U.S. Yard Standard and Matrix
date: label: date made
content: 1836
name: label: maker
content: United States Office of Weights and Measures
notes: label: Description
content: This brass yard standard and matrix are stored in a mahogany case with brass handles on either end and brass hooks to secure the lid, one of which no longer closes. The yard standard has extensions on either side which make it 104 cm (41") long. The yard fits into a matrix, which is divided into tenths, with the first division also divided into tenths. The yard and matrix each weigh 13 lbs., 4 oz. The case also contains 4 mahogany wedges and 3 mahogany rectangles, each less than 7 cm long. A scriber and square were originally in the case.
label: Description
content: This yard standard is one of those distributed by the Treasury Department to the states after Congress set standard measures on June 14, 1833. Sets of weights were distributed to the states by 1838. Metric length standards were distributed to the states and to customhouses into the 1860s. The Bureau of Standards transferred this object to the Smithsonian in 1929.
label: Description
content: Reference: Rexmond C. Cochrane, <i>Measures for Progress</i> (Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, 1966), p. 27-28.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Weights & Measures
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Metric System
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Scale Rules
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from Bureau of Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.309586
label: accession number
content: 103830
label: catalog number
content: 309586
objectType: label: Object Name
content: rule
label: Object Name
content: scale rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: mahogany (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8.5 cm x 122.4 cm x 16.5 cm; 3 11/32 in x 48 3/16 in x 6 1/2 in