Object Details
- Description
- Edwin Thacher, the inventor of the cylindrical slide rule bearing his name, published instructions for using the instrument as Thacher's Calculating Instrument or Cylindrical Slide-Rule (New York: Van Nostrand, 1884). Keuffel & Esser of New York, which distributed and, later, manufactured Thacher slide rules, reprinted the booklet in 1903 and 1907 as Directions for Using Thacher's Calculating Instrument. This copy was printed in 1907 and sold for one dollar.
- The booklet explained the processes for calculations involving multiplication, division, proportion, powers, and square and cube roots. Thacher also provided solved examples for practice. He suggested "special applications" for his instrument, including conversion of weights and measures; currency exchange; pro-rating among accounts; calculating taxes, investment returns, and payrolls; and physical computations such as mechanical power, centrifugal force, and mensuration. K&E's Improved Reckoning Machine is advertised at the back of the booklet.
- See also MA.327886.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- maker
- Keuffel & Esser Co.
- date made
- 1907
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 22.3 cm x 14.8 cm x .5 cm; 8 25/32 in x 5 13/16 in x 3/16 in
- Object Name
- book
