Keuffel & Esser Polar Planimeter Model 4212
date: label: date made
content: ca 1910
name: label: maker
content: Keuffel & Esser Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This relatively simple German-made stainless steel polar planimeter has arms of fixed length, with measuring wheels near the vertex of the tracer arm and a carrier for a stainless steel weight at the end of the other arm. The carrier is marked: KEUFFEL & ESSER Co. The part of the arm below it is marked on the underside: No 3079. The weight is marked: 80.
label: Description
content: A wooden case covered with black leather is lined with purple velvet. A mark on the lid of the case reads: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. N.Y.
label: Description
content: Keuffel & Esser sold this planimeter as the model 1111 from 1892 to 1901 and then as model 4212 from 1901 to 1936. The donor assigned it a date of 1912. The sliding clasp on the case suggests a relatively late date. The model 4212 was one of the simpler planimeters sold by K & E and the 1909 catalog gives a price of $16.50. The instrument was imported by K&E from the firm established in Switzerland by the mathematician and inventor Jakob Amsler. Several other Amsler planimeters are in the collections.
label: Description
content: This instrument reached the Smithsonian in 2016.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Clark McCoy, "Collection of Pages from K&E Catalogs for the 4210 Family of Polar Planimeters," at the website www.mccoys-kecatalogs.com/tm.
label: Description
content: Keuffel & Esser Company, <i>Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser</i>, 33d ed., New York, 1909, p. 318.
label: Description
content: Accession File.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Planimeters
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Maximilian Berktold
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2016.0064.04
label: catalog number
content: 2016.0064.04
label: accession number
content: 2016.0064
objectType: label: Object Name
content: planimeter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: stainless steel (planimeter, weight material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (measuring discs material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood, leather, velvet (case material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 cm x 16.4 cm x 6.7 cm; 1 9/16 in x 6 15/32 in x 2 5/8 in