Linear Dividing Engine, Société Genevoise 0001
date: label: date made
content: 1899
name: label: user
content: Mount Holyoke College. Department of Physics
label: maker
content: Societe Genevoise d’Instruments de Physique
notes: label: Description
content: This linear dividing engine is screwed to a rectangular wooden base. The engine consists of a metal frame with two long rectangular sides and crosspieces at both ends. One end also holds supports for a graduated brass gearwheel with brass handle, outer brass ring calibrated from zero to 180, inner steel dial calibrated from zero to 90, and vernier. A long screw extends from the gearwheel through the interior of the frame and underneath a steel platform. This platform fits across the middle top of the long sides of the frame. This platform has three rows of holes, with seven holes in each row. The tracer mechanism and a mount for a microscope or other device are both affixed to the back of the platform and frame. The tracer mechanism has a steel blade that moves forward and backward by a handle. The interior of the frame on the other side of the platform is empty. However, a disjoint metal piece has been placed there. This is a steel frame in which a brass rectangle may be raised and lowered on a gear shaft. A brass square at the top of the rectangle moves on a spring.
label: Description
content: An open wooden box (26 X 10.5 X 5 cm)of parts is stored separately It contains tools and spare parts: 2 screwdrivers, 1 joint tightener, 3 cogged devices, 1 metal bar, 1 U-shaped metal piece, 9 clamps with screws, 1 guide, 4 scribers, 1 spanner wrench, 6 loose screws, 1 washer, 1 hook, and 1 bent metal rod. These generally are rusty. The box has museum mark on the outside: 87.692.1.1.
label: Description
content: A small card measuring 12.7 X 7.5 cm came with the instrument and is stored separately. It is marked in ink: Dividing Engine - Gift of the Class of 1883 [/] Geneva Society $250.00.
label: Description
content: The instrument was collected for the Museum of History and Technology in 1965.
label: Description
content: Compare 321597.
label: Description
content: According to records at Mt. Holyoke College, this instrument was purchased for the physics department there in 1899. At the time, Mt. Holyoke graduate Marcia Anna Keith (1859-1950) was the department chair. She had attended Mt. Hoyloke, graduating in the class of 1883, taught there as the first fulltime instructor in physics from 1885 until 1889, and headed the physics department from 1889 to 1903. Keith also had studied as a special studed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1887 and 1889, spent time studying in Berlin from 1897 to 1898, and would spend the summer of 1901 at the University of Chicago. The dividing engine was a gift from her graduating class.
label: Description
content: Reference:
label: Description
content: "Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics," website maintained by the UCLA library, accessed July 13, 2022.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Switzerland: Genève
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mt. Holyoke College, Department of Physics
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0692.01
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0692.01
label: accession number
content: 1987.0692
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Dividing Engine, Linear
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 34.5 cm x 95 cm x 30.5 cm; 13 9/16 in x 37 3/8 in x 12 in