Replica of German Ell
date: label: date made
content: 1964
label: date received
content: 1964
name: label: maker
content: L. C. Eichner Instruments
notes: label: Description
content: Laurits Christian Eichner (1894–1967) was a Danish engineer who married an American, Sarah Craven, and settled in Bloomfield, N.J., in 1925. During the Depression, he began marketing his skills as a metal craftsman, eventually branching out from bronze bowls and pewter tableware to replicas of historical scientific instruments and modern precision instruments, such as interferometers, astrophotometers, and telescopes. In the 1950s the Smithsonian hired him to restore and reproduce instruments and machines in preparation for the opening of the Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History).
label: Description
content: Eichner's workshop made this octagonal wooden rule from an original at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. The larger end is marked: LCE (/) 1964. An ivory handle around the larger end has black geometric markings. Ivory plates on each side of the rule show the length of the ell, a traditional "arm's length" measurement, in eight German cities. (One plate is broken.) Each side also has rounded notches marking off divisions for each length of ell.
label: Description
content: Each city’s lengths are as follows: Bobwische 20.3, 40.3, 60.4, 70.3, 80.2 cm; Nurmberger (Nuremberg) 16.5, 32.7, 49.2, 57.3, 65.4 cm; Inspriger 20.6, 40.6, 60.7, 70.7, 80.7 cm; [. . .]rger 15.2, 30.2, 45.2, 52.7, 60.3 cm; Bayrisch (Bayreuth) 20.9, 41.4, 62.2, 72.6, 62.7 cm; Augsburger Wullin 14.6, 29.2, 43.9, 51.2, 58.3 cm; Wiener (Vienna) 19.3, 38.5, 57.9, 67.7, 77.2 cm; Brabondische 17.7, 34.4, 51.8, 60.6, 69.0 cm.
label: Description
content: Reference: Robert P. Multhauf, <i>Laurits Christian Eichner, Craftsman</i> (Washington, D.C., 1971).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Jersey, Bloomfield
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Rule, Measuring
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.325631
label: accession number
content: 262287
label: catalog number
content: 325631
objectType: label: Object Name
content: rule
label: Object Name
content: scale rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: pearwood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ivory (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2.3 cm x 93.2 cm x 2.6 cm; 29/32 in x 36 11/16 in x 1 1/32 in