Object Details
maker
Robertson, William
Description
This brightly colored metal plate has a profile of a monkey attached to it. Setting the feet of the monkey at two numbers that are indicated on a line along the bottom, one finds the product indicated on a table on the plate. The device was patented by William Robertson of Ohio, who took out patents June 27, 1916 and November 26, 1918. It was first manufactured in Ohio and then in Springfield, Massachusetts. In addition to being a charming aid to instruction, the object represents a curious combination of math teaching and popular culture. Consul was the name of a trained monkey popular in Britain and Europe at the turn of the century, and the subject of a 1909 film Consul Crosses the Atlantic.
Historian Caitlin Wylie has written on the object.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Richard Lodish American School Teaching Collection
date made
ca 1903
ca 1910
ca 1919
ID Number
2014.0293.10
catalog number
2014.0293.10
accession number
2014.0293
Object Name
mathematical table
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
Measurements
overall: .5 cm x 13.9 cm x 15 cm; 3/16 in x 5 15/32 in x 5 29/32 in
place made
United States
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Mathematical Charts and Tables
Science & Mathematics
Arithmetic Teaching
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1692986