Compas Superieurs Case of Drawing Instruments Sold by William Minifie
date: label: date made
content: ca 1900
name: label: retailer
content: Minifie, William
label: maker
content: Compas Superieurs
notes: label: Description
content: The lid of this hardwood case has been marked with Chinese characters and stickers (?) of people. Engraving on the brass name plate is not legible. The key for the lock is missing.
label: Description
content: A compartment inside the lid is lined with purple silk. The front of the compartment is marked: COMPAS SUPERIEURS (/) MARQUE DÉPOSÉ (/) BREVETÉS S.G.D.G. A 3-7/8" brass semicircular protractor divided to degrees and a 4-1/4" clear plastic semicircular protractor divided to half-degrees are held inside the compartment with a ribbon. Both protractors are numbered by tens in both directions from 0 to 180. The base of the brass protractor appears to be engraved with an owner's name, but the name is not legible. A yellow label inside the compartment is marked: WM MINIFIE & SON (/) Booksellers (/) No. 114 Balto. St. (/) BALTIMORE. The bottom of the wooden part of the lid is marked in pencil: No 18. It is also marked: odl (/) 9.–.
label: Description
content: The wooden bottom of the case holds a 5-3/4" wooden French curve and two wooden triangles (5-1/8" and 7-1/2"). All are ink-stained and presumably were heavily used. Both triangles are marked: W<sup>M</sup> MINIFIE (/) BALTIMORE. They are also marked: J. Schröder (/) in Darmstadt. The larger triangle is part number 20, and the smaller triangle is part number 11.
label: Description
content: A wooden tray inside the case is lined with purple velvet and holds: 6-1/2" brass and steel proportional dividers numbered by ones from 2 to 10; a 1-1/2" brass cylindrical case holding two steel needle points; a 5" pointed wooden stick; 4-1/2" brass and steel fixed-leg dividers; a 4" brass and steel compass with a pencil point and a removable leg; pen and pencil points that fit the compass; a 4" brass and steel divider point, pen point, and extender bar that do not fit any instrument in the case; a 3-3/4" brass and steel bow pen with ivory handle; a metal joint tightener; and a 6-1/4" brass and steel drawing pen with ivory handle. The pencil point for the compass is marked: Bvt. S.G.D.G. Some instruments are apparently not original to the set.
label: Description
content: Compas Supérieurs assembled cases of drawing instruments in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. "Brevetés sans Guarantie de Gouvernement" in its logo suggests the company had applied for French patents.
label: Description
content: Jacob Peter Schröder (1809–1887) of Darmstadt, Germany, operated a teaching workshop that made wooden and cast-iron models of machines from 1837 into the 1880s. The firm exhibited sewing machines at the 1862 Great London Exposition. A few wooden Schröder geometric models are in the Smithsonian mathematics collections; see 1982.0795.39, 1982.0795.40, 1982.0795.41, 1982.0795.42, 1982.0795.43, and 1982.0795.44. Some of the firm's kinematic models may be viewed via Cornell's Kinetic Models for Design Digital Laboratory, http://kmoddl.library.cornell.edu/collection-toc.php.
label: Description
content: William Minifie (1805–1880) apprenticed as a cabinet maker in England before moving to Baltimore in 1828. He became an architect and builder, professor of drawing at Central High School in Baltimore, and author of a successful textbook on geometrical drawing. In 1847 he purchased the bookstore that became Wm. Minifie (adding "& Son" in 1868), selling stationery and artist's materials.
label: Description
content: References: Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education, <i>Catalogue of Models of Machinery, Drawings, Tools, &c. in the South Kensington Museum</i> (London, 1880), 16, 111, 157–169; C. Herbert Baxley, "Travel in the 1830s: The Diary of William Minifie," <i>Maryland Historical Magazine</i> 78 (1983): 287–296; Baltimore City Directories of 1863–64 (p. 192) and 1879 (p. 535).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Europe
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drafting, Engineering
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Drawing Instruments
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of George C. Ahrling
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1983.0238.01
label: accession number
content: 1983.0238
label: catalog number
content: 1983.0238.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: drawing instruments, set of
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ivory (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4.8 cm x 23.7 cm x 13.1 cm; 1 7/8 in x 9 11/32 in x 5 5/32 in