Japanese Scale Rule with Chain
date: label: date made
content: before 1876
notes: label: Description
content: This brass rule with chain was displayed by the Japanese Empire Department of Education at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia and then was held by the Museum of the U.S. Bureau of Education before transfer to the Smithsonian in 1910. The scale on the rule has six units of 19/32" (1.5 cm). Two of the units are subdivided into 25 parts; the other two are subdivided into ten parts. The chain is approximately 29-1/2" (75 cm) long and is attached to an eye at one end of the rule. Larger links are inserted in the chain at 12" and 24" from the rule. A small octagonal weight (about 1/2" or 1.5 cm long) is attached to the end of the chain.
label: Description
content: The accession record identifies this instrument as a <i>ryosan shaku</i> (depth gauge for cannon barrels). For more information on the exhibition, see MA.261298 and MA.261313.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Japan
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Expositions and Fairs
label: Subject
content: Gauging
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: Scale Rules
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.261289
label: accession number
content: 51119
label: catalog number
content: 261289
objectType: label: Object Name
content: scale rule
label: Object Name
content: rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.1 cm x 88.2 cm x 1.1 cm; 7/16 in x 34 23/32 in x 7/16 in