Pickett 120-T Student Simplex Slide Rule
date: label: date made
content: 1958-1962
name: label: maker
content: Pickett & Eckel, Incorporated
notes: label: Description
content: This ten-inch white plastic one-sided linear slide rule has a clear plastic indicator that goes all the way around the instrument. The posts holding the rule together are also white. The base has K, A, D, and L scales, with B, T, S, CI, and C scales on the slide. The left end of the slide is marked: PICKETT (/) NO. 120. The right end of the slide is engraved with the Pickett triangular logo used between 1958 and 1962. The bottom right corner of the base is marked: MADE IN U.S.A.
label: Description
content: The rule fits in a black imitation leather stitched sheath. Pickett advertised this "trig trainer" slide rule in the September 17, 1961, issue of the <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>. In later years, Pickett added the model name "Microline" to the model number. The company intended that students would learn fundamental operations with these rules and then graduate to its more complex aluminum rules. Compare the five-inch student rule, 1991.0445.02, and the ten-inch Microline duplex rule, 1989.0325.07.
label: Description
content: Mechanical engineer Edward L. Heller (1912–2007) donated this example to the Smithsonian. From 1956 to 1959, he worked as a nuclear project engineer for H. K. Ferguson Co. He was a technical manager for General Dynamics Corporation from 1959 to 1967. He married in 1946 and raised two children. Since the slide rule was probably purchased about 1960, Heller may have expected that his children would use it.
label: Description
content: References: <i>American Men and Women of Science</i>, 12th ed. (New York: J. Cattell Press, 1972), iii:2620; International Slide Rule Museum, "Pickett All-Metal Slide Rules," http://sliderulemuseum.com/SR_Dates.htm#Pickett.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Alhambra
topic: label: Subject
content: Rule, Calculating
label: Subject
content: Education
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: Slide Rules
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Edward L. Heller
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1984.1068.03
label: accession number
content: 1984.1068
label: catalog number
content: 1984.1068.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: slide rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: imitation leather (case material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.5 cm x 32 cm x 6 cm; 19/32 in x 12 19/32 in x 2 3/8 in