Gerber GraphAnalogue, Model GA-103
date: label: date made
content: ca 1953
name: label: maker
content: Gerber Scientific Instrument Company
notes: label: Description
content: This instrument has a rectangular aluminum base, painted black, with unpainted aluminum endpieces. A clear plastic piece with a crosshair, attached to an aluminum bracket, slides over the base. The base is marked with 15 scales, labeled R<sub>I</sub>, R<sub>F</sub>, R<sub>C</sub>, I, F, C<sub>M</sub>, T, S/C<sub>O</sub>, D, ( )<sup>2</sup>, ( )<sup>1/2</sup>, ( )<sup>1/3</sup>, L<sub>10</sub>, L<sub>e</sub>, P. It is also marked: THE GERBER SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT COMPANY HARTFORD, CONN. GERBER GRAPHANALOGUE MODEL GA-103 PATS. 2530955–2561020 OTHERS PENDING MADE IN U.S.A.
label: Description
content: Across the top are two metal springs, encased in plastic and attached to the left endpiece and the slide. The front spring has six small, equally spaced discs that are marked with the numbers 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. The back spring has 103 coils, 100 of which are calibrated. Every tenth coil is marked red, every fifth is blue-green, and the others are white. The bottom of the instrument is marked: R-203.
label: Description
content: A tan leather case is lined with brown velvet. Inside the lid is marked: THE GERBER SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT COMPANY (/) HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. Two orange cards have grids and are marked: SPRING LENGTH = 1.000 INCHES. One card has a curve drawn in pencil and is marked in ink: CALIBRATION CURVE FOR (/) READING NON-LINEAR AMPLITUDES (/) DIRECTLY, MULTIPLIED BY SCALE (/) FACTOR. For an instruction manual, see 1994.0113.05.
label: Description
content: Heinz Joseph Gerber (1924–1996) was a refugee from Nazi-controlled Austria. With a partner, he established the Gerber Scientific Instrument Company in Hartford, Conn., to manufacture the Gerber Variable Scale that he invented in 1945. (See 1994.0113.01 and 1994.3104.01.) By 1953 he developed a variation on that instrument that the company marketed as the GraphAnalogue, for converting graphs to linear, reciprocal, trigonometric, logarithmic, or probability equations. Gerber ultimately held about 650 U.S. and foreign patents for calculating instruments, digital drafting machines, and robotic and electronic manufacturing systems for products from electronics to textiles. The firm was renamed Gerber Scientific, Inc., in 1978.
label: Description
content: References: Arthur Bartlett, "A Quick Spring to Success," <i>Nation's Business</i> (October 1949): 43–45, 62–64; Heinz Joseph Gerber, "Instrument for Measuring, Interpolating, and the Like" (U.S. Patent 2,530,955 issued November 21, 1950) and "Instrument for Measuring, Interpolating, and the Like" (U.S. Patent 2,561,020 issued July 17, 1951); "Our Founder," Gerber Scientific, http://www.gspinc.com/default.asp?contentID=192; "Gerber Scientific, Inc. History," in <i>International Directory of Company Histories</i>, vol. 12 (St. James Press, 1996), http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/gerber-scientific-inc-history/.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Connecticut, Hartford
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Engineering
label: Subject
content: Patented
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1994.0113.02
label: accession number
content: 1994.0113
label: catalog number
content: 1994.0113.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: scale rule
label: Object Name
content: scale in case
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: aluminum (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3.3 cm x 39.3 cm x 16.7 cm; 1 5/16 in x 15 15/32 in x 6 9/16 in