Object Details
Description
This square, tapering wooden rule has a brass tip around the narrow end. Three sides are finely carved with fruit and vines, possibly oranges and pineapples. The fourth side is marked with inlaid brass dots: ANNO IIV DB 1757 NAVW. Inlaid brass bars provide measuring marks that are 1, 3.8, 6, 10.2, 18.7, 26, and 53 cm from the wide end. The spacing of the marks is similar to those on 318246. The overall length of the rule is 70 cm (27-1/2"), which is close to the usual length for a Flemish ell (68.6 cm, 27").
Reference: Herbert Arthur Klein, The Science of Measurement: A Historical Survey (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974), 57.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1757
ID Number
MA.319778
accession number
239771
catalog number
319778
Object Name
rule
scale rule
Physical Description
brass (overall material)
wood (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 2.5 cm x 70 cm x 2.6 cm; 31/32 in x 27 9/16 in x 1 1/32 in
place made
Flanders
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Scale Rules
Measuring & Mapping
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Rule, Measuring
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_904637