Dutch El
date: label: date made
content: before 1820
notes: label: Description
content: This wooden rectangular rule consists of a carved handle resembling a finial and a tapered, ruled part. The handle is made from a separate piece of wood and attached to the ruled part with a peg. There is an inlaid piece of mother of pearl (1.6 cm X 1.5 cm) on one side. The ruled part is about 71.5 cm long, slightly longer than the average Dutch el (68–70 cm), a traditional "arm's-length" measure.
label: Description
content: The rule is marked with grooves (each approximately 1 mm wide) on 2 sides. On the side with the museum mark, the grooves are 3.7, 5.3, 10.3, 20.9, 38.2, and 55.3 cm from the base of the handle (or 68.8, 66.2, 61.2, 50.6, 33.3, and 16.2 cm from the tip). On the side with the mother of pearl piece, the grooves are 27.5, 32.4, 52.5, and 62.6 cm from the base of the handle (or 44.0, 3.1, 19.0, and 9.0 cm from the tip). The mother of pearl inlay is 22.3 cm from the base of the handle (49.2 cm from the tip). Compare to MA.318247, MA.318248, and MA.325404.
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: The Netherlands
topic: label: Subject
content: Rule, Measuring
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.318246
label: accession number
content: 235396
label: catalog number
content: 318246
objectType: label: Object Name
content: scale rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: mother of pearl (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.5 cm x 81 cm x 1.6 cm; 19/32 in x 31 7/8 in x 5/8 in