Model of a Cylindroid by Richard P. Baker, Baker #83 (a Ruled Surface)
date: label: date made
content: ca 1900-1935
name: label: maker
content: Baker, Richard P.
notes: label: Description
content: This string model was constructed by Richard P. Baker, possibly before 1905 when he joined the mathematics faculty at the University of Iowa. Baker believed that models were essential for the teaching of many parts of mathematics and physics, and over one hundred of his models are in the museum collections. Baker mentioned the model in a 1905 listing of one hundred models he had constructed as well as in a 1931 catalog.
label: Description
content: A typed paper label on the top of the wooden base of this model reads: No. 83 (/) CYLINDROID.
label: Description
content: Like several other models Baker made, this shows a ruled surface, also called a scroll. Such a surface is swept out by a moving line. This line is represented by the blue string in the model. The string rotates periodically about the vertical access, and at the same time moves uniformly up (or down) the vertical axis. The surface also is known as Plücker’s conoid after the German mathematician and physicist Julius Plücker.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: R. P. Baker, <I>A List of Mathematical Models</I>, [1905], p. 13.
label: Description
content: R. P. Baker, <I>Mathematical Models</I>, Iowa City, Iowa, 1931, p. 72.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Frances E. Baker
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.211257.009
label: accession number
content: 211257
label: catalog number
content: 211257.009
objectType: label: Object Name
content: geometric model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: thread (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: blue (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: screwed and threaded (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 19.7 cm x 17.3 cm x 16.9 cm; 7 3/4 in x 6 13/16 in x 6 21/32 in