High Speed Indicator, a Revolution Counter
date: label: date made
content: ca 1910
name: label: maker
content: L. S. Starrett Company
notes: label: Description
content: To count revolutions of the shafts that ran machinery, engineers used counters like this one. The manufacturer, L. S. Starrett Company of Athol , Mass., called the device a speed indicator, although it has no timekeeping apparatus. The steel counter has a flat handle on one side and a rotating cylindrical rod on the other. In between is a flat curved case on which a dial is mounted. Pressing the rod against a rotating shaft rotates it and advances the dial. The edge of the dial is divided into 100 equal parts, which are numbered from 10 to 100 by tens. Two different nozzles fit into the far end of the cylinder. The instrument fits in a red, white, and black paper box.
label: Description
content: A mark on the dial reads: THE L. S. STARRETT CO. (/) ATHOL, MASS. U.S.A. Another mark there reads: PAT. APR.13.97 (/) MAR.28.05
label: Description
content: This counter is one of the many inventions of Laroy Starrett (1836-1922), who was born and raised on a farm in Maine. In 1880, having successfully patented and sold a meat chopper, as well as shoe studs and hooks, Starrett established a business in Athol, Mass., to sell drawing instruments and small tools. He applied for a patent for a speed indicator in 1895, and received it in 1897.
label: Description
content: Stafford P. Walsh of San Francisco, Ca., improved on the instrument, assigning his patent to L. S. Starrett Company when it was granted March 28, 1905. The device sold in at least three models. This is No. 104, which was particularly intended for high speeds. It was sold both directly by Starrett and through distributors of tools and steam engine equipment. This speed indicator is mentioned in Starrett catalogues into the 1930s.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: L. S. Starrett, “Speed-Indicator,” U.S. Patent 580,432, April 13, 1897.
label: Description
content: S. P. Walsh, “Speed-Indicator,” U.S. Patent 786,073, March 28, 1905.
label: Description
content: “Laroy S. Starrett,” <I>National Cyclopaedia of American Biography</I>, 18, New York: J. T. White and Company, p. 428.
label: Description
content: L. S. Starrett Company, <I>Catalogue</I>, Athol, Mass., about 1937, p. 192.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Athol
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Counters
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Edith R. Meggers
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.335271
label: catalog number
content: 335271
label: accession number
content: 314637
objectType: label: Object Name
content: counter, analog
label: Object Name
content: counter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 cm x 14.3 cm x 5.4 cm; 25/32 in x 5 5/8 in x 2 1/8 in