Puzzle, A Problem in Nails
date: label: date made
content: 1901-1960
name: label: maker
content: American Steel & Wire Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This disentanglement puzzle consists of two entangled bent nails that are to be separated. They fit in a paper envelope, distributed by the American Steel & Wire Company, a subsidiary of United States Steel. A mark on the envelope reads in part: A PROBLEM IN NAILS.
label: Description
content: The American Steel and Wire Company became a division of U.S. Steel in 1901, and remained a division until 1964.
label: Description
content: A solution to the puzzle is given in a 1920 A.C. Gilbert publication cited below. Slocum and Botermans discuss the history of the puzzle.
label: Description
content: Compare MA.335296, MA.335928, and one of the puzzles in MA.335288.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: A.C. Gilbert Company, <I>Book of Instructions for Use with Gilbert Puzzle Parties. . . .</I>, New Haven: A.C. Gilbert Company, 1920, p. 6. A copy of this booklet is online at gamearchives.org, accessed July 26, 2017.
label: Description
content: Jerry Slocum and Jack Botermans, <I>Puzzles Old & New: How to Make and Solve Them</I>, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986, esp. p. 97.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Mathematical Recreations
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 Edith R. Meggers
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.335296
label: catalog number
content: 335296
label: accession number
content: 314637
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Puzzle
label: Object Name
content: puzzle
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 cm x 9.8 cm x 7 cm; 13/32 in x 3 27/32 in x 2 3/4 in