Datalizer Universal English/SI Converter Slide Rule

This white rectangular cardboard rule is held together with four metal rivets. The front has logarithmic scales for making measurement conversions for length, mass, area, and volume. A chart for converting temperatures runs along the bottom edge. The top is marked: THE NEWS (/) NEW YORK'S PICTURE NEWSPAPER Universal ENGLISH/SI (metric) Datalizer. The bottom is marked: © 1976 datalizer by DATALIZER SLIDE CHARTS, INC., Addison, IL 60101 PRINTED IN U.S.A. FORM NO. EM2.

The back has charts for converting between cubic meters and cubic feet; gallons and liters; miles and kilometers; inches and centimeters; and fractional inches and millimeters. A table of miscellaneous conversions appears in the center of the back.

Around 1960 a former employee of the Perry Graf Corporation (see 1979.3074.03) established Datalizer in Addison, a Chicago suburb. The company made this promotional rule during a time of considerable interest in adopting the metric system in the United States. The New York Daily News used the "picture newspaper" slogan between 1920 and 1991.

References: "Slide Chart Specialists," Datalizer Slide Charts, http://www.datalizer.com/about-us/; Lance Gould, "The Lenses And Legacy Of New York's Picture Newspaper," New York Daily News, January 25, 2002, http://articles.nydailynews.com/2002-01-25/entertainment/18195567_1_photographers-gallery-exhibit-exposed.

Currently not on view