Dietzgen Commander Wallet Case of Drawing Instruments
date: label: date made
content: 1940s
name: label: maker
content: Eugene Dietzgen Company
notes: label: Description
content: This folding cardboard and wood case is covered with black leather and lined with blue velvet. The inside of the top flap is marked: DIETZGEN (/) COMMANDER (/) TRADE MARK (/) MADE IN U.S.A. The front flap folds open to reveal a leather pocket that held the following instruments (now stored separately):
label: Description
content: 1) 4" clear plastic semicircular protractor divided to single degrees and marked in both directions by tens from 10 to 170. The protractor is marked: DIETZGEN 1928.
label: Description
content: 2) 4" clear plastic semicircular protractor divided to single degrees and marked in both directions by tens from 10 to 170. The protractor is marked: NOBEMA, N. Y. C.
label: Description
content: 3) 8-1/2" clear plastic triangle marked: CARDINELL[E PROD]UCTS (/) PROPERTY AIR . . . MY.
label: Description
content: 4) 5-1/2" clear plastic triangle marked: DIETZGEN (/) EXCELLO (/) 2017A-4. The Dietzgen trademark is left of the mark, and a drawing of two right triangles on either side of an inverted T is right of the mark.
label: Description
content: 5) 6-1/4" clear plastic rectangular template with pictures of chemistry equipment. This object is cataloged separately as 1991.0811.02. It is almost certainly newer than the rest of the set.
label: Description
content: The main compartment contains:
label: Description
content: 6) 5-3/4" German silver fixed-leg dividers. One leg is marked: DIETZGEN MADE IN U.S.A.
label: Description
content: 7) 6-1/4" German silver compass with removable pencil, pen, and needle points and extension bar. One leg is marked: DIETZGEN MADE IN U.S.A.
label: Description
content: 8) 4-3/4" German silver and steel curve pen. The adjusting screw is marked: DIETZGEN (/) U. S. A.
label: Description
content: 9) 5/8" German silver and glass center tack.
label: Description
content: 10) 5" steel and German silver railroad pen with chunky brown wooden handle. The handle is marked: PAT. PEND.
label: Description
content: 11) 2-3/4" metal handle.
label: Description
content: 12) 4-1/2", 5", and 5-3/8" steel and German silver drawing pens with chunky brown wooden handles. The tightening screw on each pen is marked: DIETZGEN (/) U. S. A.
label: Description
content: 13) 2-3/8" steel screwdriver. Its storage compartment is empty.
label: Description
content: 14) 1-1/2" cylindrical metal case for leads, also empty.
label: Description
content: 15) 4-1/4" German silver bow dividers, bow pencil, and bow pen. The side of one leg of each instrument is marked: DIETZGEN (/) MADE IN U. S. A. The legs are also marked: PAT. 2065472 (/) PAT. PENDING.
label: Description
content: These instruments are heavily tarnished, probably from off–gassing by the plastic instruments. Adolph Langsner and William H. Lerch, both of Chicago, received patent number 2,065,472 for an improvement to the mounting used to secure the needle in bow instruments. They subsequently assigned the patent to the Eugene Dietzgen Company of Chicago.
label: Description
content: Dietzgen introduced the American-made Commander line of drawing instruments between 1938 and 1942, when the preferred German-made instruments were unavailable due to World War II. Sets of Commander instruments were sold at least as late as 1954. However, this particular set was not found in Dietzgen catalogs. The company applied for the Excello trademark in 1945. NOBEMA was a German firm with an office in New York. No information was found on Cardinelle.
label: Description
content: The donor reported that his uncle, Joseph Morrison, a master rigger at the Boston Naval Yard, received the set secondhand from a retired naval architect who may have used it during repairs to the U.S.S. <i>Constitution</i> between 1949 and 1954. Morrison procured the set for his brother, Edward Bradley Morrison, a World War II veteran who was studying interior design and drafting under the G.I. Bill.
label: Description
content: References: Adolph Langsner and William H. Lerch, "Pin Mounting" (U.S. Patent 2,065,472 issued December 22, 1936); <i>Catalog of Eugene Dietzgen Co.</i>, 15th ed. (Chicago, 1938); Eugene Dietzgen Company, <i>Essential Drawing Instruments and Materials</i>, cat. No. 42A (Chicago, 1942), 22–25; <i>Catalog of Eugene Dietzgen Co.</i>, 16th ed. (Chicago, 1949), 116–119; <i>Dietzgen School Catalog</i> (Chicago, 1953–1954), 4–5.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drafting, Engineering
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: Drawing Instruments
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Edward A. Morrison in Honor of Joshua Bradley Morrison and in Memory of Edward Bradley Morrison
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0811.01
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0811.01
label: accession number
content: 1991.0811
objectType: label: Object Name
content: drawing instruments, set of in case
label: Object Name
content: drawing instruments, set of
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: german silver (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5.2 cm x 25.8 cm x 16.5 cm; 2 1/16 in x 10 5/32 in x 6 1/2 in