Rectangular Protractor Signed by Widdifield
date: label: date made
content: 1838-1879
name: label: maker
content: Widdifield & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This ivory rectangular protractor is graduated by single degrees and marked by tens from 10° to 170° in both directions, clockwise and counterclockwise. The front of the protractor also contains scales for 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 inch to the foot, as well as a scale of chords. There is a signature: WIDDIFIELD.&.CO NO. 148. WASHINGTON.ST. BOSTON. The protractor's owner drew in marks for half-feet on the scale for 3/4-inch to the foot. He also drew a ruler on the lower edge of the protractor. The ruler is graduated by single centimeters and marked by ones from 1 to 13. Instead of the number 10, there is the letter X.
label: Description
content: The back of the protractor bears scales dividing the inch into equal parts of 60, 50, 45, 40, 35, and 30; a scale of chords; and a diagonal scale. The number 61.47 has been written (upside-down) near the center of the back; clear varnish covers the number. There are several brown stains on both sides of the protractor.
label: Description
content: Daniel Brown Widdifield (1800–1862) made spectacles and optical and mathematical instruments in Boston beginning in 1828. From 1838 through at least 1879, his firm was known as Widdifield & Co. Although the name remained the same, his sons (Daniel B. Jr. and George F.) operated the business by 1860. The Massachusetts Historical Society owns a portrait of Daniel Sr., painted in 1850 by William H. Beard. Avis and Rockwell Gardiner, Connecticut antiques dealers, donated this protractor to the Smithsonian in 1960.
label: Description
content: See also MA.335349 and MA.321754.
label: Description
content: References: Boston Almanac; Boston Directory; Allan Wissner, "A Rare Universal Microscope Sold by a Boston Retailer, c. 1840–1855," http://www.antique-microscopes.com/universal.html; Brook S. Mason, "Estate of Legendary Dealers Rocky and Avis Gardiner on the Block," <I>Maine Antique Digest</I> (November 1998), http://maineantiquedigest.com/articles_archive/articles/gard1198.htm.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Protractor
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Protractors
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Avis & Rockwell Gardiner
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.321014
label: accession number
content: 231930
label: catalog number
content: 321014
objectType: label: Object Name
content: protractor
label: Other Terms
content: protractor; Rectangular
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ivory (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .3 cm x 15.2 cm x 4.2 cm; 1/8 in x 5 31/32 in x 1 21/32 in