Triangular Open Divided Scale Signed William Minifee

This 12-inch triangular boxwood architect's rule has indentations along each side. On one side, one edge has a scale divided to 1/16" and numbered by ones from 0 to 12. The other edge has scales for 2" and 4" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 2" and numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 2, and from right to left by ones from 0 to 1. This side is marked: W^M MINIFIE. BALTIMORE.

One edge of the second side has scales for 1/2" and 1" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1/2", numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 20 and from right to left by ones from 0 to 10. The other edge has scales for 1/8" and 1/4" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1/8", numbered from left to right by twos from 0 to 92 and from right to left by twos from 0 to 46. A white sticker on this side is marked: 786.

One edge of the third side has scales for 3/8" and 3/4" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 3/8", numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 28 and from right to left by ones from 0 to 14. The other edge has scales for 1-1/2" and 3" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1-1/2", numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 4 and from right to left by ones from 0 to 2.

William Minifie (1805–1880) apprenticed as a cabinetmaker in England before moving to Baltimore in 1828. He became an architect and builder, professor of drawing at Central High School in Baltimore, and author of a successful textbook on geometrical drawing. A Textbook of Geometrical Drawing (Baltimore, 1849) does not, however, contain any illustrations of drawing instruments. In 1847 he purchased the bookstore that became Wm. Minifie (adding "& Son" in 1868), selling stationery and artist’s materials. The Maryland Historical Society holds his journal, MS 1993 and 1993.1, and photographs of his home at 80 N. Greene St. around 1870, the Baxley Family Collection, PP90. (Minifie's daughter, Gertrude, married the pharmacist Jackson Brown Baxley in 1865.)

The previous owner collected more than 1,200 hand tools and machine tools and displayed them at his family's building company in Baltimore, Md. This object was item number 786 in his collection.

References: C. Herbert Baxley, "Travel in the 1830s: The Diary of William Minifie," Maryland Historical Magazine 78 (1983): 287–296; Baltimore City Directories of 1863–64 (p. 192) and 1879 (p. 535).

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