Lunchbox, The Exciting World of Metrics
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1976
name: label: maker
content: King-Seeley Thermos Company
notes: label: Description
content: The objects children take to school can communicate messages. In the 1970s, the U.S. government encouraged more general use of the metric units of weight and measure, units that had been adopted in almost all other nations. To teach children about metric units, some parents purchased this lunch box.
label: Description
content: The lid of this metal box illustrates four things commonly measured with metric units (the output of power generators, the size of car and motorcycle engines, Olympic distances, and prescription drugs). The back shows decimal units of length, weight, volume, and temperature. One side shows the U.S. decimal currency, while the other shows natural phenomena associated with decimal units (the century plant, the centipede, and the millipede). The top has a scale of inches with their equivalent lengths in centimeters. The bottom illustrates decimal units of time.
label: Description
content: The lunch box contains a blue thermos with a white rim and red cap. It holds eight ounces of liquid.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Olympics
label: Subject
content: Eating
label: Subject
content: Education
label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Metric System
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of George A. Norton III
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1992.0404.01
label: accession number
content: 1992.0404
label: catalog number
content: 1992.0404.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lunchbox
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (box and lid material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (handle material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 1/4 in x 8 5/8 in x 4 in; 18.415 cm x 21.9075 cm x 10.16 cm