Patent Model for Cylindrical Slide Rule Invented by George Fuller
date: label: date made
content: 1878
name: label: patentee
content: Fuller, George
label: maker
content: Fuller, George
notes: label: Description
content: This is the U.S. patent model for a cylindrical slide rule invented by George Fuller (1829–1907), a British civil engineer and professor of engineering at Queen's College, Belfast. Fuller received patents in Great Britain (no. 1044) in 1878 and in the United States in 1879. W. F. Stanley of London manufactured the rule from 1879 until 1975, and it was marketed in the United States by Keuffel & Esser, Dietzgen, and other dealers.
label: Description
content: The model has a wooden handle and shaft, with a wooden cylinder that slides up and down the shaft. A paper covered with scales fits around the cylinder. The lower edge of the cylinder has a scale of equal parts. The remainder bears a spiral scale divided logarithmically. A rectangular clear plastic pointer has broken from its attachment on the handle and is tucked into a red ribbon tied around the cylinder. A paper patent tag is marked: No. 291.246; 1879 (/) G. Fuller. (/) Calculators. (/) Patented Sept 2. (/) 1879. A printed description from the patent application of April 16, 1878, is glued to the back of the tag. The tag is attached to the handle with a red ribbon.
label: Description
content: L. Leland Locke, a New York mathematics teacher and historian of mathematics, collected this patent model and intended it for the Museums of the Peaceful Arts in New York City. When that institution encountered financial difficulties in 1940, Locke gave a collection of objects, including this model, to the Smithsonian Institution.
label: Description
content: For production models of this instrument, see 313751, 316575, and 1998.0046.01.
label: Description
content: References: George Fuller, "Improvement in Calculators" (U.S. Patent 219,246 issued September 2, 1879); <i>The Report of the President of Queen's College, Belfast, for the Year Ending October, 1876</i> (Dublin, 1877), 9, 29–30, 107–110; James J. Fenton, "Fuller's Calculating Slide-Rule," <i>Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria</i> 22 (1886): 57–61; Dieter von Jezierski, <i>Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries</i>, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 42–43.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: Belfast
label: made at
content: United Kingdom: Belfast, Belfast
label: place patented
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
topic: label: Subject
content: Engineering
label: Subject
content: Patent Models
label: Subject
content: Rule, Calculating
label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Slide Rules
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content: Mathematical Association of America Objects
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of L. Leland Locke
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.311958
label: accession number
content: 155183
label: catalog number
content: 311958
objectType: label: Object Name
content: calculating rule
label: Object Name
content: slide rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (cursor material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4.2 cm x 24.5 cm x 4.2 cm; 1 21/32 in x 9 21/32 in x 1 21/32 in