Plain Dividers Retailed by Keuffel & Esser
date: label: date made
content: late 19th century
notes: label: Description
content: These plain dividers have grooved brass legs with steel points and are held together with a screw. Two small holes are in the joint on either side of the bottom end of the screw. The instrument arrived at the Smithsonian in a case (now lost) marked: Keuffel & Esser Co., New York. The dividers are similar to the 4-1/2" plain dividers from Switzerland advertised (without a case) in James Queen's 1883 catalog for $1.50. The instrument slightly resembles 4-1/4" plain dividers from France sold by K&E in the 1880s and 1890s for between 24 and 85 cents. It is not depicted in K&E's 1909 and 1936 catalogs.
label: Description
content: References: James W. Queen & Co., <i>Priced and Illustrated Catalogue of Mathematical Instruments</i> (Philadelphia, 1883), 22; <i>Catalogue and Price-List of Keuffel & Esser Co.</i>, 23rd ed. (New York, 1892), 62, 102; <i>Trade Price List. An Annex to the General Catalogue (Twenty-Eighth Edition) of Keuffel & Esser Co.</i> (New York, n.d.), 30.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Europe
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Dividers
label: Subject
content: Drawing Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Dividers and Compasses
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Eunice L. Hoffman
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.335341
label: accession number
content: 305958
label: catalog number
content: 335341
objectType: label: Object Name
content: dividers
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .9 cm x 11 cm x 1 cm; 11/32 in x 4 11/32 in x 13/32 in