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Felsenthal Artillery Protractor

American History Museum

Felsenthal semicircular protractor
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  • Felsenthal semicircular protractor
  • Felsenthal semicircular protractor

    Object Details

    maker

    G. Felsenthal & Sons, Inc.

    Description

    This clear plastic semicircular protractor is divided by tens and marked by hundreds from 100 to 3,100 mils and from 3,300 to 6,300 mils. Mils are units used in artillery and other military applications; 1,000 mils is equivalent to 56.25°. A pinhole is at the origin point. The bottom edge of the protractor is divided by hundreds and marked by five hundreds from 0 to 8,000 yards. A small vernier appears to the left of the scale, and the scale is labeled: 1/20,000.
    The interior of the protractor has a semicircular opening with a groove parallel to the origin point. Below the opening is a maker's mark: 16 INCH (/) G. FELSENTHAL & SONS, INC. (/) -CHICAGO-. The letters U.S. are printed above the origin point. Donor Ben Rau, who worked for Felsenthal, dated the object to 1942. The form of the maker's name indicates it was probably manufactured for the U.S. Army in the 1950s.
    This protractor is very similar to 1977.1141.11, although the scale for plotting the distance of fired artillery is in yards rather than in meters.
    See also 1977.1141.01, 1977.1141.02, 1977.1141.03, 1977.1141.05, 1977.1141.08, 1977.1141.09, 1977.1141.10, 1977.1141.12, 1977.1141.19, 1977.1141.20, 1977.1141.21, 1977.1141.22, 1977.1141.23, 1977.1141.24, 1977.1141.30, and 1977.1141.39.

    Location

    Currently not on view

    Credit Line

    Gift of Ben Wharton Rau and Margery Felsenthal Rau

    date attributed by donor

    1942

    date made

    1950s

    ID Number

    1977.1141.18

    accession number

    1977.1141

    catalog number

    336402

    Object Name

    protractor

    Physical Description

    plastic (overall material)

    Measurements

    overall: .2 cm x 40.3 cm x 21.7 cm; 3/32 in x 15 7/8 in x 8 17/32 in

    place made

    United States: Illinois, Chicago

    See more items in

    Medicine and Science: Mathematics
    Science & Mathematics
    Protractors

    Data Source

    National Museum of American History

    Subject

    Mathematics
    Protractor
    Artillery

    Metadata Usage

    CC0

    Link to Original Record

    https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a7-248d-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

    Record ID

    nmah_904370

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