Folding Yardstick with Comparative Measures
date: label: date made
content: 18th century
notes: label: Description
content: This European brass rule consists of twelve segments, ten that are 10.5 cm (4-1/4") long and two that are 9.6 cm (3-3/4") long. The segments are riveted together end to end to form a rule about 104 cm (41") long. On one side the rule has scales for Paris and London inches, numbered by ones from 1 to 36. The other side has scales for Venice and Vienna inches, numbered by ones from 1 to 36. On each of the four scales, the first inch is divided to 1/12" and the rest are divided to 1/2".
label: Description
content: According to the rule, the Paris inch was 1-3/32" long, the London inch was 1", the Venice inch was 1-1/8", and the Vienna inch was 1-1/32". These lengths are within range of the pre-metric system national standards reported by contemporary arithmetic textbooks and modern historians.
label: Description
content: References: Charles Hutton, <i>A Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary</i>, new ed. (London, 1815), ii:35–36; Philip E. Stanley, <i>A Source Book for Rule Collectors</i> (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2003), 242–252.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Europe
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Rule, Measuring
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Scale Rules
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content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hermon W. Farwell
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.335403
label: accession number
content: 319921
label: catalog number
content: 335403
objectType: label: Object Name
content: rule, folding
label: Object Name
content: scale rule, folding
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .1 cm x 105 cm x 1.1 cm; 1/32 in x 41 11/32 in x 7/16 in