Object Details
Description
This 18 cm brass ruler is divided to millimeters along one edge. An oval (0) is stamped over the dividing line for the fifth, tenth, and fifteenth units. The other edge is divided into six units of 1-3/16" (3 cm). Each unit is thus roughly equivalent to the sun, a traditional Japanese unit of length that is 1/10 of a shaku, a "foot" measure. The units are subdivided into 50 parts. Each unit is marked with a small "0." The fifth units has a row of three zeroes above the "0."
The Japanese Empire Department of Education displayed this rule at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. It then was held by the Museum of the U.S. Bureau of Education before transfer to the Smithsonian in 1910. For more information, see MA.261298 and MA.261313.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Transfer from Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior
date made
before 1876
ID Number
MA.261291
catalog number
261291
accession number
51116
Object Name
scale rule
rule
Physical Description
brass (overall material)
Measurements
overall: .2 cm x 18.3 cm x 1.8 cm; 3/32 in x 7 7/32 in x 23/32 in
place made
Japan
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Scale Rules
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Expositions and Fairs
Rule, Measuring
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1215114