Hinged Parallel Rule Signed D. W. Bellows
date: label: date made
content: 1896–1919
name: label: maker
content: Bellows, Dexter W.
notes: label: Description
content: This 24" boxwood instrument has two blades held together by three metal (possibly copper) hinges. The middle hinge is curved and has a slide with a thumbscrew that allows the user to fix the separation between the blades at a desired width. This hinge is marked: PAT APL'D FOR. The top blade is 1/2" wide and 22" long. The bottom blade is 7/8" wide, divided to 1/2", and numbered by ones from 1 to 12 to 1. The back is marked: D. W. BELLOWS (/) MFR. (/) PAWTUCKET, R.I.
label: Description
content: Dexter W. Bellows (1856–1940) was a funeral director in Pawtucket, R.I., from 1892 until his death. He designed this rule in 1896 to assist in placing handles evenly along the sides of caskets. No patent record has been found, but the National Casket Company of Baltimore is known to have distributed the rule.
label: Description
content: References: Peggy A. Kidwell, "American Parallel Rules: Invention on the Fringes of Industry," <i>Rittenhouse</i> 10, no. 39 (1996): 90–96; "The Bellows Gauge for Placing Casket Handles," <i>Providence Journal of Commerce</i> (1896): 32; Bellows Funeral Chapel, "Our History," http://www.bellowsfuneralchapel.com/?page=ourhistory0.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Rhode Island, Pawtucket
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Funerals
label: Subject
content: Carpentry
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Parallel Rules
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0751.02
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0751.02
label: accession number
content: 1987.0751
objectType: label: Object Name
content: parallel rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2.3 cm x 61 cm x 3.5 cm; 29/32 in x 24 1/32 in x 1 3/8 in