Triangular Open Divided Scale Signed William Minifee
date: label: date made
content: 1847–1868
name: label: retailer
content: Minifie, William
notes: label: Description
content: This 12-inch triangular boxwood architect's rule has indentations along each side. On one side, one edge has a scale divided to 1/16" and numbered by ones from 0 to 12. The other edge has scales for 2" and 4" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 2" and numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 2, and from right to left by ones from 0 to 1. This side is marked: W<sup><u>M</u></sup> MINIFIE. BALTIMORE.
label: Description
content: One edge of the second side has scales for 1/2" and 1" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1/2", numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 20 and from right to left by ones from 0 to 10. The other edge has scales for 1/8" and 1/4" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1/8", numbered from left to right by twos from 0 to 92 and from right to left by twos from 0 to 46. A white sticker on this side is marked: 786.
label: Description
content: One edge of the third side has scales for 3/8" and 3/4" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 3/8", numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 28 and from right to left by ones from 0 to 14. The other edge has scales for 1-1/2" and 3" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1-1/2", numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 4 and from right to left by ones from 0 to 2.
label: Description
content: William Minifie (1805–1880) apprenticed as a cabinetmaker in England before moving to Baltimore in 1828. He became an architect and builder, professor of drawing at Central High School in Baltimore, and author of a successful textbook on geometrical drawing. <i>A Textbook of Geometrical Drawing</i> (Baltimore, 1849) does not, however, contain any illustrations of drawing instruments. In 1847 he purchased the bookstore that became Wm. Minifie (adding "& Son" in 1868), selling stationery and artist’s materials. The Maryland Historical Society holds his journal, MS 1993 and 1993.1, and photographs of his home at 80 N. Greene St. around 1870, the Baxley Family Collection, PP90. (Minifie's daughter, Gertrude, married the pharmacist Jackson Brown Baxley in 1865.)
label: Description
content: The previous owner collected more than 1,200 hand tools and machine tools and displayed them at his family's building company in Baltimore, Md. This object was item number 786 in his collection.
label: Description
content: References: C. Herbert Baxley, "Travel in the 1830s: The Diary of William Minifie," <i>Maryland Historical Magazine</i> 78 (1983): 287–296; Baltimore City Directories of 1863–64 (p. 192) and 1879 (p. 535).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Maryland, Baltimore
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drafting, Engineering
label: Subject
content: Architecture
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Scale Rules
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The John R. Gerwig, Jr., Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1977.1101.0019
label: accession number
content: 1977.1101
label: catalog number
content: 1977.1101.0019
objectType: label: Object Name
content: scale rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: boxwood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2.2 cm x 31.6 cm x 2.2 cm; 7/8 in x 12 7/16 in x 7/8 in