Terry Section Liner
date: label: date made
content: ca 1895
name: label: maker
content: McCormick & Terry
notes: label: Description
content: A section liner is an instrument for drawing closely spaced parallel lines, such as appeared in cross-hatching. This example consists of a rectangular brass plate that carries a steel rod. A mechanism controls the advance of the rod and (as an optional attachment not included in this example) a rectangular ruler is linked to the rod. Inside the lid of the paper case are instructions for operating the instrument and an illustration of it.
label: Description
content: A mark on the base reads: Manufactured by (/) McCormick & Terry (/) Columbus, O. (/) Pat’d July 14, 1891. A mark on the instructions in the lid indicates that the price of the instrument had been reduced from $8.00 to $5.00, with another $2.00 (reduced to $1.50) for the attachment.
label: Description
content: Coleman A. Terry of Columbus, Ohio, patented the instrument in 1891. Born in about 1861, Terry worked as a painter and draftsman before settling in at the Terry Engraving Company. Terry also worked with mechanical engineer John H. McCormick in the short-lived firm of McCormick & Terry. That firm sent this example of their product to the Smithsonian in 1895.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Coleman A. Terry, “Parallel Ruler,” U.S. Patent 455,779, July 14, 1891.
label: Description
content: Accession File.
label: Description
content: Census and City Directory Records in ancestry.com.
label: Description
content: Accession File.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Ohio, Columbus
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Single Drawing Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of McCormick and Terry
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.181193
label: catalog number
content: 181193
label: accession number
content: 29011
objectType: label: Object Name
content: section liner
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (base material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (rule, mechanism material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (instructions material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2.8 cm x 37.7 cm x 10 cm; 1 3/32 in x 14 27/32 in x 3 15/16 in