Tavernier-Gravet Mannheim Simplex Slide Rule
date: label: date made
content: 1889-1892
name: label: maker
content: Tavernier-Gravet
notes: label: Description
content: This fourteen-inch boxwood Mannheim linear slide rule has a brass indicator in the single chisel style with an open interior. There are no endpieces. The top edge is beveled and has a scale of 35 centimeters, divided to millimeters. The top of the base has a scale divided logarithmically from 1 to 10 twice, and the bottom of the base has a scale divided logarithmically from 1 to 10. These are the usual A and D scales, although they are not lettered.
label: Description
content: One side of the slide has the same two scales (the usual B and C scales, although they are not lettered). The other side of the slide has a scale of tangents that runs from 0 to 45 degrees and is lettered T; a scale of equal parts that runs from 0 to 1,000; and a scale of sines that runs from 80 to 0 and is lettered S. Compare to MA.318474. A paper table glued to the back gives geometric formulae, physical constants for the latitude of Paris, units of measure in France and in England, rates of exchange for common currencies, specific gravities, expansion coefficients of various gases, temperatures of melting and boiling for various solids and liquids, and similar data.
label: Description
content: The bottom of the base is marked: TAVERNIER – GRAVET; RUE MAET 19.PARIS. The back is marked: MÉDAILLES D'OR 1878 ET 1889. Keuffel & Esser donated this rule to the Smithsonian. As with MA.318473, K&E imported it to sell while the company developed the ability to manufacture its own slide rules. Also like MA.318473, the scales and indicator resemble the ten-inch model 479–2 (subsequently numbered 1746N and 1746), but a rule of this length (scales about 14" long) is not listed in K&E catalogs. The ten-inch version with brass indicator cost $4.50 between 1883 and 1890. In 1892, the single-chisel indicator was replaced with a double-chisel indicator.
label: Description
content: References: Florian Cajori, <i>A History of the Logarithmic Slide Rule and Allied Instruments</i> (New York: Engineering News Publishing Company, 1909), 55–58, 80–81; Francis Wells and Tom Wyman, "La Règle à Calcul: Lenoir, Gravet-Lenoir, and Tavernier-Gravet Slide Rules," <i>Journal of the Oughtred Society</i> 11, no. 1 (2002): 23–27; Bob Otnes, "Keuffel & Esser — 1880 to 1899," <i>Journal of the Oughtred Society</i> 10, no. 1 (2001): 18–28; <i>Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser</i>, 17th ed. (New York, 1883), 93; <i>Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser</i>, 20th ed. (New York, 1887), 129; <i>Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser</i>, (New York, 1890), 131.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: France: Île-de-France, Paris
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Rule, Calculating
label: Subject
content: Conversion Chart
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: Gift of Keuffel & Esser Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.318474
label: catalog number
content: 318474
label: accession number
content: 235479
objectType: label: Object Name
content: slide rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: boxwood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (cursor material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 cm x 36 cm x 3.6 cm; 13/32 in x 14 3/16 in x 1 13/32 in