Object Details
maker
Veeder Manufacturing Company
Description
In 1895 the mechanical engineer Curtis Veeder (1862-1943) founded the Veeder Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Ct. It made cyclometers that measured the distance traveled by bicycles. The business expanded to include counters for speedometers, machines, production workers, and other purposes. In 1928 the company merged with the Root Company to form Veeder-Root, a firm that remained in business for decades.
This counter has a brass frame painted black. A glass window reveals four number wheels, with a decimal point in the middle. Turning a knob on the right side advances the number wheels by .10 per revolution (i.e., the rightmost wheel turns once per revolution). A mark on one end reads: THE VEEDER MFG.CO (/) Veeder (/) HARTFORD CONN USA. A mark on the other end reads: 3713627.
An undated catalog of Veeder Manufacturing Company shows a counter similar to this one and reports that these counters were “furnished to and used by the U.S. Weather Bureau." The counter shown in the catalog would be rotated with the left hand, while the object in the collections is most naturally rotated with the right hand.
References:
“Veeder’s Successful Development of the ‘Big Unit’ Market,” Printers’ Ink, vol. 103 #4, April 25, 1918, pp. 129–132, 137–138.
Veeder Manufacturing Company, [Catalog], no date, Hartford, Ct., Trade Literature, Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920
ID Number
1987.3066.01
nonaccession number
1987.3066
catalog number
1987.3066.01
Object Name
counter
Physical Description
brass (overall material)
glass (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 3.2 cm x 7 cm x 3.2 cm; 1 1/4 in x 2 3/4 in x 1 1/4 in
place made
United States: Connecticut, Hartford
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Counters
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1420830