Japanese L-Square with Calipers
date: label: date made
content: before 1876
notes: label: Description
content: This 8" brass T-square is shaped like an L and has a second short leg attached to a slide on the long leg. On one side, the outer edge of the square is divided into units of 1-3/16" (3 cm), roughly equivalent to the <i>sun</i>, a traditional Japanese unit of length. Each unit is subdivided into 20 parts. The units on the long leg are marked with an O, with three circles marking the fifth unit. The inner edge of the long leg has a 15-centimeter scale, divided to millimeters. The back of the square has a diagonal scale. Compare to MA.261296.
label: Description
content: In 1876 the Japanese Empire Department of Education exhibited many instruments at the Centennial International Exhibition, a World’s Fair held in Philadelphia. After the exhibition, John Eaton, the U.S. Commissioner of Education, arranged for the transfer of Japan's entire exhibit to the Bureau of Education (then part of the Department of the Interior) for a planned museum. The museum closed in 1906, and much of the collection, including this object, was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1910.
label: Description
content: References: Japan. Department of Education, <i>An Outline History of Japanese Education: Prepared for the Philadelphia International Exhibition, 1876</i> (New York: D. Appleton, 1876), 121–122, 191–202; U.S. Centennial Commission, <i>International Exhibition, 1876. Reports and Awards</i>, ed. Francis A. Walker (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880), viii:143, 335; U.S. Bureau of Education, <i>Annual Report of the Commissioner</i> (1876), ccxi–ccxii.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Japan
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Education
label: Subject
content: Drafting, Engineering
label: Subject
content: Drawing Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Squares and Triangles
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.261304
label: accession number
content: 51116
label: catalog number
content: 261304
objectType: label: Object Name
content: set square
label: Object Name
content: L-square
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 21 cm x 11.5 cm x .6 cm; 8 9/32 in x 4 17/32 in x 1/4 in