Object Details
maker
Ecobra
Description
This steel instrument is plated with chromium and stored in a leatherette pocketbook case lined with purple velvet. The inside of the flap is marked: DIETZGEN. The back of the case is marked: GERMANY. The beam compass consists of a solid tubular beam, 13" long and 3/16" in diameter; a second solid tubular beam, 6" long and 3/16" in diameter; a coupling for joining the beams with a thumbscrew; a needle point with a micrometer adjustment; a second needle point; a pencil point; a pen point; and a cylindrical case holding one extra lead and two additional needles. The handles on the points are cylindrical with a honeycomb pattern. The thumbscrew on the needle point with micrometer is marked: DIETZGEN GERMANY.
The Eugene Dietzgen Co., a Chicago manufacturer and retailer of mathematical instruments, advertised the model 967A "Champion" brand beam compass and case in the late 1930s for $8.50. Dietzgen may have purchased instruments in the Champion line from Bayerische Reisszeugfabrik, a company in Nuremberg, Germany, that was owned by Joseph Dietzgen and made ECOBRA brand slide rules. See 1984.1071.04.
References: Catalog of Eugene Dietzgen Co., 15th ed. (Chicago, 1938), 141; Dietzgen Essential Drawing Instruments and Materials, cat. no. 38A (Chicago, [1939]), 11.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Sebastian J. Tralongo
date made
ca 1938
ID Number
1984.1071.02
accession number
1984.1071
catalog number
1984.1071.02
Object Name
beam compass
Physical Description
chromium (overall material)
leather (overall material)
velvet (overall material)
steel (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 34.7 cm x 6.1 cm x 2 cm; 13 21/32 in x 2 13/32 in x 25/32 in
place made
Germany: Bavaria, Nuremberg
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Dividers and Compasses
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Drawing Instruments
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_904409