Flexible Ruler Invented by Frank G. Hunt
date: label: date made
content: 1902–ca 1922
name: label: inventor; patentee
content: Hunt, Frank G.
notes: label: Description
content: Frank G. Hunt of Buffalo, N.Y., designed this flexible steel rule for drawing straight lines on curved surfaces, such as those of ledger books. The rule has no scales, but it has a small round metal handle in the middle of the front. Nine rectangular clips on the back hold several layers of paper covered by a metal rectangle. The middle clip is marked: EXP. ACC'T. F. G. HUNT (/) PAT'D. FEB.25.02 (/) BUFFALO, N.Y. Hunt distributed the rule via the Hunt Ruler Company in Buffalo at least as late as 1920. By 1922, he had passed away but the firm was expanding.
label: Description
content: References: Frank G. Hunt, "Flexible Ruler" (U.S. Patent 694,061 issued February 25, 1902); "Buyers' Reference Bureau: Rulers: Metal or Steel," <i>The American Stationer and Office Outfitter</i> 86, no. 18 (May 8, 1920): 102; "Hunt Ruler Company Expanding," <i>Office Appliances</i> 36 (July 1922): 49; Buffalo Historical Society, "Buffalonians More or Less Noted, Who Died in 1922," in <i>Reports of the President and Secretary</i> (Buffalo, 1923), 46.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Buffalo
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
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: Scale Rules
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Robert M. and June W. Leonard
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0694.02
label: accession number
content: 1991.0694
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0694.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: scale rule
label: Object Name
content: rule, flexible
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.5 cm x 45.6 cm x 3.6 cm; 19/32 in x 17 15/16 in x 1 13/32 in