Mathematical Table, Consul the Educated Monkey
date: label: date made
content: ca 1903
label: date made
content: ca 1910
label: date made
content: ca 1919
name: label: maker
content: Robertson, William
notes: label: Description
content: This brightly colored metal plate has a profile of a monkey attached to it. Setting the feet of the monkey at two numbers that are indicated on a line along the bottom, one finds the product indicated on a table on the plate. The device was patented by William Robertson of Ohio, who took out patents June 27, 1916 and November 26, 1918. It was first manufactured in Ohio and then in Springfield, Massachusetts. In addition to being a charming aid to instruction, the object represents a curious combination of math teaching and popular culture. <I>Consul</I> was the name of a trained monkey popular in Britain and Europe at the turn of the century, and the subject of a 1909 film <I>Consul Crosses the Atlantic</I>.
label: Description
content: Historian Caitlin Wylie has written on the object.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Mathematical Charts and Tables
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Arithmetic Teaching
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Dr. Richard Lodish American School Teaching Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2014.0293.10
label: catalog number
content: 2014.0293.10
label: accession number
content: 2014.0293
objectType: label: Object Name
content: mathematical table
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .5 cm x 13.9 cm x 15 cm; 3/16 in x 5 15/32 in x 5 29/32 in