Set of Copenhagen Ship Curves by Eugene Dietzgen Company of Chicago, Model 2219
date: label: date made
content: ca 1955
name: label: maker
content: Eugene Dietzgen Company
notes: label: Description
content: By 1902, dealers like Eugene Dietzgen of Chicago offered sets of several dozen “Copenhagen ship curves” in wood and hard rubber. In their 1904-1905 catalog, Dietzgen added curves of transparent amber. By 1926, transparent celluloid had replaced these materials. The number of curves rose from 45 in 1902 to 121 in 1926 and 1931. This selection of curves in this set matches the description of the 1938 Dietzgen catalog, which lists a set of fifty-six celluloid (not acrylic) curves. Dietzgen offered them through at least 1949. Dietzgen first used the term Clearcite in commerce in 1946, filed for a trademark February 29, 1952, and received the trademark June 23, 1953. Hence the curves are from after that date.
label: Description
content: The curves are stored in a wooden case with metal hooks. A mark on a tag on the front of the case reads: DIETZGEN (/) MADE IN U.S.A.
label: Description
content: By the 1970s, flexible drawing curves were replacing fixed ones like these.
label: Description
content: The objects were given to the Smithsonian in 1986.
label: Description
content: The donor, Philip Krupen (1915–2001), was a physicist who graduated B.S. from Brooklyn College in 1935, worked on the development of the proximity fuse during and after World War II, earned a master's degree in physics from George Washington University, and spent a total of thirty-eight years working for the U.S. government before he retired in 1973.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Benjamin Pike, Jr., <I>Pike’s Illustrated Descriptive Catalog</I>, vol. 1, New York, 1856, pp. 40-43. This catalog includes ship curves, but not with the standard numbers used by Keuffel & Esser from at least 1890.
label: Description
content: Keuffel & Esser Company, <I>Catalog</I>, New York, 1890, pp. 138-139.
label: Description
content: Eugene Dietzgen Company, <I>Catalog</I>, Chicago, 1902.
label: Description
content: Eugene Dietzgen Company, <I>Catalog</I>, Chicago, 1905, p. 218.
label: Description
content: Eugene Dietzgen Company, <I>Catalog</I>, Chicago, 1910, p. 274. The numbering of ship curves in the 1890, 1902, 1905, and 1910 Dietzgen catalogs is not the same as that adopted by 1926.
label: Description
content: Eugene Dietzgen Company, <I>Catalog</I>, Chicago, 1926, pp. 226-227. The numbering of ship curves in this and later Dietzgen catalogs follow a scheme used by Keuffel & Esser at least as early as 1890. This is the same numbering system used on these curves.
label: Description
content: Eugene Dietzgen Company, <I>Catalog</I>, Chicago, 1931, pp. 245-246.
label: Description
content: Eugene Dietzgen Company, <I>Catalog</I>, Chicago, 1938, pp. 310-311.
label: Description
content: Eugene Dietzgen Company, <I>Catalog</I>, Chicago, 1949, pp. 310-311.
label: Description
content: TESS, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Registration 0576302.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drawing Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Curves
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Philip Krupen
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.0790.07
label: accession number
content: 1986.0790
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0790.07
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Curves, Set of In Case
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (curves material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (fastening material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (label material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5.9 cm x 65.8 cm x 19 cm; 2 5/16 in x 25 29/32 in x 7 15/32 in