Keuffel & Esser 4013 Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rule
date: label: date made
content: 1900-1910
name: label: maker
content: Keuffel & Esser Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This desktop slide rule is in a mahogany case. It has a cylindrical brass drum covered with paper printed with forty A scales. A wooden handle is fastened to each end of the drum. The drum fits in an open rotating brass frame; twenty brass slats span the frame. The right side of the paper on the drum is printed in italics: Patented by Edwin Thatcher [<i>sic</i>], C.E. Nov. 1st 1881. Divided by W. F. Stanley, London, 1882. Made by Keuffel & Esser Co. N.Y.
label: Description
content: The slats are lined with cloth and covered with paper. Each slat is printed with two B and two C scales. The first A scale runs from 100 to 112; the fortieth runs from 946 to 100 to 105. The first B scale runs from 100 to 112; the fortieth runs from 946 to 100 to 105. The first C scale runs from 100 to 334; the fortieth runs from 308 to 305.
label: Description
content: The front of the frame is spanned by a brass pyramidal bar. A brass and metal mount with three thumbscrews is attached to the bar. A magnifying glass found within the case may be positioned on the mount. The mount may be adjusted by height, and it slides along the bar.
label: Description
content: The frame is screwed to a mahogany base. A paper with instructions is glued to the top front of the base. The top back of the base is engraved: KEUFFEL & ESSER Co (encircling N.Y.); 4013 (/) 2151; TRADE MARK (below the K&E lion logo). A paper K&E label loose inside the case is also stamped: No. 4013 (/) Serial 2151. A plastic label inside the case lid is imprinted: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. (/) NEW YORK (/) ST. LOUIS CHICAGO (/) SAN FRANCISCO. An index card with the letter V and a rectangle drawn in red pencil is also loose inside the case.
label: Description
content: The model number and shape of the frame indicate this instrument was manufactured after 1900. The serial number and evidence that Stanley was still dividing the scales for K&E suggest a manufacturing date before 1910–1915. (K&E began to divide and print its own scales in the 1910s and subsequently dropped the reference to Stanley from the drum.) In 1906, the model 4013 Thacher cylindrical slide rule sold for $45.00.
label: Description
content: The object was received with MA.271855.01.03, <i>Directions for Using Thacher's Calculating Instrument</i> (1907), which is a reprint of a booklet Edwin Thacher first published in 1884. The object was also received with a cardboard exhibit label, MA.271855.01.02, indicating that the Armour Institute of Technology donated the object to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, which in turn donated it to the Smithsonian in 1966 with a large supply of electrical apparatus. In Chicago, according to pencil markings on the case, label, and booklet, the object's museum catalogue number was 39.168.
label: Description
content: See also MA.315663.
label: Description
content: References: Edwin Thacher, <i>Thacher's Calculating Instrument or Cylindrical Slide-Rule</i> (New York: Van Nostrand, 1884); Wayne E. Feely, "Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rules," <i>The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association</i> 50 (1997): 125–127; <i>Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser</i> (New York, 1906), 314.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Engineering
label: Subject
content: Rule, Calculating
label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Business
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Slide Rules
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.327886
label: accession number
content: 271855
label: catalog number
content: 327886
objectType: label: Object Name
content: calculating rule
label: Object Name
content: slide rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (scales material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (base material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (core, frame material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (lens material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18.5 cm x 68 cm x 20.8 cm; 7 9/32 in x 26 25/32 in x 8 3/16 in