Schoenner Flat Case of Drawing Instruments
date: label: date made
content: ca 1930
name: label: maker
content: Schoenner, Georg
notes: label: Description
content: This wooden case is covered with black leather and lined with blue satin and velvet. It has a steel locking pin. The case contains:
label: Description
content: 1) 4-3/4" German silver and steel drop spring bow pen marked: E. O. RICHTER & C<u>o</u> (/) GERMANY. The firm's trademark with superimposed backwards E, R, and O is next to the mark.
label: Description
content: 2) 6-1/8" German silver drawing compass with bendable legs and removable needle point (the needle is missing), extension bar, and pen point. On one side, the center joint is marked: D.R.P. The other side has the Schoenner trademark of a circle superimposed on two intersecting, two-headed arrows. Inside one leg is marked: SCHOENNER, GERMANY.
label: Description
content: 3) 5-3/4" German silver and steel fixed-point dividers. On one side, the center joint is marked: D.R.P. The other side has the Schoenner trademark. Inside one leg is marked: SCHOENNER, GERMANY.
label: Description
content: 4) 4-3/4" German silver and steel dividers with removable divider points, pen point, and pencil point. On one side, the center joint is marked: D.R.P. The other side has the Schoenner trademark. Inside one leg is marked: SCHOENNER. Inside the other leg is marked: 14.
label: Description
content: 5) 3-1/2" German silver and steel bow dividers.
label: Description
content: 6) 5-1/8" ivory and steel railroad pen with tightening screws in both blades and the central shank. The handle is marked: KEUFFEL & ESSER Co. N.Y. (/) GERMANY.
label: Description
content: 7) 5-1/8" ivory, German silver, and steel drawing pen marked: PARAGON. It is also marked: GERMANY. Paragon was a brand of Keuffel & Esser.
label: Description
content: 8) 4-3/8" ebony, German silver, and steel drawing pen marked: POSTS (/) GERMANY.
label: Description
content: The Schoenner instruments and bow dividers fit properly in their slots and thus are likely original to the set. Slots in the case suggest that a bow pen and pencil, case for pencil leads, joint tightener, small pen point, and proportional compass were part of the original set. For Schoenner company history, see 1989.0305.05.
label: Description
content: Chauncey Brockway Schmeltzer (1894–1974) owned this set of drawing instruments. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois in 1919 and 1920, and taught there until 1926. He also worked in private practice in Urbana, Ill., from 1921 to 1933. He then became an associate engineer appraiser for the Federal Land Bank of St. Louis until 1936. From 1936, he held the same title at the USDA's Bureau of Agricultural Engineering.
label: Description
content: Reference: Winfield Scott Downs, ed., <i>Who's Who in Engineering</i>, 4th ed. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1937), 1217.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany: Bavaria, Nuremberg
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drafting, Engineering
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Drawing Instruments
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Grace Pauline Schmeltzer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.317925.04
label: accession number
content: 317925
label: catalog number
content: 317925.04
objectType: label: Object Name
content: drawing instruments, set of
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: velvet (case lining material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (case cover material)
label: Physical Description
content: satin (case lining material)
label: Physical Description
content: german silver (instruments material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (instruments material)
label: Physical Description
content: ivory (handles material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2.5 cm x 23 cm x 14.5 cm; 31/32 in x 9 1/16 in x 5 23/32 in