Persian Drah
date: label: date made
content: 19th century
notes: label: Description
content: This wooden rectangular rule is reported to be a Persian drah, or pic, a unit of length measure used in surveying and architecture. According to Russ Rowlett, the pic (or pik) was a traditional unit of distance in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East. An "arm" unit, like the ell, the pic varied considerably. A typical value was about 28 inches (71 centimeters). This example is divided on one side in pencil and on the other with carved notches. The divisions on the pencil side are at: 3.0, 6.3, 9.6, 12.7, 25.3, 28.3, 31.6, 37.8, 50.3, 53.4, 56.6, 59.8, and 62.7 cm. The divisions on the notched side are at: 12.5, 15.7, 18.8, 21.8, 25.0, 37.9, 41.0, 44.2, 47.1, 50.2, 56.2, 59.2, and 62.3 cm.
label: Description
content: The pencil side is marked at the right end: teheran (/) dept of State. In 1892, the U.S. Department of State transferred this object to the Smithsonian.
label: Description
content: Reference: Russ Rowlett, <i>How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement</i>, July 11, 2005, http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/index.html.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Iran: Tehrān, Tehran
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
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: Transfer from U.S. Department of State
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.0991.01
label: accession number
content: 1979.0991
label: catalog number
content: 166897
objectType: label: Object Name
content: rule
label: Object Name
content: scale rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.3 cm x 75.3 cm x 3.4 cm; 1/2 in x 29 21/32 in x 1 11/32 in