A. H. Abbott & Co. Rule
date: label: date made
content: ca 1906
name: label: maker
content: A. H. Abbott & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This one-sided boxwood rule is beveled along both long edges. The top edge is divided to half-inches and numbered from 0 to 5. The half-inch points are numbered by twos from 0 to 8. The last half-inch is divided into 12 parts, and the inch to the right of the scale is divided into 24 parts. The other edge is divided to quarter-inches, numbered from left to right by fours from 0 to 44 and numbered from right to left by twos from 0 to 22. The ends of the scale divide 1/8" and 1/4", respectively, into 12 parts.
label: Description
content: The ruler is marked on its interior: A. H. ABBOTT & Co. (/) CHICAGO. It is also marked: U.S.ST'D. Initials are scratched on the ruler: W.F.M. Abbott sold art supplies and mathematical instruments in Chicago in the 19th and 20th centuries. This ruler is not shown in the company's 1896 catalog, but it was advertised for 50¢ in the 1906 catalog. The initials may refer to William F. Meggers (1888–1966), an American spectroscopist long associated with the U.S. National Bureau of Standards. He received his B.A. in physics from Ripon College in 1910, his M.A. in physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1916, and his Ph.D. in physics, mathematics, and astronomy from Johns Hopkins University in 1917.
label: Description
content: References: A. H. Abbott & Co., <i>Drawing Material: Mathematical and Surveying Instruments of Every Description</i> (Chicago, 1906), 185; "Dr. Meggers Dies at 78," <i>The NBS Standard</i> 11, no. 9 (December 1966): 2–3.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Education
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Scale Rules
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content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.293320.2819
label: accession number
content: 293320
label: catalog number
content: 293320.2819
objectType: label: Object Name
content: rule
label: Object Name
content: scale rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: boxwood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .4 cm x 17.1 cm x 3.2 cm; 5/32 in x 6 23/32 in x 1 1/4 in