Lumber Stick with Sixteen scales
date: label: date made
content: 1822
notes: label: Description
content: This round wooden yardstick is divided into 16 scales numbered from right to left that divide the foot into various numbers of parts. The scales include: 8 (units of 1 1/2" or 3.8 cm), 9 (1 5/16" or 3.3 cm), 10 (1 3/16" or 3.0 cm), 11 (1 1/16" or 2.7 cm), 12 (1" or 2.6 cm), 13 (11/12" or 2.3 cm), 14 (7/8" or 2.1 cm), 15 (13/16' or 2.0 cm), 16 (3/4" or 1.9 cm), 17 (11/16" or 1.7 cm), 18 (21/32' or 1.6 cm), 19 (5/8" or 1.6 cm), 20 (5/8' or 1.5 cm), 21 (9/16" or 1.5 cm), 22 (17/32" or 1.4 cm), and 23 (1/2" or 1.3 cm) parts per foot. The number of subdivisions per foot is indicated at the right end of each scale, but these marks are badly worn.
label: Description
content: The left end of the rule is marked: PSP (/) April 25th (/) 1822. The right end is marked: PSP (/) 1822.
label: Description
content: The National Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History, acquired this calculating stick, probably between 1962 and 1965, for its Growth of the United States exhibition, which opened in 1967 and closed in 1982. See also 1987.0107.05.
label: Description
content: Reference: William S. Walker, "A Living Exhibition: The Smithsonian, Folklife, and the Making of the Modern Museum" (Ph.D. diss., Brandeis University, 2007).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Rule, Measuring
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Scale Rules
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0107.06
label: accession number
content: 1987.0107
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0107.06
objectType: label: Object Name
content: rule
label: Object Name
content: scale rule
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 cm x 90.4 cm x 4 cm; 1 9/16 in x 35 19/32 in x 1 9/16 in