Perrygraf Spring Data Computer for Associated Spring Corporation
date: label: date made
content: 1943
name: label: maker
content: Perry Graf Corporation
notes: label: Description
content: By the mid-20th century, rules distributed by manufacturers to ease calculations relating to their products had become quite common. The three logarithmic scales on this rectangular white, yellow, and blue cardboard instrument determine the load (in pounds), size (in inches), and pounds per inch deflection for metal springs, given the PSI, mean diameter of the wire, and number of coils. Six metal rivets hold the rule together. The front top left corner is marked: BARNES • GIBSON • RAYMOND (/) DIVISION OF ASSOCIATED (/) SPRING CORPORATION (/) DETROIT AND ANN ARBOR (/) MICHIGAN. The front top right corner is marked: SPRING (/) DATA (/) COMPUTER. The back left end is marked: Copyright 1943 (/) Associated Spring Corp. (/) Bristol, Conn. The back right end is marked: Mfd. Perry Graf Corp. (/) Maywood, Ill. U.S.A. The instrument fits in a tan paper envelope.
label: Description
content: Wallace Barnes (1827–1893) began manufacturing springs for clocks and hoop skirts in Bristol in 1857. His firm expanded into springs for bicycles and automobiles after his death and became Barnes-Gibson-Raymond in Detroit in 1922 as a result of acquisitions. It was renamed Associated Spring Corporation in 1923 and became a public company in 1946. The name Barnes Group was adopted in 1976, and by 2012 the headquarters were again located in Bristol. For more on Perrygraf, see 1979.3074.03.
label: Description
content: References: Tom Wyman, "Slide Chart Calculators—A Modest Proposal," <i>Journal of the Oughtred Society</i> 13, no. 1 (2004): 6–10; "History," <i>Barnes Group, Inc.</i>, http://www.bginc.com/about_history.php; Carlyle F. Barnes, <i>Associated Spring Corporation</i> (New York: Newcomen Society in North America, 1963).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Maywood
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Rule, Calculating
label: Subject
content: Manufacturing
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: Slide Rules
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from Smithsonian Institution Libraries
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0108.03
label: accession number
content: 1987.0108
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0108.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: slide rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .2 cm x 26 cm x 7 cm; 3/32 in x 10 1/4 in x 2 3/4 in