Object Details
Description
This European brass rule consists of twelve segments, ten that are 10.5 cm (4-1/4") long and two that are 9.6 cm (3-3/4") long. The segments are riveted together end to end to form a rule about 104 cm (41") long. On one side the rule has scales for Paris and London inches, numbered by ones from 1 to 36. The other side has scales for Venice and Vienna inches, numbered by ones from 1 to 36. On each of the four scales, the first inch is divided to 1/12" and the rest are divided to 1/2".
According to the rule, the Paris inch was 1-3/32" long, the London inch was 1", the Venice inch was 1-1/8", and the Vienna inch was 1-1/32". These lengths are within range of the pre-metric system national standards reported by contemporary arithmetic textbooks and modern historians.
References: Charles Hutton, A Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary, new ed. (London, 1815), ii:35–36; Philip E. Stanley, A Source Book for Rule Collectors (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2003), 242–252.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Hermon W. Farwell
date made
18th century
ID Number
MA.335403
accession number
319921
catalog number
335403
Object Name
rule, folding
scale rule, folding
Physical Description
brass (overall material)
Measurements
overall: .1 cm x 105 cm x 1.1 cm; 1/32 in x 41 11/32 in x 7/16 in
place made
Europe
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_904468