Editorial New Members - Lovett

ISSN 1466-3570

June 2004 No. 17

NEWSLETTER of the UK SLIDE RULE CIRCLE

Editor: Colin Barnes, 189 Mildenhall Road, Fordham, Ely, Cambs. CB7 5NW England

Tel: 01638 720317 e-mail: [email protected]

1 ©2004 The UK Slide Rule Circle and the contributors

Editorial

Perhaps I was a little ambitious when preparing our original Membership Directory.

With the inclusion of members specialities and other collecting interests it was a little cumbersome and the advantages minimal. The concept was, I believe, sound and I think

it helped to bring the UKSRC together as a group. Following that edition I tried a copy supplied in booklet form which brought with it additional mailing costs. Now that we are

better established and there are wider direct contacts between ourselves these features seem less important and I have reverted to a simple two-sheet Directory. The usual phrase “for your convenience” springs to mind but I admit the change is mainly for mine! I hope the new format will be acceptable but as ever your

comments will be appreciated. It is gratifying to receive so many comments in response to enquiries raised in

these pages and up-dates on articles that have appeared in the Gazettes. This issue of SS is particularly blessed with both these and are very welcome. You may be interested to know that your work goes beyond the confines of the UKSRC membership. Copies of all our publications are deposited at the Legal Deposit Office of the British Library. As a result of

this they are available for public consumption and appear in lists of published works. I receive orders, on an occasional basis, for various books from this country’s leading

book wholesaler and even from abroad. Most recently a copy of The Greifswald Papers (2001) has been supplied. Sadly we get no indication of the ultimate purchaser.

I had mentally determined to use the

long dark evenings of the winter months to follow up a number of projects but somehow

spring came early this year, (have you noticed how Christmas seems to get earlier each

year?), but I complain not. The outdoor slide rule hunting season is with us – good luck.

New Members

Welcome to new members:

Werner Rudowski Aloyiusstrasse 25

44795 Bochum

Germany

Atsushi Tomozawa 5-4-9 Kuriki-dai, Asao-ku

Kawasaki 215-0032 JAPAN

Dr. Valerie Havyatt

37B The Point Road Woolwich

NSW 2110 Australia

Change of address;

Aristotle Tympas

new email: [email protected]

Otto van Poelje

new email: [email protected]

Correction;

Yukio Kubota

Kitamatsu 1561 (not 1562)

Hezzanith and Haversines

again

Paul Wirz, Ph.D., Lucerne, Switzerland

[Gazette 4 carried an article The Hezzanith

Slide Rule and Haversines by Paul Wirz. The

following additional information and enquiry

from Paul has been forwarded by Heinz Joss]

In the preface to my recent paper about

“The Hezzanith Slide Rule and Haversines” (1) my friend Heinz Joss wrote about the

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June 2004

2 www.sliderules.org.uk

“Hezzanith” Carmody Slide Rule. He cited a leaflet mentioning that “a table of Haversines is given on the back of the stock” of this slide rule. Having read preface and paper, David Rance e-mailed to Heinz Joss, that he owns a

Hezzanith slide rule. Photos show however that on the back of the stock there is not a table of haversines, but a collection of “Nautical Data by Capt. Le Patourel, D.S.C.”.

In the well below the slide there are; a table, a formula, an instruction and an example for calculating a “Reduction” - see appendix. So David Rance's slide rule, though a “Hezzanith”, has no connection with Haversines.

As I have some doubt that a really useful table of Haversines can be printed on the restricted area available, I would like very much to see how it was done. Therefore I ask

any reader who owns or can have a look at a “Hezzanith” Carmody slide rule with Haversines table to e-mail Heinz Joss a photo of “the back of the stock” or to report in words

what is to be seen there (2). Appendix:

About the above-mentioned "Reduction" and

its calculation: This has to do with an astronomical problem.

When a star transits the meridian it reaches the maximum of its altitude, measured in degrees above the horizon. After the transit

its altitude decreases, and it is the extent of this fall which is called “reduction”. (I think that “reduction” is used in the sense of “correction”, to be applied in an astronomical observation when a certain star is near, but not exactly on the meridian.) The calculation of this reduction by

spherical trigonometry is somewhat cumbersome. Provided that not too much time has lapsed since the meridian passage, say, not more than half an hour, a very simple

procedure can be used to find the reduction with an error of not more than about one minute of arc. This procedure is shown on page 26 of Capt. Le Patourels's “Slide Rule Manual for the use of Seamen”, printed 1928, published by HEATH & Co., London, S.E. 9 (3), reprinted 2003 by the UK Slide Rule Circle. The page, titled “Ex-Meridian Table”,

shows exactly the same table, formula,

instruction and example as we find in the well of David Rance's slide rule.

The left-hand column of the table is

titled “Lat. & Dec.”, meaning latitude and declination respectively. Latitude is the geographical latitude of the observer, declination is the "astrographical" latitude of

the observed star. The values rise from 1° to

64° in steps of 1°. The right-hand column is titled “K”; this is just an intermediate number

to be used in the formula. (An analysis shows

that K is nothing else than 30.56⋅tan[Lat.].) A further value to be entered in the formula is “H.A.”, the hour angle. In the present context this value may be taken as the time lapsed

since the meridian passage of the star.

Now in the words of our Captain's instruction: “Pick out K for Latitude and Declination add for contrary and subtract for same names, call

result K. Square minutes of Hour Angle,

divide by K.” - All clear?

Though not exemplified by the Captain, the calculation of the reduction might be of use in position finding or time

determination by astronomical means. (1) Paul Wirz, "The Hezzanith Slide Rule and

Haversines", Slide Rule Gazette, issue 4, autumn 2003.

(2) Heinz Joss' e-mail address:

[email protected] (3) HEATH & Co. produced, much later, the

Hezzanith Slide Rules.

Bookworm

Non-electronic Calculating Apparatus, an

Illustrated Listing of 2900+ GB Patent

Specifications, 1731-1999 , Bruce O. B. Williams, UKSRC, ISBN 0 9535039 7 6 Code:02/06

For full details see enclosed flyer.

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Since mentioning the reprint of Lacroix and Ragot’s Graphic Table combining Logarithms and Anti-Logarithms, efforts to obtain permission for reprinting have met with no response from the copyright holders. It seems reasonable to assume that they have no

objections and therefore this 55 page booklet can now be considered available.

Two further instruction booklets have been added to our range of reprints.

It’s EASY to use your POST slide rule. 20pp. Code 16/12 Price: £3.00. A general instruction book from the Frederick Post Company, Chicago.

Instructions for the use of the STANLEY Complex-Number Slide Rule. 10pp. Code 16/13 Price £1.00. Originally published by W F Stanley & Co. Ltd. These instructions are for the Complex-Number slide rule designed by D J Whythe in about 1960 and constructed in the form of the well-known Stanley/Fuller. See Len Peach’s article in this issue.

100 Years Dennert & Pape, Aristo-Werke,

Hamburg. UKSRC, ISBN 0 9535039 8 4.

67 pages in A4 format. Code: 14/00

This work was originally published

by Dennerts & Pape in 1962 to celebrate 100years of manufacturing. This reprint contains the German text and original illustrations (many in colour) complete with English translation by Paul Garcia, Rodger Shepherd MD, and Dr. Klaus Kuehn.

Price: £16.00 (post paid UK), €25, $25 (post paid EU and USA)

Proceedings of IM 2003. A number of copies of the Proceedings of the International Meeting held in Holland last year are still

available at £14.00 inc. UK postage.

IM 2004

The 10th International Meeting of

Slide Rule and Calculating Machine Collectors is to be held at the Gräfliches Parkhotel in Bad Driburg, Germany, from the 24 to 26 September, 2004. On Sunday 26th

September there will be an opportunity to take advantage of a guided tour of the Heinz Nixdorf Museumsforum in Paderborn.

Full details of the programme, registration, hotel and other arrangements can be found under “IM2004” at www.IM2001.de

Letters to the Editor

Preferred Numbers

Sir,

With reference to Eugene Paulin’s article on Preferred Numbers, I recall from my early days in electronics, that resistors (mentioned on p.5) had preferred values (to two digits) of;

10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 27, 33, 39, 47, 56, 68, 82, 117. These approximate to R12 values; 1, 1.12, 1.47, 1.78, 2.154, 2.61, 3.16, 3.83,

4.64, 5.62, 6.81, 8.254, 10. The equi-tempered octave in music, involving

212 is probably the most common of

preferred numbers. George Duckworth

Addruler

Sir, The Addruler featured in SS 16 is to the patent of McLelland, US Patent No. 532241 dated

8th January, 1895. Bruce Williams

Sir, The Addruler shown in SS16 was known in the USA as the “Perfection Self-Adding Ruler. US Patent No. 532241 shows the inventor as Robert E. McLelland of Williamsville in the

county of Sangamon and State of Illinois who claims to have “invented a new and useful Improvement in Computing Machines”.

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The text of the patent provides concise instructions for the use of the ruler.

Ed. Chamberlain

Drawing from US Pat. 532241

[Copies of the full patent available on request.

SAE please]

Note: The Tesseract catalogue, Spring 2004, lists an example of this ruler for sale. They

note that their example is marked “Columbus Nov. Co., Manufacturers, New York” and note that “This is the first example of this unusual American calculating rule we have seen.”

Price: $595 !! Ed.

Pepys

Sir The reference to Pepys (SS16) reminded me that I had seen that quote many years ago when the first full, modern, unexpurgated

edition of the diaries came out in the 1970s. Poor old Samuel, his eyesight was failing by the late 1660s and he stopped keeping the diaries when he feared he was going blind. He never did go blind, but I wonder how much use he got from his slide rule. He was always a bit of a gadget man. Part of

the long entry for Saturday, March 14th 1668, when he was working & shopping in the morning and throwing a lunch party. “......I away home and there do find everything

in mighty good order; only my wife not

dressed, which troubles me. Anon comes my

company, viz., my Lord Hinchingbrooke and

his Lady, Sir Ph. Carteret and his Lady,

Godolphin and my Cozen Roger and Creed

and mighty merry; and by and by to dinner,

which was very good and plentiful (I should

have said, and Mr George Mountague, who

came at a very little warning, which was

exceeding kind of him): and there among

other things, my Lord had Sir Samuel

Morland's late invention for the casting up of

sums of 0l. 0s. 0d.; which is very pretty, but

not very useful. ........and with extraordinary

pleasure all the afternoon together, eating and

looking over my closet. .........About 5 a-clock

they went, then my wife and I abroad by coach

into Moorefields, only for a little ayre; and so

home again, staying nowhere and then up to

her chamber, there to talk with pleasure of

this day's passages, and so to bed.”

An editor's note points out that Morland described his calculator as;

“A new and most useful instrument for addition and subtraction of pounds, shillings, pence and farthings, without charging the memory, disturbing the mind, or exposing the

operator to any uncertainty....invented and presented to....Charles II in 1666”

Derek Slater

MIR

After some four years as Editor of the Dutch Kring’s newletter MIR, Simon van der Salm

steps down. Harrie van Dooren resumes editorship, a post he held before Simon’s tenure. Simon has become a member of the UKSRC and Harrie will receive complimentary copies of Skid Stick. Harrie can be contacted at:

Twelloseweg 24a 7439 AT Steenenkamer

The Netherlands

Musings 17 Peter Hopp

An ongoing area of debate and research is who did and who did not make slide rules. Who were makers and who were retailers is not obvious, and because a slide rule has a name on it does NOT mean that company made it. Just recently we had it confirmed that a well-known ‘maker’, Jakar, never made slide rules. What was even more surprising to me is

that they were, and indeed still are, a British retailing firm who had slide rules made for them by a whole host of well-known

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manufacturers in the UK as well as Japan. I keep repeating that we must keep an open-mind when researching, all too often the next piece of information reverses the previous conclusion, fascinating and frustrating as that may be. I have also received new information about slide

rule “manufacturers” in Eastern Europe, yet more pieces of the incomplete jigsaw to sort and place.

Following on from above, a question from SS12 as to who owned the “dozy lion” logo has also finally been resolved – it was Bradburn. However in 1888 they were taken over by Preston who continued with the famous “Lion Brand” and other tools from the Bradburn stable. Ultimately in about 1930 Rabone bought Preston. I was particularly

fascinated that this was much as I had speculated at the time, but I must stress it was pure speculation. Incidentally, the “1909 Preston Catalogue” from Astragal makes

fascinating reading. In a different way (Preston sold a plethora of tools, particularly a profusion of rules of all types, but no hammers) it goes a small way to confirming Karl Marx’s

amazement that there were 500 different hammers made in the UK in the late 19th century! How’s that for a useless fact?

I know I’m not alone in enjoying anecdotes from “the good old days” though I also recognise that they were not always that “good”! Courtesy of Ray Hems comes a

delightful bit of history discussed on the e-groups chat line. This covered the use of mechanical calculators and lots of manpower after WWII to realise mathematical answers

now achieved in a tiny fraction of the time by computers. My time as an apprentice was the early 1960’s when electronic desk calculators were overtaking mechanical calculators. We had a large and very expensive Facit with a bank of Nixie tubes peeping out along the top edge. This had to be “signed for” and was only allowed out if you could “prove” the need

for its 13-digit accuracy. As the “apprentice” I was stuck with a load of reliability and system availability calculations (lots of 9’s divided by lots more 9’s type stuff) which either needed

days with 7- figure logs or hours with this calculator. This was good enough reason to be allowed to use it, and it was duly perched on my desk gently glowing. Desks did not have power sockets on them at that time, (slide rules are battery-less!) so the cable was suitably “extended” to the nearest wall socket. Later, while walking past my foot caught the cable,

and I can still see the calculator perform a very elegant swallow dive over quite a long distance

and land with a hell of an expensive crash on the lino covered concrete floor - carpet, what carpet? Ouch! All the Nixie tubes had been shaken from their bases and were spread to the four winds, but otherwise there was no obvious damage. Finding and replacing the tubes and

then switching on produced a working calculator, swiftly returned to stores before it could possibly “fail” again! How much modern equipment can you say that for?

Elsewhere in the same e-group discussion was confirmation of the computer power required for lens calculations I mentioned in Musings 8. It was said that Carl Zeiss in pre WWII Germany used 40 maths and physics students with adding machines and log tables for 3 months to do the calculations for a single lens – Wow, 10 man years effort per lens calculation!

Elsewhere in this issue is a request for readers to come up with similar examples from your own backgrounds, please make the effort, I will happily collate. It is hard for our younger

readers to understand just how manpower intensive and time consuming “clever” calculation was in pre-computer times.

My thanks to John St Clair for this excellent and relevant image used on e-Bay to sell a B-H Radiac slide rule. It comes from the film “Dr Strangelove” starring a hero of mine,

Peter Sellers, with the following quotes: PRESIDENT MUFFLEY: How long would you have to stay down there? DR. STRANGELOVE: Well let's see now

ah... cobalt thorium G... Radioactive half-life

of uh, ... hmm… I would think that uh...

possibly uh... one hundred years.

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The Peaceful Arts

George Duckworth has forwarded an

extract from “A Short History of

Mathematics” by Vera Sandford and published in 1930 by the Houghton Mifflin Company of the USA. Chapter XII is entitled

“Calculating Devices” with sections on Napier’s Rods, Sector Compasses, the Slide Rule and Calculating Machines. Particularly intriguing are the illustrations. Those of the

‘Etruscan Compasses’, ‘Napier’s Rods’, ‘Sector Compasses’ and William Oughtred (looking left) are credited to the collection of “Professor David Eugene Smith, Courtesy of

the Museum of the Peaceful Arts, New York City”. Can anyone shed light on the Museum of Peaceful Arts and the good, and

one assumes, also peaceful Professor.

Simply Simple

This simple little plastic slide rule is by Tecnostyl of Italy. It really could not be simpler, so simple as to be of very limited use despite the inclusion of a number of gauge

points. Briefly, there are two linear scales, 0-4" and 0-100mm, the length of the logarithmic scales is 110mm. The “lower” scale, with serrated edge, is divided and marked in red.

There is no cursor. The gauge points are as follows: “upper scale” – C (1.273), δ" (206265), π, δ' (3437.74), δ" (636620). “lower scale” – C (Scale marked but undesignated), δ", π, δ".

Section showing interlocking sections.

The Complex-Number

Slide Rule D Len Peach

Recently I reviewed all my Skid

Stick newsletters and realised one interesting branch of slide rules that has not yet been featured, namely the Complex-Number Slide Rule. Because I have no real idea who else,

other than Stanley manufactured such tools, this article seeks to prise some wider information on the subject out of the woodwork.

Being fortunate to have a Stanley Complex-Number rule in my display, it seemed a good time to air the subject and discover if anyone else made such rules and

how they were configured. Although it seems to me that a linear rule would have to be large as slide rule go, it would not be unpractical.

The family resemblance of the

Stanley Complex-Number rule to the Fuller helical slide rule is obvious, it shares the same chassis and requires the same articulation, but there the similarity ends as the scaling on the outer cylinder clearly shows. It even shares the same storage box.

In the same way an ordinary slide rule multiplies or divides real numbers by

adding or subtracting their logarithms plotted along a line, so this Stanley Complex-Number slide rule operates by adding or subtracting the logarithms of complex numbers plotted on the

surface of the cylinder. The numbers are multiplied or divided by sliding and rotating the cylinder.

In three simple movements the rule

multiplies or divides any two complex numbers expressed in either rectangular or polar form. The rule also provides a means of

calculating a + b2 2

where ‘a’ and ‘b’ are

known, or converting a complex number from

rectangular to polar form and vice versa. The accuracy of calculation is similar to that of a 5" pocket rectilinear slide rule.

It consists principally of a cylinder on

which the complex numbers are marked in the form of loci of numbers having real and imaginary points. Any given complex number

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is represented in rectangular form by the intersection of the appropriate loci. Scales of phase are also engraved which, with the transparent cursors, are used when the number is expressed in polar form. The scales divide the surface of the cylinder into four equal

regions corresponding to the four quadrants of the familiar Argand diagram. As an aid, the corresponding quadrant of the Argand diagram is shown shaded above each of the

four regions on the cylinder. The numbers to be multiplied or

divided are looted on the cylinder in either rectangular or polar form by positioning the cursors and the cylinder. The result is read in either form from the final position of the cylinder relative to the cursor.

As with an ordinary slide rule, the

position of the decimal place must be determined by inspection. When the number is expressed in rectangular form, the real and imaginary parts are both scaled by the same

power of ten. When the number is in polar form, only the modulus is scaled.

One thing I have learned is that this Stanley rule was devised/designed/invented by

D. J. Whythe B.Sc(Eng), A.M.I.E.E., A.C.G.I. in about 1960 while working for the BBC.

As a mathematical tool it is a ‘class act’, but because the early programmable

electronic calculators exceeded the capabilities of this brilliant concept, it faded quickly from the scene with all the other regular slide rules. A real shame, because such a loss has done

mathematics no favours at all. So fellow collectors, what can you

add to this subject to give a more complete picture of this unique branch of slide rules?

Do you have, or do you know of any other makes of Complex-Number Slide Rules? If so please share, it could result in a more comprehensive overview for a Gazette article. [See: Fuller Style Calculators, Peter Hopp,

Gazette 1,How Many Fuller’s make 5, Peter

Hopp, Gazette 4, also JOS Vols. 4.1, 5.1 and

8.1]

Slide Rule v Computer Colin Barnes

Peter Hopp, with his seemingly inexhaustible supply of slide rule references, recently lent me a copy of “To Engineer is

Human” by Henry Petroski. This book has a copyright date of 1982 and the paperback edition I refer to is dated 1992. The theme of the book is the discovery of reasons for failure

in engineering designs and contains a special chapter on the transference of calculating power from slide rule to computer. Some

extracts giving statistics and background to the engineering use of the slide rule together with cautionary tales of the use of the computer seem particularly relevant.

Twenty-five years ago, the

undisputed symbol of engineering was the

slide rule. Engineering students, who at the

time, were almost all males, carried the “slip

sticks” in scabbard-like cases hanging from

their belts, the older engineers wore small

working models as tie clips that in a pinch

could be used for calculations.

As a student himself, Petroski says $20.00 was a big investment and after taking advice …I chose a popular Keuffel & Esser

model known as the Log Log Duplex

Decitrig… Many of my fellow students also

chose K & E rules, and the company was

selling them at the rate of twenty thousand per

month in the 1950s. Not widely known was that

electronic technology was being developed in

the early 1960s and Petroski reports ...as late as 1967 Keuffel & Esser commissioned a

study on the future that resulted in predictions

of domed cities and three-dimensional

television in the year 2067 – but that did not

predict the demise of the slide rule within five

years. By 1981 K & E was selling its stock of 2,300 slide rules at a rate of about two

hundred per month having been displaced by the electronic calculator, quickly followed by the personal computer.

I am no Luddite but I have always

worried about the over-reliance on the computer and Petroski shares this concern. The computer enables the engineer to design highly complex structures however its

automatic and unthinking analysis may hold little relation to reality and as the engineer has no feel for the structure he is unlikely to notice anything suspicious. Equally a misplaced decimal point or incorrect sign used in either the programme used or inserted by the operator can lead to disaster as happened in the case of the collapse of the two and a half

acre roof covering the Hartford (US) Civic Centre. Contractors reported problems in the course of construction but were assured that ‘computer calculations’ found the structure

safe. The many areas where input errors

and lack of the operators “hands on” experience is a major concern and is not limited to the field of engineering, witness the computer problems experienced by Government departments. The apparent blind faith and the reliance in the computer seems a

very dangerous course to follow and Petroski’s book should be compulsory reading

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for anyone who thinks the computer will solve all his problems. The computer is a marvellous tool but in reality is no more than a very fast filing clerk. Use it wisely and don’t use the excuse that it was “a computer error”.

A.M.L Position Slide Rule an update Ray Hems

I thought I should pass on to you some information from German collector Wolfgang Köberer. Wolfgang contacted me after finding some references from me on the net some years ago (1999!) about my “hohen-rechenschieber” that I had. This is the MHR-1 made by D&P during WW2.

Pictures: Thomas Munstermann

MHR-1 by Dennert & Pape

Wolfagang wrote:

Dear Mr. Hems,

Attached you will find scans of the

pages in the Admiralty Navigation Manual,

Vol. III (1938), the American Practical

Navigator, Vol. I (1977) and the Lehrbuch der

Navigation 2. Teil (1943) that refer to the

MHR and Bygrave A.M.L slide rules. I am

also including information on the UK Patent

for the Bygrave slide rule. I hope this helps in

illuminating some lesser known areas of slide

rule history.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Köberer

Extract from Lehrbuch der Navigation 2. (A fullsize print available on request)

The Admiralty Navigation Manual Vol. III quotes: The Bygrave Slide Rule consists of three concentric tubes, the innermost carrying a scale of logarithmic tangents and the one next to it a scale of logarithmic cosines, both scales being arranged in spiral form. This construction is made possible by dropping a perpendicular from X on the side PZ of the spherical triangle, as in the Ageton method, and solving the two right-angled triangles thus formed.

The American Practical Navigator Vol. I quotes: Bygrave. A cylindrical slide rule was designed by the Englishman Bygrave to solve the navigational triangle divided by dropping a perpendicular from the celestial body to the celestial meridian. This device consists of three concentric tubes. The inner one has a spiral scale of logarithmic tangents, the middle one a spiral scale of logarithmic cosines and the outer one a pointer for each scale. Solution is simple and relatively fast but altered proceedures are required if the azimuth angle is near 90° or the meridian angle or declination is very small. The overall dimensions are about 2½ inches in diameter by 9 inches long. An accuracy of 1' or 2' is generally attainable.

The Bygrave patent No. 162,895 was accepted in 1921. From this we learn that Bygrave, Leonard Charles, gives his address as

Richmond, Surrey and his occupation as

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engineer. In addition to the familiar version of this slide rule, a horizontal type is illustrated in the patent (see below). The construction and method of use for this instrument are given in the patent.

You will see that Wolfgang has done

his research extremely thoroughly, including the Bygraves patent background. Doing a Rod Lovett site literature search, I see that an article has been written about the Bygraves in

Gazette 1, page 7. Hence this up-date to add to our knowledge.

[Since the original article appeared, a

Japanese version of the Bygrave rule has

come to light. Little is known about this other

than its dimensions match closely those

previously given. Our thanks to Joe Bechtol

in the US for the picturesabove. Ed.]

Spring Local Meeting Rolleston on Dove

Dave Nichols

May 9th, 2004

The Spring meeting of the UKSRC

was attended by 11 members who managed to filter their way through the brewing

complexes of Burton-on Trent to find Tom and Sylvia Martin's residence in nearby Rolleston-on-Dove. The members who didn't get lost were Colin Barnes, Brian Lloyd, John Hunt Snr., Peter Hopp, Mick Taylor, Dave Nichols, Ray Hems, Rod Lovett, Wendy Rath, Jerry McCarthy and our host, Tom Martin.

The theme of the meeting was 'Artillery Rules' and most members brought representative devices relating to this theme. Instruments and Slide Rules developed for artillery purposes around the period of the 1st World War were, perhaps, the most numerous,

whilst their more modern plastic or mechanical counterparts appeared to be more complex but no less interesting. The varied selection of fine instruments provided a good

basis for discussion and much head scratching from some attendees.

l. to r. Mick Taylor, Tom Martin & John Hunt Snr.

Aside from the Artillery devices,

members also displayed their latest acquisitions and devices of interest - which resulted in some copious note taking and the inevitable deep discussions amongst members.

After an excellent lunch provided by

Sylvia - during which Tom was able to demonstrate that, after years of fine tuning, his domestic skills were worthy of display - the meeting reconvened to discuss official business.

Peter Hopp demolishes the Pavlova

The likely arrangements for the UK based International Meeting of 2005 were aired but no definite decisions have yet been made pending input from other members.

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Ray Hems who has acted as treasurer for our past International Meetings, announced that, because of other commitments, he would reluctantly have to relinquish his role and the committee is now actively looking for a volunteer to take over this responsibility. Any

member who feels that they may be able to take on these duties should contact a member of the committee.

Other points of general interest were discussed and the meeting closed late afternoon - in good time for members to navigate, once again, the vat which is Burton-on-Trent whilst it was still daylight.

A heartfelt thank-you to Tom for

hosting a very successful meeting, and

particularly to Sylvia for the excellent food and a seemingly endless supply of good coffee, tea and cookies.

Help!

I am writing a book on the shopkeepers and commerce of Old London Bridge. Many businesses plied their trades on this busy thoroughfare over the Thames

including at least two instrument makers. I would like to hear from any member of the UKSRC who might have any snippets of information on any of these traders whether

they be instrument makers or not. Peter Roberts

41 Eastry Sandwich

Kent CT13 OD7 [email protected]

Following the slide rule anecdotes sent to me by readers and included in my “Musings”, I would like to put out a plea for further examples to form the basis for a

possible selection suitable for publication in a future Slide Rule GAZETTE. Stories about the use or misuse of slide rules, humorous or serious are requested and all contributions will

be gratefully received. Peter Hopp

Does anyone recognise this “Fleur-

de-Lys” logo, have other examples or information as to whom it belonged to?

Peter Hopp

?

Ardingly Fair

Hans Alphenaar, whose list of slide rules for sale featured in the last issue of SS, will be attending the Ardingly Antique and

Collectors Fair on July 20th and 21st., 2004. He will have for sale most of his slide rules and mechanical adding machines.

Hans will be delighted to welcome members of the UKSRC to his stand, No. 63 in the Abergavenny Building.

SIF Future dates for the Antique

Scientific and Medical Instrument Fairs are as follows: Sunday 24th October, 2004

Sunday 24th April, 2005

Venue as usual, the Radisson SAS Portman Hotel, London.

Talbot Promotions, [email protected]

Local Meeting Autumn

Peter Hopp has kindly offered to host our meeting this Autumn with a provisional

date of Sunday October 10. As this is some time away, confirmation will be notified in SS 18 (Sept.) together with other details. The theme of Pilot Balloon slide rules has been

suggested but, as this is a somewhat limited field, it is proposed to extend this to meteorological slide rules generally together with any other interesting rules, new

acquisitions etc.

Collection Insurance

The last issue of SS included

information on Connoisseur Policies Limited. Further communication from this company advises that their website has been updated and extended, (www.connoisseurpolicies.com)

Skid Stick Issue 17

June 2004


and that enquiries may be made by telephone on 01306 734600.

Variety

A number of articles and books are available on the subject of gauging, however, few have

had such clear illustrations of the four varieties of cask that are encountered. The following sketches (together with instructions) are taken from Davies University Arithmetic,

American Book Co., 1864 and kindly supplied by John Hunt Snr.

1st Variety – least curvature

2nd Variety – least mean curvature

3rd Variety – greatest mean curvature

4th Variety – greatest curvature

The First Millennium

The following extract, submitted by Peter Hopp, is taken from "The Year 1000" by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger: Little,

Brown and Company, 1999.

“The new Pope's [Sylvester ll in 999] most suspicious innovation of all was his espousing of the abacus, the exotic calculating

machine which was revolutionising the arithmetic of the time. The use of Roman numerals had a paralysing effect on calculation. It was hard enough to add

MCXIV to CXCIX, but to multiply one set of numbers by another was virtually impossible. The scholar Alcuin said that 9,000 should be the upper limit beyond which figuring was not

possible, and when that was written out as MMMMMMMMM one could understand what he meant.

With the abacus, however, these complex calculations could be accomplished with a few flicks of the beads of a counting frame, or, more usually in Western Europe, with the movement of counters on a chequered table - hence the development in England

early in the second millennium of the government counting house, the exchequer. Just as conventional calculations are swallowed up by the modern microchip, so

the mechanism of the abacus obliterated the need to write out figures, speeding calculation in a magical fashion. Its potential effect on the business, intellectual, and scientific processes of its time was comparable to the impact of the computer today.”

Survey

Aston & Mander

Following the spectacular success of the display of Fullers at the International Meeting in 2002 at Leamington Spa, the organisers of the 2005 Meeting have proposed

a similar display of slide rule by Aston & Mander (including rules marked simply Aston).

With this in mind it would be helpful if members can provide a brief summary of rules that they have available for inclusion in such an exhibition. Primarily the number of

rules is of greatest importance but a brief description would also be useful; e.g. 3 A&M, 1 tonnage rule, 2 gunnery rules.

Even if you are unable to provide examples for display, a summary of your A&M rules would be appreciated for the compilation of a database of types

manufactured. Ray Hems has volunteered to collate

this information so please forward all reports

to him. Ray plans to be away on various travels during the next twelve months so please do not expect a rapid response to your submissions.

Ray Hems Elm Villa

Common Road Headley, Thatcham Berks. RG19 8LT

[email protected]

Skid Stick Issue 17

June 2004


Make Your Own Slide Rule

Through the UKSRC website we

have received a set of printable logarithmic scales suitable for making your own slide rule for fun or perhaps teaching purposes. The four scales, fit on an A4 size sheet of paper

but may be scaled up or down. Two scales are numbered 1-10 and two 10-100.

Aleyn D Lester, who claims

copyright, has given permission for the free distribution of his file provided he is acknowledged as the author. The UKSRC can supply copies of these scales which can be e-

mailed (76KB), supplied in printed A4 format or on “floppy” disc to anyone interested in a copy.

This seems an appropriate place to remind readers of the “Cut out and keep” slide rules in Chris Sangwin and Budd’s book Mathematics Galore which was reviewed in

SS 8, June, 2001. This book provides slide rule scales in both linear and circular form that can be photocopied.

Letter from the Channel

Islands

David Rance

Of all places, I recently picked up a

couple of interesting slide rules in a charity shop when visiting my parents-in-law

on the Channel Island of Alderney - showing that they are still out there if you know where to look and spend hundreds of pounds in airfares!

The first was a rather battered but

early (original A series) Otis King. The second is the real reason for this letter. When I first

saw the screws holding down the veneer scales I thought it was a D&P. But it was a 10 inch mahogany and veneer A.G. Thornton rule ("A.G. Thornton" and "Manchester" handily

hand-stamped on the back). The scales are simply K/A/B/C/D/L (running from 0.95 to .00001) but with two edge "inch" scales. The bottom straight edge is a traditional 0 to 10.5

inch scale. However, the top bevelled edge unusually runs down from 10 to 0, is subdivided by 50 tick marks per inch and the folded metal and plastic cursor has an

additional metal pointer for accurately reading off the tick marks. On the back is a printed table - partially with imperial to metric conversions but also includes a "strength

table" for various substances (e.g. iron and white pine). If this was not interesting enough then came the box. I am sure it is original. It is made of wood (probably cheap pine) and

covered in a cardboard backed black mottled cloth. Someone thoughtfully added the date "23 iv 1909" on the pine inner sleeve. I thought all this might help trace its

provenance but when I looked it up in "Hopp's bible" I was still unsure if it is one of the rules listed. Then came the box mark - one I had not seen before. A quick check with the

Gazette (No. 1, 2000) article confirmed it was a new find - at least for me. Crudely it looks like:

In other words an upward slanting

black arrow with the two box halves splitting the arrow just before the "arrow flights". Is it a significant find, I wonder?

Documents

Editorial New Members - Lovett