On 05/01/2014 05:56 AM, Roy Smith wrote:
In article <ljsghc$65b$1...@speranza.aioe.org>,
Mark H Harris <harrismh...@gmail.com> wrote:
Absolutely, snort. I still have my K&E (Keuffel & Esser Co. N.Y.);
made of wood... (when ships were wood, and men were steel, and sheep ran
scared) ... to get to the S L T scales I have to pull the slide out
(turn it over) and reinsert it. You're right, the CF and DF scales are
missing, but the A B scales have the π symbol where it should be (more
or less). Mine is the 4058 C model, and you're right... has maths
equivalents and conversions printed on the back...
For those who have no idea what we're talking about, take a look at
http://www.ted.com/talks/clifford_stoll_on_everything. If you just want
to see what you do with a slide rule, fast forward to 14:20, but you
really owe it to yourself to invest the 18 minutes to watch the whole
thing.
Anyone (besides me) ever seen a cylindrical slide rule? I have one -- unfortunately misplaced
at the moment. :-(
The scales were helical around a cylinder giving (it was claimed) to be the equivalent of a
five-foot rule. But that still only gave one additional significant digit. Only two scales,
however, which limited its use to multiply/divide and logs. But interesting.
I just did a quick google search and found a picture of one on e-bay, asking price of $175.
This price rather surprised me because when I bought mine new (probably 45 or so years ago) I'm
sure I didn't pay more than around $25-$30 for it. And mine is in far better condition than the
one in the e-bay photo. I recently ran across mine, but promptly misplaced it again (long story
-- don't ask...). I'll have to look for it again. (And no, mine is not for sale when/if I find
it again.)
-=- Larry -=-
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