in 1963.
- References: New York Blue Print Paper Company, Catalog (New York, 1921), 155–157; "Charles Bruning," New York Times (January 31, 1931), 14; Charles Bruning Company, Inc., General Catalog (New York, 1936), 130–134; Charles Bruning Company, Inc., General Catalog (New York, 1939), 146–152; Charles Bruning Company, Inc., General Catalog (Teterboro, N.J. and Chicago, 1952), 121.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1944-1951
- maker
- Charles Bruning Company
- ID Number
- 1991.0445.03
- accession number
- 1991.0445
- catalog number
- 1991.0445.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Dietzgen Instruction Manual for Maniphase Slide Rule
- Description
- The citation information for this sixteen-page booklet is: Self-teaching Instruction Manual: Maniphase Slide Rule (Chicago: Eugene Dietzgen Co., n.d.). The slide rule depicted inside the manual is Dietzgen's "National," model 1767, and the manual was received with 1988.0367.01. Detailed instructions are provided for reading the scales, multiplication, placing the decimal point, division, proportion, squares and square roots, cube and cube roots, trigonometry, and logarithms. "Maniphase" on the cover refers to an arrangement of scales in which the company added K and CI scales to Mannheim rules; the word is printed on several slide rules sold by the Eugene Dietzgen Company. Indeed, the manual indicates portions of it could be used with other Dietzgen slide rules, such as model 1772A.
- Reference: Walter Shawlee, "The Dietzgen Company Archive," http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/dietzgen.html.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1950s
- maker
- Eugene Dietzgen Company
- ID Number
- 1988.0367.02
- accession number
- 1988.0367
- catalog number
- 1988.0367.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Commonwealth 581 Admiration Professional Simplex Slide Rule
- Description
- The Commonwealth Plastics Corporation of Leominster, Mass., a manufacturer of plastic toys, dolls, and other goods, made this one-sided, six-inch inexpensive white molded plastic slide rule with a clear plastic frameless indicator. The base has A and D scales, with B, CI, and C scales on the slide. The slide also has linear scales along its edges, inches divided to sixteenths of an inch and centimeters divided to millimeters. The back of the rule has a table of equivalents and abbreviations. The back is marked in script: Admiration. It is also marked: U.S.A. The rule fits into two slots in a yellow card. The front of the paper holder is marked: Instructions for use (/) on back of card; Admiration (/) PROFESSIONAL SLIDE RULE; EASY TO USE (/) No. 581. The back of the card gives directions and examples for reading the scales, locating the decimal point, multiplication, division, squares, square roots, and cubes. The card and rule are in a plastic bag stamped: 30¢.
- Commonwealth Plastics was founded around 1923 and remained in business at 98 Adams Street until at least 1960. It was not a major manufacturer of slide rules.
- References: "William Morris Lester (1908–2005)," The Plastics Collection, Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center, http://scrc.syr.edu:8080/content/lester_wm.php; Karen Nugent, "A City in the Making, from Pianos to Plastics: Industrial Past Spotlighted for Tour," Telegram & Gazette, Worcester, Mass., May 27, 2010; ad for Extrusion Supervisor, The Telegraph, Nashua, N.H., February 12, 1960, 10.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1950s
- maker
- Commonwealth Plastics Corporation
- ID Number
- 1988.0807.03
- accession number
- 1988.0807
- catalog number
- 1988.0807.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Keuffel & Esser N4058-W Beginner's Simplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This ten-inch wooden linear slide rule is painted white. The indicator is frameless plastic. The base has A, D, and K scales. The slide has B, CI, and C scales on one side and S, L, and T scales on the other side. The back of the rule is printed with a table of equivalents and abbreviations, based on National Bureau of Standards Circular No. 47. Compare to 1984.1068.01. The back is marked: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO.; BEGINNER'S SLIDE RULE. N4058W; MADE IN U. S. A. There is no serial number. The case is green leatherette and is marked: K+E.
- In 1897, Keuffel & Esser began to sell a slide rule for students. It was constructed inexpensively and was intended to be replaced once students had mastered the basic operations. The version with this model number and these scales was offered between 1944 and 1959, although the all-plastic indicator was not introduced until 1954. Model N4058W sold for $2.50 in 1959. Longtime NMAH staff member Barbara Coffee donated this example to the Smithsonian.
- Reference: Clark McCoy, "Collection of Pages from K&E Catalogs for the 4058 Family," http://www.mccoys-kecatalogs.com/KEModels/ke4058family.htm.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1954-1959
- maker
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- ID Number
- 1987.0184.01
- accession number
- 1987.0184
- catalog number
- 1987.0184.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Charvoz-Roos SR-105D Simplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This one-sided wooden rule is faced with white celluloid and has a plastic indicator and metal endpieces. The base has A, D, and K scales; B, CI, and C scales are on the front of the slide, and S, L, and T scales are on the back of the slide. The back of the slide is visible on the back of the rule, but the back of the base has tables of equivalents instead of scales. So, the slide must be removed from the rule, turned over, and reinserted to use the S, L, and T scales with the A, D, and K scales. (There is, though, a hairline on the back of one endpiece for using the S, L, and T scales by themselves.) The tables of equivalents indicate how the slide should be set on the front to convert various units, such as centimeters to meters. The instrument fits in a brown synthetic leather case. The front of the base is marked: SR-105D CHARVOZ-ROOS MADE IN U.S.A. The back of the base is marked: ACU (/) DESIGN (/) PAT. PENDING.
- Andre Charvoz (1892–1969) and his partners began to sell rebranded slide rules as well as slide rules assembled from parts in East Rutherford, N.J., around 1939. The company was called the Charvoz-Roos Corporation from 1946 until 1953, when it went bankrupt. The scales on the celluloid layers were apparently provided by the Acu-Rule Mfg. Co. of St. Louis, Mo., which either used Acu-Design as a brand name or as a separate business that supplied scales to other manufacturers. Acu-Rule's president, Wilfred Boos, applied for a patent on this rule in 1949 and received it in 1952.
- References:
- "Time Line for Charvoz-Roos Slide Rules," International Slide Rule Museum, http://sliderulemuseum.com/SR_Dates.htm#
- Charvoz; Wilfred J. Boos, "Slide Rule" (U.S. Patent 2,594,897 issued April 29, 1952).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1949-1953
- maker
- Charvoz-Roos
- ID Number
- 2009.3008.01
- nonaccession number
- 2009.3008
- catalog number
- 2009.3008.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Koehler Trim-Numeral Calculator
- Description
- This plastic green and white slide rule carries out calculations related to the capacity, draft, and resistance of cargo tankers able to carry up to 26,700 deadweight metric tons of petroleum or petroleum products. Eight metal rivets hold the rule together. The front is marked: KOEHLER TRIM-NUMERAL CALCULATOR (/) 26700 D.W.T. TANKERS. The bottom of the front of the slide is marked: MARKETED BY JEFKO PRODUCTS COMPANY, 100 OAKLAND ROAD, MAPLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY. The back of the rule and the back of the slide are both marked: COPYRIGHT 1954 BY J. F. KOEHLER.
- According to the accession file, this instrument was made by Felsenthal Instrument Company in 1954 as model number FDJ-23. For company history, see 1977.1141.01 and 1977.1141.02. The address for JEFKO Products is a single-family home constructed in 1925. A New Jersey engineer named J. Franklin Koehler (b. 1927) earned a B.S. in naval architecture and marine transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1951 with a thesis titled "Influence of Rising Operating Costs on Relative Economic Operation of Higher Speed Cargo Vessels."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1954
- maker
- Felsenthal Instrument Co.
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.38
- catalog number
- 336422
- accession number
- 1977.1141
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Hemmi Simplex Pocket Slide Rule Retailed by Post (1441)
- Description
- This small (five-inch) one-sided slide rule is bamboo covered with white celluloid, with a clear celluloid and metal backing. A magnifying glass indicator has a metal frame. There are A and D scales on the base. The slide has B, CI, and C scales on one side and S, L, and T scales on the other side. The upper edge of the base has a four-inch ruler divided to thirty-seconds of an inch.
- The back of the base is marked: THE FREDERICK POST CO. NO. 1441 (/) SUN (between two drawings of the sun) HEMMI JAPAN CF. A brown leather case is stamped on the flap: POST. Inside the case is stamped: MADE IN JAPAN and handwritten: R. FREEZE.
- The instrument was made by the Hemmi Slide Rule Company of Tokyo, Japan, and sold by the Frederick Post Company of Chicago, Ill. In the 1930s and 1940s, Post sold this model for $2.70. The code CF on the slide rule indicates that this example was manufactured by Hemmi in June 1952. The donor, Richard Freeze, purchased it in Philadelphia around 1956–57, when he was a student at Drexel Institute of Technology (later Drexel University). He used it during classes in physics, mathematics, and industrial engineering. Later, he used it while working at a specialty chemical firm doing industrial engineering projects.
- Compare to 1995.0087.01.
- References: Accession file; Peter M. Hopp, Slide Rules: Their History, Models, and Makers (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 1999), 183–187, 211; Posts Dependable Drawing Materials, 18th ed. (Chicago: The Frederick Post Company, 1936), 173. Price lists for this catalog, dated August 1937 and May 1940, show model 1441 on pages 11–12 and 27–28, respectively.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1950-1956
- maker
- Frederick Post Co.
- SUN HEMMI JAPAN CF
- ID Number
- 2003.0012.02
- accession number
- 2003.0012
- catalog number
- 2003.0012.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Hemmi Duplex Slide Rule Retailed by Post (Versalog 1460)
- Description
- The Frederick Post Company, a 20th-century manufacturer and retailer of scientific instruments based in Chicago, did not make its own slide rules. From 1932, its exclusive supplier of linear slide rules was Hemmi, a Japanese firm. Hemmi was known for using a large-diameter variety of bamboo grown in Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. Company founder Jiro Hemmi (1878–1953) patented this innovation in several nations, including the United States in 1920.
- While Post usually sold standard Hemmi models, around 1951 Hemmi created two ten-inch slide rules for Post, which sold in the United States as the model 1450 Versatrig and model 1460 Versalog. The Versalog was especially popular, selling several hundred thousand copies.
- This example is bamboo, coated on all sides (except the ends) with white celluloid. The rule is held together with metal posts, one of which is engraved on the front: Wm. Krutz. The glass indicator has a metal frame with plastic sides. One side is marked: HEMMI JAPAN. The other side bears a Post logo in red, which has largely been rubbed away. The red Post logo and the serial number 015836 appear on the right front of the slide. The serial number indicates the rule was manufactured in 1959. This is confirmed by the date code JI on the bottom edge of the rule, which corresponds to a manufacturing date of September 1959.
- The top edge of the rule is marked: CAT. NO. 1460; VERSALOG; FREDERICK POST CO.; HEMMI BAMBOO – JAPAN. The front of the base has LL0, LL/0, K, DF, D, R1, R2, AND L scales. The front of the slide bears CF, CIF, CI, and C scales. The LL/0, CIF, and CI scales are numbered in red. The back of the base has LL/1, LL/2, LL/3, D, LL3, LL2, AND LL1 scales. The back of the slide has T, Sec T and ST, Cos and S, and C scales. The LL/1, LL/2, LL/3, T, and Sec T scales are numbered in red. All the other scales are navy.
- The rule fits into a black Fabrikoid case with a leather flap (stamped POST). The case could be hung from the user's belt, and it is labeled: W. K. KRUTZ. The case is stored in a red, white, and black cardboard box, along with a guarantee from Post and a ruler-sized white plastic set of conversion tables, copyrighted in 1950 by the Eugene Dietzgen Co., another prominent slide rule manufacturer. The rule also arrived with an instruction booklet, 1978.0800.02.
- References: Jiro Hemmi, "Slide-Rule" (U.S. Patent 1,329,902 issued February 3, 1920); Walter Shawlee II, Ted Hume, and Paul Ross, "The Post Slide Rule Archive," Sphere Research Corporation, http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/post.html; Bob Otnes, "Notes on Frederick Post Slide Rules," Journal of the Oughtred Society 7, no. 1 (1998): 7–10; Paul Ross and Ted Hume, "Slide Rules of the Frederick Post Company," Journal of the Oughtred Society 9, no. 2 (2000): 37–46; Ted Hume, "The Popular Post Versalog Slide Rule," Journal of the Oughtred Society 15, no. 1 (2006): 53–55; William Lise, "Japanese Slide Rules," 19 August 2004, accessed via Internet Archive Wayback Machine; E. I. Fiesenheiser, The Versalog Slide Rule: An Instruction Manual (Chicago: The Frederick Post Company, 1951).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1959
- maker
- SUN HEMMI JAPAN CF
- inventor
- Frederick Post Co.
- ID Number
- 1978.0800.01
- catalog number
- 336682
- accession number
- 1978.0800
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Faber-Castell 67/87 Rietz Simplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This inexpensive one-sided white plastic (Geroplast) five-inch linear slide rule has a transparent plastic indicator. A five-inch scale along the upper edge of the rule is divided to 32nds of an inch. Scales on the base and on the front of the slide are not lettered, but the scales on the top of the base correspond to K and A scales and the scales on the bottom of the base correspond to D and L scales. Scales on the slide correspond to B, CI, and C scales. The scales on the back of the slide are labeled sin, sin/tg, and tg. This arrangement of scales is known as the "System Rietz," developed by the German engineer Max Rietz in 1902.
- The left end of the slide is marked: CASTELL. Underneath the slide is marked: [logo of weighing scales] A. W. FABER [logo of castle on its right side] CASTELL [logo of castle on its right side] 67/87 RIETZ (/) MADE IN GERMANY. Under the slide is also stamped: I. MOLELLA. Date codes on the back appear to read 53 and 1. The brown leather case is marked: FABER- (/) CASTELL (/) 67/87 (/) Made in Germany.
- Faber-Castell of southern Germany introduced the 67 series of slide rules in 1952 and sold them through about 1976, although the form of logo on this example was only in use from 1952 to 1956. The date codes suggest a manufacture date of January 1953.
- The owner of the slide rule, Isaac Giancinto Molella (1908–1982), was in the Cornell University class of 1932. He worked for General Electric as an electrical engineer at Electronics Park in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1953, and as a technical representative for the U.S. Air Force at radar sites in North Africa and Europe between 1954 and 1957.
- References: Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 28, 34, 53–61; Panagiotis Vinetsianos, "A. W. Faber Castell Slide Rules: The Relationship Between Date of Manufacture and Indication of Brand Name, Model Number, and Model Name," Journal of the Oughtred Society 9, no. 1 (2000): 3–6; accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1953
- maker
- Faber, A. W.
- ID Number
- 1992.0433.03
- accession number
- 1992.0433
- catalog number
- 1992.0433.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Acu-Math 130 Duplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This ten-inch duplex linear magnesium slide rule is coated with layers of white vinyl and has finger holes at both ends of both sides of the slide. On the front, the base has L, LL1, DF, D, LL3, and LL2 scales, with CF, CIF, CI, and C scales on the slide. The top of the base is marked LOG LOG DECIMAL TRIG ACU-MATH No 130 MADE IN U S A. On the back, the base has LLO, LLOO, A, D, S, ST, and T scales, with B, K, CI, and C scales on the slide. The indicator is plastic with white plastic edges. A maroon leather case with belt loop has a window marked: F. G. VIANZON.
- The Acu-Rule Manufacturing Company was founded in 1938 in Festus, Mo., as the Festus Manufacturing Company. Renamed Acu-Rule Manufacturing Company in 1940, it soon was moved to St. Louis. In 1950 the company adopted the brand name Acu-Math (or ACUMATH). The firm moved to Mt. Olive, Ill., in 1954 and was sold to Sterling Plastics of Mountainside, N.J., in 1968. This model was not among the first rules sold by the firm, nor is it listed in a 1960 company catalog. Hence, it appears to date between 1950 and 1959. The donor's father, Felipe G. Vianzon, used this instrument.
- Reference: George E. Keane, "A History of the Festus Manufacturing Company and Its Successor, the Acu-Rule Manufacturing Company, Makers of the Acu-Rule and ACUMATH Slide Rule," Journal of the Oughtred Society 14, no. 1 (2005): 51–54.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1950-1959
- maker
- Acu-Rule Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 2002.0158.01
- accession number
- 2002.0158
- catalog number
- 2002.0158.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Post Instruction Manual for Versalog Slide Rule
- Description
- In 1950 and 1951, three Illinois Institute of Technology engineering professors participated in the development of the Versalog slide rule, manufactured by Hemmi of Tokyo, Japan, for the Frederick Post Company of Chicago. E. I. Fiesenheiser, R. A. Budenholzer, and B. A. Fischer subsequently prepared this 115-page hardcover volume explaining the slide rule's capabilities. They covered the care of the instrument, its twenty-three scales, multiplication and division, squares and cubes, exponentials and logarithms, and trigonometric operations. Each professor also contributed a chapter on applications in his specialty: civil, mechanical, or electrical engineering.
- This copy is stamped inside the front cover and on the edges: WILLIAM KRUTZ ESQ. See 1978.0800.01.
- Reference: E. I. Fiesenheiser, The Versalog Slide Rule: An Instruction Manual (Chicago: The Frederick Post Company, 1951), http://sliderulemuseum.com/Manuals/M34_Post_Versalog_1951.pdf.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1951
- publisher
- Frederick Post Co.
- maker
- Frederick Post Co.
- ID Number
- 1978.0800.02
- accession number
- 1978.0800
- catalog number
- 1978.0800.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Dietzgen 1732 Decimal Trig Log Log Duplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This ten-inch, two-sided wooden slide rule is coated with white plastic and has a glass indicator with plastic and metal edges. The endpieces are L-shaped metal. The front of the base has L, LL1, DF, D, LL3, and LL2 scales, with CF, CIF, CI, and C scales on the slide. The top of the base is marked: DIETZGEN MANIPHASE MULTIPLEX DECIMAL TRIG TYPE LOG LOG RULE CAT. NO. 1732. The back of the base has LL0, LL00, A, D, DI, and K scales, with B, T, ST, and S scales on the slide. The top of the base is marked: EUGENE DIETZGEN CO. PATS. 2,170,144 2,285,722 MADE IN U.S.A. 530361. The case is cardboard covered with black leather. A Dietzgen logo is on the flap—the letter D inside the letter E inside the letters Co. Paper taped to the case is marked: PHILIP KRUPEN.
- Model 1732 does not appear on a 1943 price list for the Eugene Dietzgen Co. of Chicago, but an instruction manual for this model was published in 1946. A drawing in this manual shows the same scales that are on this slide rule. Although the model is advertised in Dietzgen's 1953–1954 catalog, the log and K scales are arranged very differently from this rule. Hence, the rule apparently dates from 1944 to 1952.
- Three U.S. Naval Academy professors applied for the patents mentioned on this slide rule in 1937 and 1938. These patents dealt with arranging and coloring scales so that problems could be solved in the fewest steps. They were also cited on Keuffel & Esser slide rules, models 4080 and 4081. (See 1992.0437.01, 2007.0181.01, 318482, 334387, 1990.0687.01, and 1986.0790.03.) The inventors also wrote instruction manuals for K&E, such as 1987.0085.02 and 2007.0181.01.01. The scales on the patents match those on this rule, except that the positions of the LL0 and LL00 scales are reversed.
- This slide rule was given to the Smithsonian in 1986 by the physicist Philip Krupen (1915–2001). Krupen received his BS from Brooklyn College in 1935, worked on the development of the proximity fuze during and after World War II, earned a master's degree in physics from George Washington University, and spent a total of 38 years working for the U.S. government before his retirement in 1973. It seems possible that he acquired the rule while working on his master's degree.
- References: Robert Otnes, "Dietzgen Patents, Runners, and Log Log Scales," Journal of the Oughtred Society 5, no. 2 (1996): 45–48; H. Loren Thompson and Ovid W. Eshbach, The Dietzgen Maniphase Multiplex Decimal Trig Type Log Log Slide Rule No. 1732 (Chicago: Eugene Dietzgen Co., 1946), http://sliderulemuseum.com/Manuals/M179_Dietzgen1732Manual1946.pdf; Dietzgen School Catalog (Chicago, 1953), 27; Lyman M. Kells, Willis F. Kern, and James R. Bland, "Slide Rule" (U.S. Patent 2,170,144 issued August 22, 1939), and "Slide Rule" (U.S. Patent 2,285,722 issued June 9, 1942).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1944-1952
- maker
- Eugene Dietzgen Company
- ID Number
- 1986.0790.01
- catalog number
- 1986.0790.01
- accession number
- 1986.0790
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Epperson TV Coverage Calculator
- Description
- According to the instructions received with the object, as long as one knows a TV station's published power and antenna height, this slide rule "quickly shows the approximate 'Grade A,' 'Grade B' and 'Principal City' Coverage for all VHF and UHF Television Stations. In addition, it readily gives the approximate field strength in microvolts-per-meter for distances up to 100 miles from the television transmitter."
- This one-sided wooden instrument is painted white on the front. A plastic indicator is in a metal frame. The top of the base is marked: EPPERSON TV COVERAGE CALCULATOR. It is also marked: COPYRIGHT 1952 (/) J. B. EPPERSON. The bottom right corner of the base is marked: ADLER COMMUNICATIONS LABORATORIES (/) NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. The back of the rule has charts for converting decibels above one microvolt-per-meter to microvolts-per-meter and for identifying FCC required field intensities. Values from these charts are used in making calculations on the front of the rule.
- Adler built numerous television and radio stations, including the first commercial UHF station, located in Portland, Ore. Founded by Benjamin Adler in 1947, the company changed names to Adler Electronics, Inc., in 1955 and remained in business at least through 1964. It probably distributed this rule as a promotional item. The rule was manufactured by Engineering Instruments of Peru, Ind., the successor firm to Lawrence Engineering Service. Compare to 1983.0042.01 and 1980.0097.02.
- Joseph Bolen Epperson (1910–1995), the designer of this rule, studied at the University of Tennessee from 1927 to 1929 and with the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute (now Capitol College in Washington, D.C.) in 1932. After gaining experience as a chief engineer and supervisor of building and transmitter installation at radio stations in Knoxville, Tenn., and Huntsville, Ala., he joined Scripps-Howard Radio, Inc., of Cleveland, in 1937. He remained with the company until his retirement in the 1970s, leading the construction of several television stations and rising to vice-president for engineering in 1956. Pioneer and Headley-Reed also distributed his rule, sometimes called a "signal range calculator."
- References: Rene Brugnoni and Ben Adler, "Television—What and How," Broadcast News 72 (January-February 1953): 12–25; Adler Communications Laboratories, "Wherever Superior Engineering and Performance Are Demanded," Broadcasting, 1952 Yearbook, 425, http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB-IDX/50s-OCR-YB/1952-YB/1952-BC-YB-for-OCR-Page-0423.pdf; Joan Cook, "Benjamin Adler, 86, An Early Advocate of UHF Television," New York Times, April 18, 1990; David G. Rance, "The Unique Lawrence," Proceedings of the 17th International Meeting of Slide Rule Collectors (September 2011), 97, http://www.sliderules.nl/index.php?p=papers; "Joseph Bolen Epperson," Who's Who in Engineering (New York and West Palm Beach: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1964), 537–538; The Billboard (December 27, 1947), 15.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1952-1955
- distributor
- Adler Communications Laboratories
- maker
- Lawrence Engineering Service
- ID Number
- 1982.0244.01
- catalog number
- 1982.0244.01
- accession number
- 1982.0244
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Charvoz-Roos SR-104 Simplex Slide Rule
- Description
- This ten-inch wooden one-sided rule is painted white. A, D, and K scales are on the base; B, CI, and C scales are on the front of the slide; and S, L, and T scales are on the back of the slide. The top of the base is marked in red: No. SR-104 CHARVOZ-ROOS MADE IN U. S. A. On the back of the base are tables of equivalents and settings that show where to place the slide in order to convert between various units, such as from centimeters to inches. There is no indicator. The instrument fits in a black paper case that was once coated with synthetic leather.
- Brief articles in the New York Times indicate that the firm of Charvoz-Roos was formed in New Jersey in 1946 and apparently closed in 1953. See also 2009.3008.01. This company rebranded slide rules by other manufacturers and assembled slide rules from parts made by other manufacturers. This rule resembles a rule made by the Lawrence Engineering Service (1983.0042.01), but the tables on the back are like those based on National Bureau of Standards Circular No. 47 that Keuffel & Esser put on its rules from the 1920s to the 1950s. See 1984.1068.01. Although 1987.0184.01 is a painted wooden rule with these tables, the style of the letters and pi symbols on the scales are different from those on this rule.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1946-1953
- maker
- Charvoz-Roos
- ID Number
- 2009.3008.02
- nonaccession number
- 2009.3008
- catalog number
- 2009.3008.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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