Object Details
Description
This brass circular protractor is divided by single degrees and marked every thirty degrees in the clockwise direction with Japanese characters facing outwards and representing the Chinese zodiac: mouse, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, and boar. Four arms extend toward the center of the protractor and meet around an open circle 3 cm. in diameter. The circle is open, except for a protrusion containing a pinhole at the origin point.
The Japanese Empire Department of Education assembled an extensive exhibit of books, reports, examinations, maps, photographs, paintings, classroom equipment, medical apparatus, and drawing instruments for the 1876 World's Fair, the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Five types of protractors were included in the display, two of which survive in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
See also ID Number MA.261305.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Transfer from the Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior
date made
1876
ID Number
MA.261306
accession number
51116
catalog number
261306
Object Name
protractor
Physical Description
brass (overall material)
Measurements
overall: .2 cm x 10.8 cm x 10.8 cm; 3/32 in x 4 1/4 in x 4 1/4 in
place made
Japan
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Protractors
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Protractor
Expositions and Fairs
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_904445