Darling, Brown & Sharpe Drafting Triangle
date: label: date made
content: 1866-1892
name: label: maker
content: Darling, Brown and Sharpe
notes: label: Description
content: This steel 45°-45°-90° triangle is 10" tall. A hole near one vertex is for hanging. The instrument is marked: D. B. & S. Prov. R. I. (/) E. D. LEAVITT. The pattern of tarnish marks on the instrument suggests that the user stacked other triangles, including 1977.0460.10, on top of this triangle for making engineering drawings and for storage.
label: Description
content: D. B. & S. is the mark for Darling, Brown & Sharpe of Providence, R.I. Samuel Darling, a machinist who invented numerous drafting instruments, partnered with Joseph R. Brown and Lucian Sharpe between 1866 and 1892. For more on the history of Darling, Brown & Sharpe, see 1977.0460.01, 1977.0460.05, and 1977.0460.06. Company catalogs published in 1868 and 1887 depict only open triangles, not solid ones.
label: Description
content: Erasmus Darwin Leavitt Jr. (1836–1916), the renowned American mechanical engineer and designer of steam engines, owned this triangle. It was donated to the Smithsonian by his granddaughter.
label: Description
content: References: Kenneth L. Cope, intro., <i>A Brown & Sharpe Catalogue Collection, 1868 to 1899 </i> (Mendham, N.J.: The Astragal Press, 1997); Henry Dexter Sharpe, <i>A Measure of Perfection: The History of Brown & Sharpe</i> (North Kingston, R.I.: Brown & Sharpe, 1949), http://www.roseantiquetools.com/id44.html.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Rhode Island, Providence
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drafting, Engineering
label: Subject
content: Drawing Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Squares and Triangles
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Margaret van D. Rice
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1977.0460.09
label: catalog number
content: 336080
label: accession number
content: 1977.0460
objectType: label: Object Name
content: triangle
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 25.5 cm x 25.5 cm x .2 cm; 10 1/32 in x 10 1/32 in x 3/32 in