Archimedes, the Divisible Apple
date: label: date made
content: ca 1930
name: label: maker
content: Loebelenz, Rudolf
notes: label: Description
content: From the early 1800s, teachers advocated the use of devices to teach arithmetic, proposing objects such as the blackboard and the teaching abacus or numeral frame. To illustrate the meaning of fractions, some brought an apple to class and cut it up. By the 1920s, some made special beads for the teaching abacus, divided to represent fractions. Hugo Jung of Stuttgart, Germany, developed an improved version of this apparatus. His “apples” were to have a hollow metal core, attached to a flange that allowed various fractions to be removed (halves, thirds, etc.). The core would then slide on the rods of a numeral frame. In this form of his apples, the core is solid, and individual apples are used to teach students about specific fractions.
label: Description
content: The set consists of nine varnished wooden balls, sliced into segments representing fractions. A metal flange at the base of each apple holds both a central cylindrical core that runs through it and metal pins that hold the various slices in place. The first of the nine “apples” is divided into two halves, the second into three thirds, and the third into one half and two fourths. The fourth apple is divided into five fifths, the fifth into one half and three sixths, and the sixth into seven sevenths. The seventh is divided into one half, one fourth, and two eighths. The eighth apple has two thirds and three ninths and the last has one half, two fifths, and one tenth.
label: Description
content: The balls fit into a square cardboard box that is divided into nine compartments. A label glued to the inside of the box reads: “ARCHIMEDES” (/) the divisible apple to learn the calculation of fractions.; Made in Germany; Protected by patent in all civilised countries [/] D.R.P. No. 489 439; Sole manufacturer: Rudolf Loebelenz, Stuttgart.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Hugo Jung, D.R.P. 489,439, July 23, 1930.
label: Description
content: Hugo Jung, British Patent 343,323, February 24, 1930.
label: Description
content: Hugo Jung, Swiss Patent 145,722, May 16, 1931.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany: Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart
topic: label: web subject
content: Education
label: web subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Learning Arithmetic
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Arithmetic Teaching
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2007.0027.01
label: catalog number
content: 2007.0027.01
label: accession number
content: 2007.0027
objectType: label: Object Name
content: geometric models, set of
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6.3 cm x 21.4 cm x 21.4 cm; 2 1/2 in x 8 7/16 in x 8 7/16 in