Commonwealth 581 Admiration Professional Simplex Slide Rule
date: label: date made
content: 1950s
name: label: maker
content: Commonwealth Plastics Corporation
notes: label: Description
content: The Commonwealth Plastics Corporation of Leominster, Mass., a manufacturer of plastic toys, dolls, and other goods, made this one-sided, six-inch inexpensive white molded plastic slide rule with a clear plastic frameless indicator. The base has A and D scales, with B, CI, and C scales on the slide. The slide also has linear scales along its edges, inches divided to sixteenths of an inch and centimeters divided to millimeters. The back of the rule has a table of equivalents and abbreviations. The back is marked in script: Admiration. It is also marked: U.S.A. The rule fits into two slots in a yellow card. The front of the paper holder is marked: Instructions for use (/) on back of card; Admiration (/) PROFESSIONAL SLIDE RULE; EASY TO USE (/) No. 581. The back of the card gives directions and examples for reading the scales, locating the decimal point, multiplication, division, squares, square roots, and cubes. The card and rule are in a plastic bag stamped: 30¢.
label: Description
content: Commonwealth Plastics was founded around 1923 and remained in business at 98 Adams Street until at least 1960. It was not a major manufacturer of slide rules.
label: Description
content: References: "William Morris Lester (1908–2005)," <i>The Plastics Collection</i>, Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center, http://scrc.syr.edu:8080/content/lester_wm.php; Karen Nugent, "A City in the Making, from Pianos to Plastics: Industrial Past Spotlighted for Tour," <i>Telegram & Gazette</i>, Worcester, Mass., May 27, 2010; ad for Extrusion Supervisor, <i>The Telegraph</i>, Nashua, N.H., February 12, 1960, 10.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Leominster
topic: label: Subject
content: Rule, Calculating
label: Subject
content: Plastics
label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Slide Rules
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of George A. Norton
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1988.0807.03
label: accession number
content: 1988.0807
label: catalog number
content: 1988.0807.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: slide rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (case material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .3 cm x 17.8 cm x 7.4 cm; 1/8 in x 7 in x 2 29/32 in