Set of Drawing Instruments Sold by Frost & Adams
date: label: date made
content: 1889-1921
notes: label: Description
content: This wooden case is covered with black leather, has metal latches, and is lined with purple velvet. A purple satin ribbon inside the lid is marked: FROST & ADAMS, (/) BOSTON, MASS. The set contains the following instruments, all of which fit properly in their slots and thus may be original:
label: Description
content: 1) 6-1/4" German silver drawing compass with reversible needle point, removable pencil point, pen point attachment, and extension bar with pencil point. The insides of the compass legs are marked: FROST & ADAMS BOSTON, MASS. Each leg is also marked: QA. The insert for the pencil point is marked: QA. The inserts for the pen point and extension bar are marked: QG.
label: Description
content: 2) 6-1/4" German silver and steel fixed-leg dividers. The insides of the divider legs are marked: BOSTON, MASS. FROST & ADAMS. Each leg is also marked: 43.
label: Description
content: 3) 2" metal cylinder with three pencil leads and two needle points.
label: Description
content: 4) Three German silver and steel drawing pens with wooden handles (4-1/4", 5", 4-7/8"). The 4-7/8" pen has a metal lever marked: PAT.MAR.26.89.
label: Description
content: 5) 3-1/4" German silver and steel bow pencil, bow dividers, and bow pen. Each instrument is marked on the side: F A.
label: Description
content: George Bennett, a resident of Philadelphia who had emigrated from England, received at least two patents for drawing pens. The first, for a pen that could make both narrow and broad lines at once so that a draftsman did not have to adjust the nib and add the broad lines later, is listed on a pen in this set.
label: Description
content: Francis Seth Frost and E. H. Adams purchased an artists' supply store from Matthew J. Whipple at 37 Cornhill Street in Boston in 1867. Frost bought out Adams in 1872 but kept the Frost & Adams name. He expanded the business into additional locations, employed traveling salesmen, and stocked architectural materials and decorative items. Frost & Adams retailed sets of drafting instruments made by Kern and by Alteneder, but this particular set was not advertised in the firm's catalogs for 1890, 1912, 1914, or 1915. The H. H. Sullivan Company purchased the store in the 1920s and was subsequently acquired by B. L. Makepeace in 1931.
label: Description
content: References: George Bennett, "Drawing Pen" (U.S. Patent 400,178 issued March 26, 1889), and "Drafting Pen" (U.S. Patent 1,099,160 issued June 9, 1914); Moses King Corporation, <i>King's Handbook of Boston</i> (Buffalo, N.Y., 1889), 361–362.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
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
label: See more items in
content: Drawing Instruments
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mrs. L. N. Edwards
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.325682
label: accession number
content: 257193
label: catalog number
content: 325682
objectType: label: Object Name
content: drawing instruments, set of
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: german silver (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2.5 cm x 24.2 cm x 10.3 cm; 31/32 in x 9 17/32 in x 4 1/16 in