Alteneder 1666 Beam Compass
date: label: date made
content: 1945-ca 1952
name: label: maker
content: Theodore Alteneder and Sons
notes: label: Description
content: This instrument has two very tarnished flat metal bars, each 22 cm long, with tapered ends that interlock to make a beam of 40.9 cm. The two steel sliding trammels resemble pencils and are marked: T.A. & SONS. The longer trammel has a needle point, and the shorter has a pencil point. The shorter trammel has a cam wheel that allows adjustment up to 3/16". Spring tension in both trammels may be adjusted by turning a knurled nut.
label: Description
content: John Wesley Oehrli (1903–1969), an engineer and inventor who lived in State College, Pa., applied for a patent on this beam compass in 1944. He moved to Southern California by 1953, where he worked for McCulloch Motors Corporation, and received a total of 11 patents, mainly for chain saws and planetary drives in internal combustion engines. Theodore Alteneder & Sons sold the "improved tubular beam compass" as model number 1666 from 1945 through at least 1952 for $16.50. This object originally would have had a case.
label: Description
content: References: John W. Oehrli, "Beam Compass" (U.S. Patent 2,385,723 issued September 25, 1945); Insert dated 1945, <i>Alteneder Drawing Instruments</i> (Philadelphia, 1942); <i>Alteneder Drawing Instruments</i> (Philadelphia, 1952), 16.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drawing Instruments
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: Dividers and Compasses
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Robert B. Condon
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0793.05
label: accession number
content: 1991.0793
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0793.05
objectType: label: Object Name
content: beam compass
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: lead (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 40.9 cm x 7.5 cm x 1.3 cm; 16 3/32 in x 2 15/16 in x 1/2 in