Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
(OP)
Welcome to a new thread about old things.
The original Slide Rules Collecting thread is now 120+ posts and more than two years old. So it is time to close it and start a new one.
Collecting antique, old, and yesterday's calculating devices is a fascinating hobby. I have learnt about history, commerce, science history and lots of other things that I always find interesting. I have met nice people and - believe it or not - also held little speeches on the subject. Without being hit by rotten eggs and tomatoes!
Slide Rules are still my main interest. But there are also other interesting devices like mechanical calculators, old electronic calculators, drawing instruments, planimeters and what have you. It would be interseting to hear about those things as well.
Welcome!
The original Slide Rules Collecting thread is now 120+ posts and more than two years old. So it is time to close it and start a new one.
Collecting antique, old, and yesterday's calculating devices is a fascinating hobby. I have learnt about history, commerce, science history and lots of other things that I always find interesting. I have met nice people and - believe it or not - also held little speeches on the subject. Without being hit by rotten eggs and tomatoes!
Slide Rules are still my main interest. But there are also other interesting devices like mechanical calculators, old electronic calculators, drawing instruments, planimeters and what have you. It would be interseting to hear about those things as well.
Welcome!
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
And what is a drafting board without the appropriate protractor head on it? Still want to get me one of those, and find room for it in the house.
--Scott
http://wertel.eng.pro
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
...the wheel tends to get "rounder" everytime somebody shortens the "chord" distance and increases the "number" of flat-sided facits in Archemedes' PI-approximation.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
http://www.hoylegrips.com/rulers.htm
I never built a ship but they will do curves of any kind.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Needing a knife to both scratch off print and for on linen drawings to cut out sections that were beyond hope due to excessive erasing and then replacing with fresh linen.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
TTFN
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RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Adjustable curves with anchors (for lofting)
Eradicator fluid (for non-erase sepias)
Electric eraser
Exacto knife
"Puffy" bag
Horsehair brush
Kneaded rubber
Proportional dividers
Emory paper
Plastic erasers and spit (for ink on mylar)
Template collections
Compass extensions (for BIG circles)
HB, F, H, etc leads
Adjustable point inker
Non-photo blue pencils
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
In fact I was surprised just how many 'old' hand drafting tools they had.
When I still had to do hand changes to old drawings back in 99 in the UK I couldn't find the tools, I had to beg borrow & steal them!
So is the US behind the times, did I not look well back in Blighty or is it because my town has a naval engineering base and a college that has engineering classes?
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
What no Pounce? I have a couple of cans butdon't use them. I just collect old stuff when it's handy.
I also have a brand new in the box Ames Lettering Guide.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Didn't like Pounce, always seemed to leave my drawing dirtier than it was before I applied it.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
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RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
I had my favorite brands that I can't find anymore. My favorite was the "pencial chucker." It had the long stick of graphite that was about 2mm in diameter that you had to sharpen. The pencil was no more than an ergonomic collet to hold onto the lead.
I still have my erasing shield, dividers, compass, triangles, french curves, circle templates, elliptical templates (for doing iso views), and shape templates for arrowheads, balloons, and flag notes.
But more on topic with slide rules, what about all the handy slide charts? Ones for bolt sizes, wrench clearances, spring and dowel pins, etc.?
--Scott
http://wertel.eng.pro
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
old field guy
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
http://www.hpmuseum.org/
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
This was replaced with a more advanced model with extra maths functions including the ability to do cube roots. It still had the light up tubes and the cube root took about 13 seconds to complete with the tubes flashing numbers as the iteration took place until the final figure was arrived at.
The first pocket one I had was a Sharp with memory, some maths functions and a red LED display. It was battery/mains (rechargeable battery) and had a metal case finished in black. Looked the dogs bo****ks in those days!
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
How about pantagraphs?
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
"Behind"?
TTFN
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RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
TTFN
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RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Take your pick!
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/d.htm
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/dog's%20bollocks.html
http://www.oed.com/bbcwords/dog-bollocks-new.html
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
dogs bo***ks = muts nuts.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Now you did it, your second link spelled it out.
Oops?
B.E.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planimeter
http:
ht
TTFN
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RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
And I also found out that I had been hypercorrect in my spelling. It is NOT a "metre" it is a "meter" - because it measures.
But that sliding... No, I don't quite trust it. No more than I trust electronic devices.
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
One of my very first task was to learn to use the planimeter to verify any questionable results by the accounting department. I don't know why the girls were far better at it than me and I never got any numbers changed.
We made use of the pantograph big time in the manufacture of spinnerettes of any shape other than round . Our machine was developed in the early 60's prior to the advent on any NC controls. We used circular cams and used the pantograph to translate the circular motion to X-Y movement and at the same time reduce the output motion by a factor up to 50:1. By using this approach we could cut almost any figure one could draw.
These machines are still in use today.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
There was a device that connected to the cylinder of an engine that drew a chart of pressure vs positoin of the piston. Memory is hazy on this i can remember the device that measured the pressure. You had to wrap graph paper around it and it rotated.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
--------------------------------------
100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
This involved firing up the gas fired boiler to produce the steam, monitoring the gas flow and steam produced, running the engine, doing a brake test and getting the indicator diagram on the steam cylinder which was then measured with a planimeter.
It was great fun, real practical test work. The flywheel had an internal recess into which you ran water to cool the brake surface, fine then rotating but as it came to a stop one lad was too close and got water all over his trousers and shoes!
I suppose now elf'n safety would mean you'd be watching a thirty year old film of it.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
I actually ran indicator diagrams on real live steam engines. These engines were the prime mover on IR 5CVE Hyper Compressors. We ran a diagram on one engine out of 5 a week. We would run one diagram and the mechanic would tune the valves and we would rerun the diagram. I mentioned before that we had very dedicated mechanic that keep these machines running so 99% of the time the diagrams looked like textbook examples. Even diagrams taken a year apart would fall right on the previous diagram.
We used a Elliot as shown on this site.
http://www.prestonservices.co.uk/instruments.htm
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
My encounters with the Orsat started when I started school under the CO-OP plan. The lab where I worked accomplished around 30 Carbon Analysis a day using a modified Orsat to measure Carbon in CI, CS, and SS by means of combustion in an O2 atmosphere. This instrument was quite elaborate in that it had 3 different size volumetric chambers for measuring.
During my career in the chemical industry we used the Orsat to monitor the regeneration by steam/air oxidation of metallic catalyst, measuring O2 in the off gas of an air oxidation process, monitoring the inert gas systems, and keeping tabs on a bio-oxidation process and few more.
In my early days it seemed like every where I went I was lugging the Orsat and a volumetric gas flow meter around as I had become the expert due to my previous experience with same.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
And, came to think of a real old one, the Schwackhöfer Hygrometer. Anyone knows about that?
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
I forgot one very important use of the Orsat when I started to work in the chemical industry. It was used to check the atmosphere for vessel entries. It and and the MSA explosimeter were the tools clear a vessel for entry.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
The board is a K&E "Pretty Neat" and they were. Great for making sketches.
Even better was the "Size Matic". A mechanical calculator that would add and subtract feet, inches and fractions of inches ( to 1/16 inch).
The rolling rule is not unique or old, however it is the only thing I have made in Australia.
[IMG]http://i17.tinypic.com/52yfp6f.jpg[/IMG]
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
That Pretty Neat board. Is it made by Keuffel & Esser? The famous Slide Rule maker?
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
It was late and when I did that and was concentrating on getting the photo on the site. IT's not K&E it's Dietzgen. Eugene Dietzgen - the one who made slide rules among other things.
Here's all I can find on the web.
http://b
The website is very interesting. I am going to spend some time there.
These were made in several sizesI ahve the the 379B 8-1/2 x 11 and the 379H 11x 17.
They were bought 40 years ago. I have ordered some for a job about 10 or 15 years ago. I wouldn't be supprized if there not still meing mad somewhere.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
About the time I graduated and went to work, in my second job I worked in an engineering department. The company wouldn't buy us an electronic calculator. I bought myself a HP 45 or 55 (10 step programmable) I can't remember but what I do remember is that it cost a month's salary and wouldn't fit in my pocket. But I bought it out of my personal funds. My manager had a TI of some kind that he too, bought with his personal funds. On crunch days when we had some real important project to get out I would just bring my slide rule to work and leave the calculator home. He hated it but what could he say. I kept telling him to reimburse me for the calculator and I'd bring it in every day.
The company had a surplus equipment sale and I had had some experience in successfully bidding on surplus military equipment so I decided to try my skills and put in a bid on an old electric rotary calculator. I won the bid and took the thing to my office and cranked it up. Immediately engineers from neighboring offices (they weren't cubes in those days, but the walls didn't go all the way to the ceiling either) came pouring in and began to lament that the previous occupant of my space had driven them nuts with an electric rotary calculator and they even identified the one that I had bid on and won as his old machine by a chipped key on the front of it. They were sick about it's return to the department. I only tortured them with it for a couple of days before I quit using it. I think if I searched in some storage sheds or the attic, I could find it.
rmw
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
One good thing is that I have one less item on my "to-do" list.
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Daisy-wheel printer
Original Osborne 1
9-track computer tape
8-in floppy disk (unfortunately, I never had the drive itself)
Oddly, dot-matrix printers are still present. My doctor's office uses a bunch of Okidata dot-matrix printers to print multi-part forms.
TTFN
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RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
http://octopus.freeyellow.com/indexsmp.html
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
No one mentioned "Presstype" though...
And how about a "Planimeter".
Mike McCann
McCann Engineering
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
All our older Engineering Standards, Process Data Sheets and any other document that required multiple fonts and sizes were composed on the Varytype.
Our original one was same as the top picture with the wide carriage.
ht
We had just purchased this one when IBM came out with the composer. These were soon overtaken by the larger computers and then the PC.
http
brochure/
As stated previously have spent many hours using the planimeter to tantalize flow on circular charts used on Republic Instrument's Flow Meters.
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
That Varityper is news to me. Very interesting. Want one!
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
Here is a sliderule for your collection...
http:/
JHG
RE: Slide Rules, Calculators and other fun stuff
But, there is a rather big error in the calculations with this device. If you align A and B index (C and D are of course also aligned, no problem there) and then read the 10 on A and B scales, you will see that 1x10 = 9.99. That is a 1 % error and that is not typical at all for even the crudest slide rule.
I see no reason why this is so. Is it emphasize that slide rules are analog devices and hence not to be trusted? Or is it my computer that errs?
Anyhow. It is an otherwise beautifully made model. Smooth operation and nice colours.
But, why the error?
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...