Veeder Counter
date: label: date made
content: ca 1920
name: label: maker
content: Veeder Manufacturing Company
notes: label: Description
content: In 1895 the mechanical engineer Curtis Veeder (1862-1943) founded the Veeder Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Ct. It made cyclometers that measured the distance traveled by bicycles. The business expanded to include counters for speedometers, machines, production workers, and other purposes. In 1928 the company merged with the Root Company to form Veeder-Root, a firm that remained in business for decades.
label: Description
content: This counter has a brass frame painted black. A glass window reveals four number wheels, with a decimal point in the middle. Turning a knob on the right side advances the number wheels by .10 per revolution (i.e., the rightmost wheel turns once per revolution). A mark on one end reads: THE VEEDER MFG.CO (/) Veeder (/) HARTFORD CONN USA. A mark on the other end reads: 3713627.
label: Description
content: An undated catalog of Veeder Manufacturing Company shows a counter similar to this one and reports that these counters were “furnished to and used by the U.S. Weather Bureau." The counter shown in the catalog would be rotated with the left hand, while the object in the collections is most naturally rotated with the right hand.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: “Veeder’s Successful Development of the ‘Big Unit’ Market,” <I>Printers’ Ink</I>, vol. 103 #4, April 25, 1918, pp. 129–132, 137–138.
label: Description
content: Veeder Manufacturing Company, [Catalog], no date, Hartford, Ct., Trade Literature, Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Connecticut, Hartford
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Counters
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content: Science & Mathematics
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.3066.01
label: nonaccession number
content: 1987.3066
label: catalog number
content: 1987.3066.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: counter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3.2 cm x 7 cm x 3.2 cm; 1 1/4 in x 2 3/4 in x 1 1/4 in