Instructions for Otis King's Pocket Calculator

This pamphlet folds out to eight pages and was printed on light green paper by Carbic Limited, the British manufacturer of Otis King's Pocket Calculator, a cylindrical slide rule. Carbic's address on the pamphlet—171, Seymour Place, London, W.I.—is scratched out and reprinted as 54, Dundonald Road, London, S.W.19. Dundonald Road was the last known location for Carbic, and the company was there by 1959. The calculator was available by mail order in 1960 for 62s. 6d. (roughly $175.00).

The pamphlet provides details of the scales on the Model K (which performed multiplication and division) and the Model L (which also provided readings of logarithms for determining roots and powers). The examples also include problems of proportion, percentages, constant factors, and calculations in pounds sterling (before decimalization of British currency). The last three pages provide instructions for operating the instrument.

See also 1987.0788.01 and 1987.0788.07.

Reference: "Finding the Answer is Simplicity Itself," advertisement for the Otis King Pocket Calculator, The New Scientist 5, no. 121 (March 12, 1959): 548 and 8, no. 213 (December 15, 1960): 1568.

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