Rule Advertising Marchant Calculators
date: label: date made
content: 1951
name: label: distributor
content: Marchant Calculating Machine Company
label: maker
content: Marchant Calculators
notes: label: Description
content: This promotional white plastic six-inch ruler is divided along the top edge to sixteenths of an inch and numbered from 1 to 6. The bottom edge has six one-inch sections, divided to 1/10", 1/12", 1/16", 1/24", 1/32", and 1/64", respectively. The center of the ruler is marked: MARCHANT CALCULATORS. Between these words is marked: NORMAN G. HOUGH, SR. (/) 1412 Eye St., N.W. Washington 5, D.C. (/) Republic 1673-1674-1675. A 1951 calendar is on the back. Compare to MA.293320.2811.
label: Description
content: The Marchant Calculating Machine Company of Oakland, Calif., was the oldest and one of the most influential American manufacturers of mechanical and electronic calculators. Established in 1911, the firm quickly built up a national sales network. Recognizing that the term "calculating machine" had fallen from use, the firm formally changed its name in 1952 to Marchant Calculators, Inc. In 1958 the company merged with Smith-Corona, Inc., a manufacturer of typewriters, adding machines, and cash registers. A slow decline followed for the combined firm, as electronic computers began performing the tasks of Smith-Corona Marchant's machines. SCM stopped selling calculators in 1973. Over 150 of Marchant's products and related documentation are in the Smithsonian collections.
label: Description
content: Norman G. Hough, Sr., presumably distributed Marchant cacluating machines in Washington, D.C. It is not known whether he was the same Norman G. Hough who directed a trade organization for lime and concrete from the 1910s to the 1930s.
label: Description
content: References: "Marchant Calculator," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marchant_Calculator; Nigel Tout, "Marchant," <i>Vintage Calculators Web Museum</i>, http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/marchant.html; Ernie Jorgenson, "My Years with Marchant," December 1987, <i>Xnumber World of Calculators</i>, ed. James Redin, http://www.xnumber.com/xnumber/marchant.htm.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Promotional Item
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Scale Rules
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content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.293320.2816
label: accession number
content: 293320
label: catalog number
content: 293320.2816
objectType: label: Object Name
content: rule
label: Object Name
content: scale rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .1 cm x 15.2 cm x 2.1 cm; 1/32 in x 5 31/32 in x 13/16 in