Omicron Bow Compass
date: label: date made
content: mid 20th century
name: label: maker
content: Omicron
notes: label: Description
content: This aluminum and metal bow pencil has a ring connecting the instrument to its cylindrical handle, which has a honeycomb pattern. Its width is adjusted by a metal disc between the legs, but the pin holding the disc extends through only one leg of the compass. A ball is on the end of the pin. A rusted lever is on the pin between the legs. The legs are open and hollow. Thumbscrews on the front of one leg and the back of the other adjust the pencil and needle points. The needle point is only pointed on one end; i.e., it is not reversible. Inside each leg is engraved: OMICRON GLENDALE CAL.
label: Description
content: Omicron manufactured drawing instruments, such as ellipsographs, in Glendale, Calif., in the 1940s and 1950s. Robert Behrens Condon studied engineering at the University of Vermont and Columbia University in the late 1940s and early 1950s, which is probably when he purchased this instrument. He operated the New Englander Motor Inn with his politically active wife, Marie, from 1955 to 1978.
label: Description
content: Reference: "April Milestones 2012," <i>Friends Journal</i>, http://www.friendsjournal.org/dept-2012-04-milestones/.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Glendale
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drawing Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Dividers and Compasses
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Robert B. Condon
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0793.04
label: accession number
content: 1991.0793
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0793.04
objectType: label: Object Name
content: bow pencil
label: Object Name
content: compass, drawing
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: aluminum (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18.4 cm x 6.9 cm x 1.4 cm; 7 1/4 in x 2 23/32 in x 9/16 in