In this interview Mike Konshak talks about collecting vintage slide rules, and their history and uses. Based in Louisville, Colorado, Mike can be reached via his website, Slide Rule Museum, which is a member of our Hall of Fame.
I’m 61 now, and I’m an engineer. I was thinking if I ever wanted to collect something, I would probably collect slide rules because they’re small, they don’t take up much space, and they’re an engineering tool. Then one day I went on eBay thinking I’d just buy myself about 10 slide rules and put them in a little display case, and I bought a couple. I talked to some other collectors about if you had to have a slide rule, which one would it be? And I bought those. It kept expanding to the point where I ended up with over a thousand slide rules.
The website, basically, was a tool I would use to help me understand slide rules. When I’d find a term or a gauge mark I didn’t recognize, I’d research it and then add that to my encyclopedia as a reference. I also opened it up to other collectors so they could put their own collections on it too.
Collectors Weekly: When did you start the website?
K&E 4017 Sperry
Konshak: I’ve been collecting for five years, since 2003, and that’s how old the website is. I don’t buy slide rules anymore, I basically collect scans from other collectors. I still have probably about a hundred slide rules, my personal favorites. I gave almost the entirety of the collection, about 1,000 specimens, to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California and got a tax write-off. I also knew that if somebody wanted to come by and see the slide rules, that was a better place for it.
So my website now is more of a virtual museum in that people give me scans from their slide rule collections, ones that I’m missing, so I can document them. In some cases, people will mail me their slide rules to add to the museum as a memorial for their parents or grandparents. It’s the world’s largest online slide rule museum, and it gets about 30,000 hits a day from all over the world. And the manuals get downloaded a lot. Interestingly, one of the files that gets downloaded the most is a slide rule manual that’s written in Russian Cyrillic.
There were over 800 different slide rule manufacturers during the heyday, a lot of people making slide rules. And there were always these subtle differences, and who the maker was. So the website really started out as a way for me to document and keep tabs on the ones I already owned before going out and buying another one. I’ve now added a good slide rule encyclopedia on top of the scanned manuals for the most common slide rules.
So if you find a slide rule and are trying to figure out how to use it, you can come to my site, and probably find the manual that’ll tell you what to do. I also have an online course on how to use a slide rule, which has been popular. And since some teachers have contacted me about teaching their kids with slide rules, I have loaner slide rules that I lend out, 25 identical slide rules at a time, to schools.
Finally, when people ask me about donating slide rules, I help them donate it to the museum. But I also try to get a picture of their dad or mom or whoever used it, whether they were an engineer or math teacher or scientist or economist or military guy. I put it up on the site as a small memorial that shows the good people who used slide rules, who helped shape history, because I think that’s more interesting than just the slide rule itself.
That’s my goal with the website now is to try to get as many pictures of people with their slide rules up there as possible. I got one that was sent to me from Australia. An artillery slide rule that this guy’s father had used in World War II. He sent pictures of his father in uniform
Another person sent me a slide rule he’d used at school in Boulder, Colorado (CU) back in the 1930s. He actually sent his diploma along with the slide rule and a big picture. I ended up taking it to the University of Colorado and donating it to their Heritage Museum. I’ve also become a resource for other museums.
Collectors Weekly: Do you focus on a certain type of slide rule?
Konshak: Most all slide rules or circular slide rules had logarithmic scales on them, they were used as a calculator for doing math. There are other types of slide rules which were made out of cardboard, or were made for special purposes like textile work, things like that. But I’m not much interested in them. I’m more focused on the ones that were actually used to teach math, including the teaching slide rules that were used up through the 1970s. In physics and math classes, they usually had a demonstration slide rule at the head of the class – a very large one – that the teacher would manipulate to show the students how to calculate a particular answer.
Lawrence 10-C Engraver
Like I said, there were over a thousand different types of slide rules. My site represents at least 150 different manufacturers. The differences are mostly the materials and construction methods. Most people have a favorite slide rule. Some like metal; others might like mahogany or bamboo.
People tried making slide rules out of everything. The Japanese all used bamboo. America was partial to mahogany and basswood. Europe also used basswood and mahogany, but different variations of it. Then there were different types of celluloid, but the early celluloid slide rules were very brittle. And the different types of plastics that evolved after World War II – most slide rules ended up being made out of plastic. Or wood, with celluloid laminate on top. And the cursors were typically made out of aluminum or steel or brass, tin-plated, and glass or plastic lenses with one or more hairlines, depending on the type of slide rule.
Some of the cheaper slide rules were just a piece of wood with the scales printed on it. So they didn’t actually have grooves in them, and the scales could wear off over time. At one time you could buy a low-end slide rule for a quarter. And I remember as a kid at 13 years old, I had gone to the National Association of Rocketry, and we used slide rules to determine how high our rockets went. And you could get a cheap slide rule through the folks that sold the rocket motors.
“There were over 800 different slide rule manufacturers during the heyday.”
Another difference between slide rules was how they did the division markers. The earlier slide rules were all done by hand. They had a master, and the guy would just sit there and cut the grooves and hand-engrave the numbers in. Later on, they were mass produced, and manufacturers competed to see how many scales they could get onto a slide rule (scales were equivalent to the buttons on your calculator).
For many years, most only had six or seven scales. But then the geeks in the schools, of which I was one, would want slide rules that had more and more scales on them. Essentially more functions that would do something another slide rule wouldn’t, and that could make your task easier. You could do any math problem you wanted on your basic slide rule, but the ones with more scales saved you steps.
Collectors Weekly: When were slide rules invented?
Konshak: William Oughtred is credited as the inventor of the slide rule. He basically took two logarithmic scales and put them next to each other and figured out that you could multiply and divide by adding the logarithms together. He lived from 1574 to 1660. In the 1800s, slide rules became standardized, and it wasn’t really until the 1970s that electronic calculators came out and the slide rules went the way of the buggy whip.
The earlier models were all made out of wood. Then around 1900, they started putting white celluloid on top of the wood. And a lot of people think its ivory because it has a yellowish hue to it, but it’s not. The celluloid starts to yellow and gets that patina. The laminated slide rules made for a better contrast and made it easier to clean. It also kept them from warping.
Collectors Weekly: Who were the major manufacturers?
Konshak: Two of the biggest slide rules makers in America were Pickett and Keuffel and Esser. Pickett started making them out of magnesium at the end of World War II and then switched to aluminum. They had some corrosion problems. Keuffel and Esser, they used mahogany on theirs with plastic laminate later on. Around 1930 there was Gilson. And Dietzgen was another big American one. Post sold a lot of slide rules under the name of Frederick Post, and later on just Post, which later became Teledyne.
I personally tend to like the earlier American manufacturers like George Richardson. He’s the archetype – my kind of guy. He made the slide rules in his home and shipped them out to folks. When he sold out, it was to another family, and they did the same. So there’s a lot of personal history there. The other majors were named after their founders as well. Pickett was named after Don Pickett.
Keuffel & Esser was named after their founders. They sold drafting supplies and other tools as well. Some manufacturers just made slide rules, but others made drafting instruments and anything that had scales on it or was used for mechanical drawing. I was a product of the whole generation of engineers who started with drafting boards and slide rules and ending up with electronic calculators and computers.
Back to manufacturers, there was also a popular imported slide rule from Japan made by Hemmi, that was a very good slide rule, and was actually the slide rule issued to the Air Force Academy cadets in the ‘70s. Lawrence made the low-end slide rules, and they later became Sterling and spun off a few other makers. Acu-Math was another big one.
After World War II when we were trying to help the Japanese get back into business, we would import a lot of Japanese slide rules and with different American brands on them. So they all looked the same except for the logo of whatever company was distributing them. In fact, there was a big business just selling slide rules to U.S. corporations who wanted to put their name on them. To companies like JC Penney and Sears, who offered them in every catalog. They were just re-branding them.
In Europe, two big manufacturers were Faber-Castell (originally A.W. Faber) and Aristo, both out of Germany. France had Graphoplex. And the British had a whole mess of slide rule manufacturers because that’s where they were invented. William Oughtred was an Anglican priest in England. Some of the British slide rule makers included Blundell and Stanley, British Thornton, and Technical Standards. And there were others – Unique at the low end, Sperry, Polar and so on.
There wasn’t any difference between the slide rules in America and the slide rules in Europe. The scales were the same. The metric system was used in all the slide rules, so it was really a matter of how many different colored inks you might use or the size or the placement of the slide rule. There were also pocket slide rules, a variation of the larger size, which was basically 10 1/2 inches long.
Frederick Post 1441 w/ magnifier (early model) Made in Japan
The scales were basically either 10 centimeters or 10 inches. If they had a 10-inch scale, all the divisions were based on that overall length. And so the sizes they had were the 5-inch long pocket slide rule, the 10-inch standard slide rule, and the 20-inch long, which gave you a little bit more accuracy when you were trying to extrapolate. They also had these really large teaching and demonstration slide rules. Pickett actually gave these out free to any school that ordered 20 slide rules, to hang on the wall. Once you chose your slide rule manufacturer as a student, you had a tendency to stay with that manufacturer as you went through life. So it was marketing.
One thing I’d like to mention is that any slide rules that were imported into America, like the Nestler or the Japanese ones, were required to have a leather sheet or holster, so students could hang it on their belts. Most slide rules sold in other countries either came in cardboard or plastic cases, so this was a new requirement. It was just our standard of quality that we wanted to have.
There were also circular slide rules. If you take a circular slide rule that’s only three inches in diameter, then basically because of the circumference of multiplying the diameter times pi to get the actual linear length, it ends up you get the equivalent of a 12-inch long slide rule and yet you can stick it in your pocket. You still have the same resolution with the scales as you would on a larger slide rule. So circular slide rules were really good for increasing the space between the divisions to get more decimal points, or to be able to extrapolate where you thought the scales would be or the number that you were looking for.
Collectors Weekly: What was the heyday of slide rules?
Konshak: The 1900s, especially during and after World War II. Slide rules were put on every airplane to calculate mileage for navigation. Thousands of slide rules were used on Navy ships for maritime navigation. As we became more and more industrialized, every engineer had slide rules and every math student used them. As people became more and more educated, slide rules were used more and more.
If you go to the Smithsonian, you’ll see the slide rule that Werner von Braun used, the rocket scientist. And the slide rules that John Glen used when he went up in space. They took slide rules on the Apollo mission to the moon. They were just a part of our work. It was something everybody had. If you look at Webster’s Dictionary prior to 1970, the calculator was a slide rule, and the computer was the person who used the slide rule. A matter of fact, you’ll see a lot of slide rules that are marked proportional calculator or proportional computer. It was something that helped you compute some conversion for a specific job.
Collectors Weekly: When did calculators take over from slide rules?
Konshak: In the 1970s the electronic calculator started to take over – the HP-35 is the one that’s most often touted. They actually called it the slide rule calculator or even the electronic slide rule (Texas Instruments called one model that). Every engineering student immediately wanted to buy one, although they cost a lot of money. But even slide rules, the top of the line, most advanced ones, were pretty expensive back then. But everybody had to have one for school.
By the end of the 1970s, all the slide rule manufacturers died. Pickett went out of business, and sent all their slide rules out to be scrapped (somebody else retrieved them and stored them for the next 27 years). The companies that relied on selling slide rules disappeared altogether. Those that could move into the computer age did so, but there were a lot of fortunes lost. Teledyne had bought Post in the late 1970s, and then within two years no one was buying slide rules anymore.
Some of them tried making electronic calculators too. K&E made them for a very brief period but they couldn’t compete in volume with Texas Instruments and Hewlett-Packard, who were actually making the chips, the transistors and the integrated circuits. They had a cost advantage. Interestingly, the first calculators that came out only did basic math, but not yet any of the scientific or trig functions like sine, cosine, tangent and inverse sine and square roots. So there were several models sold that had a math calculator on one side and a slide rule glued to the back to do those other functions. Those are worth a lot of money if you’re collecting.
The disappearance of the slide rule is disappointing because when you used a slide rule, you never knew where to put the decimal point. You had to extrapolate in your head. You’d round up some math – 10 times 200 was about 2,000. So on my slide rule, I’m going to multiply 8 times say 210, I know that by multiplying 10 times 200, I should have four decimal places, four significant figures. And then I would know what the answer was because the slide rule didn’t tell you where to place a decimal point. The calculator does, and it gives you the answer up to eight decimal places, which hardly anybody really needs.
So now you have this whole crop of students who have never done any approximation in their head and don’t really know when the calculator gives them an answer whether or not that answer makes sense. That’s the kind of thing that has led to problems like NASA bouncing a Mars rover off of Mars because somebody calculated a metric wrong. That’s why a lot of professors now want to teach slide rules to get people to start approximating in their heads again. Also for understanding logarithms – once calculators came along, you didn’t need logarithms anymore so no one has really learned them.
Collectors Weekly: Do slide rule collectors tend to collect other drafting instruments as well?
K&E 4108 Military Slide Rule c1950 Made in U.S.A. for the US Army
Konshak: Some collect technical instruments like pantographs. But many slide rule collectors just focus on trying to collect every type of slide rule they possibly can. In my buying, I’ve acquired different drafting tools, but I normally end up selling them because I’m not really interested in them. They don’t have the same beauty and touch and feel that a slide rule has. It was just an amazing instrument, and it’s nice to look at. It was a piece of art.
Unfortunately a lot of the guys who are interested in slide rules are fairly old, generally 50s and above. I think there’s about 400 active slide rule collectors in the world. Each country has its own organization and clubs that get together and compare their slide rules. As these guys get older, they’re wondering what they’re going to do with their collections. In my case, I beat the rest of them by getting rid of mine in one fell swoop by giving them to a museum.
As with many collectibles, rarity drives the value of vintage slide rules. Finding something no on else has, or something really oddball. Scientific American did an article in May 2006 about slide rules titled When Slide Rules Ruled. You can download it off my website. They showed a multicolored Faber-Castell 2/83N slide rule and said it was one of the most complex, prized, and collectible slide rules, one of the finest ever made. They were wrong, it wasn’t particularly collectible. But all of a sudden it started to get interest, and people were paying $400 on eBay for a slide rule that used to sell for $100.
In terms of real rarity, two areas to learn about are the older wood slide rules that you don’t see too much anymore, or the circular slide rules that were like pocket watches, there weren’t many of them made.
Collectors Weekly: What are some good resources for collecting, and learning about vintage slide rules?
Konshak: The biggest club, which I’m a member, is the Oughtred Society. They’re dedicated to the preservation and instruction of slide rules. Then in England, you have the United Kingdom Slide Rule Circle. I’m a member of that as well. Then there’s KRING, the Dutch slide rule society. They cover not only Dutch but also have a lot of German members. And RST in Germany (Rechenschieber Sammler Treff) is a very large group of European collectors. They have some well known members connected to the original manufacturers, like Mrs. Dennert of Dennert & Pape, Jurgen Nestler of Nestler, and Dieter von Jezierski of Faber-Castell. There are also some smaller clubs in Japan.
Oughtred Society members have written several books, which you can get if you go to their website, Oughtred.org. They also sell a slide rule reference manual. And there’s a history on K&E, produced by one of the members. They sell a slide rule learning kit, which is handy, and includes a slide rule, by the way.
And there are several other books on the different models and history of slide rule – Peter Hopp is one author that comes to mind – that you can buy on eBay or Amazon.com. They show different slide rules and the history and different dates. Peter Hopp has one of the largest collections. Some of these guys have been collecting side rules their whole life. They’re professors and that sort of thing.
It’s interesting. If you go back and look at old textbooks written prior to 1970, math textbooks with word problems, normally you’ll find instructions in the back for how to use your slide rule to do the calculations. And so you’ll see chapters at the very beginning of your math book on how you use your slide rule before they actually get into the trigonometry.
Collectors Weekly: Any advice for potential slide rule collectors?
Konshak: First get a slide rule that you just enjoy using, because you like the touch and the feel of it. Then maybe specialize in one type of them. You’ll go broke if you tried to do everything. I’ve kept one of each manufacturer, one of their more complex ones, and I’ve put it on my wall in my office. Basically the best of breed of each manufacturers and maybe a sample of some of the older ones, how they evolved from wood to celluloid to maybe metal and a complex plastic one.
Pickett 104-C Profit Calculator – 20.3cm dia
If you try to show those to your friends, they’re going to be bored, especially younger people will just roll their eyes. And so when you display them, it needs to be interesting to look at. The subtleties of all the different models don’t really make much sense to anybody, people don’t really care. But to know that this one was made in Russia and look at the quality compared to the one made in America, that sort of thing might be interesting.
Generally collectors just collect for their own edification. We get them because we like them and they’re works of art and you can store them easily. You can put them all in a drawer. They don’t take up a lot of space.
Another point is to look for things that can decrease the value of a slide rule, like if somebody has written their name on it. People would write their names in case it got lost. Collectors don’t like that, they like something new and pristine. Personally I don’t care. I’d like to know that this was used by John Brown. But you definitely don’t want them damaged. And you want them complete.
The worst thing you can do is buy a slide rule that doesn’t have a cursor or the cursor glass is broken, thinking that you can find a replacement. The cursor is the first thing to break, and there are thousands of slide rules out there that don’t have cursors. So make sure that your cursor is not broken and that the metal isn’t all corroded and operates freely. It needs to be usable. And there are a lot that are just really in bad shape: for example they were in some display case in a window and became yellowed by the sun.
The best thing is if you can find them in their original retail packaging. The Internet has really made collecting so much easier, especially finding things you’re looking for. If you don’t find it the first time around, somebody will eventually put one on there.
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I am a former draftsman and have approx 6 slide rules one which is over 70 years old,and other drafting aids from the 50’s…………If interested,I will catalog them and e-mail you the specs
I FOUND IN MY FATHERS TOOL BAG A KEUFFEL&ESSERCO. SLIDE RULE IT IS DATED ON THE SIDEPAT.5 ’00 DEC22 ’08 APRIL1 ’24 AND THE # ON THE END IS4092-3 WHAT IS THE VALUE OF SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN MINT CONDITION OTHER THAN THE WRITINGS ON THE CASE.??CONTACT ME AND HOW RARE IS THIS SLIDERULE? THANKS RANDY
I found a Kurtz Psychrometric slide rule 4175 in mint condition in original case, no markings. What is its value? Thank you.
The most important thing about a slide rule is that you have to learn to set up the problem as a equation before you begin. Then you factor the equation to reduce the number of calculations needed, thus reducing the posible errors. With calculators people usually just begin punching in the keys. The calculations are correct but the answer is wrong.
The slide rule also required you to know the reciprocals of numbers or how to find them. This is now a lost art.
Lastly the loss of logarithms means that fewer people understand logarithmic scales. All growth rates are logarithmic, including the interest function. That lack of understanding partially explains why so many people thought that the economy was speeding up during the last bubble rather than just compounding.
If you are interested in the last practice comparing the average growth rate with a decreasing logarithmic rate. It is an easy problem with a slide rule.
Best wishes to all the collectors. May slide rules always rule.
Really enjoyed your column on slide rules, why you began collecting, hints to potential collectors, etc. I fully agree in collecting the most advanced slide rule a company made rather than trying to collect an example of every single model! This is not only very, very expensive but ultimately frustrating as not every variation of this or that model is out there in decent condition–and if it is you can’t afford it! I learned this from when I collected firearms. I acquired a little wisdom when I selected a dozen or so models (e.g., Winchester 52B, Remtinton 37, etc.) and sold everything else off and ignored everything outside of these 12 or so models. It took 15 years to learn this but I did, and now (as a former mchine designer who used a slide rule) I’m transferring this ‘wisdom’ to slide rules. Accordingly, it was gratifying to see that someone else has also learned this lesson w/ a different set of collectables. Many thanks for your very helpful comments. Please place my name on your mailing list in the future. Paul Tibbetts (no relation to the PT of WWII fame, unfortunately)
I have a 6 ft. teachers slide rule in very good condition that I would like to donate. Picture available.
I have a 6 ft teacher slide rule as well. Where/who can I contact about maybe selling it? (I live in the Tampabay, FL area.)
Thanks.
ISRM accepts donations of slide rules , especially if you want to memorialize or honor a relative (or yourself) as having background information on how these were used as it makes it more interesting for the on-line visitors. teacher’s slide rules make great marquees for public display, so i would encourage their donation, if you have one. Thank you! http;//www.sliderulemuseum.com
I have a Pickett No. 104C that I use all the time. I’ve been using it for about 20 Years. I didn’t know they were obsolete. I was considering buying a new one for a friend, and as I was looking online to find out where to purchase, I discovered just now, that they are not so easy to find anymore. I thought they were still a commonly available item.
I carry my 6″ AMP (Amphenol) Presentation Blundell 603 Darmstadt all the time, in its original leather case. I still have my original beaten up Faber Castell 10″ at home. Its worthless because the cursor was broken long ago, but it has much sentimental value to me. I used it when I was an apprentice back in the early sixties. My first electronic calculator was a kit-build Sinclair Cambridge Scientific that I put together in 1976. Clive Sinclair’s idea of selling them as kits was to avoid Purchase Tax – precursor of VAT. You got the two halves of the case and a printed circuit board and just snapped them all together in a minute or so. These things spelled the end of the sldie rule for we avionics engineers.
I have a Japanese metal (steel) slide rule from WWII in a wooden case, that looks like it is some type of artillery calculator. It is approx. 17 inches long. Since I can’t read Japanese, I have no idea what is written on the wood case or on the slide rule itself. Can you give me an idea what I have or is more info required from me. Please ask questions and I will try and answer them. Thanks, Carter
Just read the article and found it of interest. I live in Luton the original home of Blundell ( Rules ) Ltd. I have just learned of a old local retailer, now gone, was producing a range of slide rules. After resurrecting my school slide rulers ( Unique Electrical and a Helix 6″ ) I have since obtained a few Blundell Academies, Omega’s and a couple of WH Smiths versions. Not bad work for a month and a half and cheap too. I go to a community NHS clinic a few hundred yards from the workshop in Chaul End Lane, alas, nothing left now. All rules are used daily as I enjoy designing audio amplifiers or generally playing with them relearning maths ( was useless ). Currently researching into Blundell Brothers.
I.HAVE.A.RULE.ABOUT.SEVEN.INCHES….WITH..FARMARS.PROFIT.RULE.ON.IT…..IT.IS.A.SLIDING.RULE.WITH.A.ROLLER.RULE.ON.THE.TOP..IS.IT.OF.ANY.VALUE.?…AND.WOULD.YOU.LIKE.A.PHOTO.?….THANK.YOU….PHILL.
A.ROLLER.ON.THE.TOP
I HAVE A PICKETT SLIDE WITH A (VERY RARE I THINK) N-16-ES WHICH HAS A SILVER LOGO AND SILVER NUMBERING ALONG THE SCALES ALONG WITH THE TYPICAL RED I HAVE SEEN SOME PICKETT SLIDE RULES ON EBAY WITH SILVER LOGO INSTEAD OF THE BLACK ANY INFO ON THIS? I ALSO HAVE A N-16-ES WITH THE BLACK LOGO AND SCALES BOTH ARE IN VERY GOOD CONDITION
Ernie, You have a slide rule designed by Chan Street, and unfortunately there is not much information published about him. As the curator of the International Slide Rule Museum (sliderulemuseum.com) I would appreciate getting a scan of your slide rule if it is different than the -ES shown in the Pickett gallery in order to document any variations. Send to curator [at] sliderulemuseum [dot] com. If you are willing, we also accept donations of slide rules, which makes you a Friend of the Museum. If there is history of its use by yourself or a family member, please include a short biography and a photo of the original owner (or yourself). Thank you for your support and consideration.
Hi Mike. I recently turned up my old Boots slide rule which I had at school. I was always horribly slow at working out maths in my head, and the slide rule did speed me up a wee bit, but I don’t think I really learned to use it terribly well. I’m now relearning, and getting along famously at 57 years of age… Having done all my maths longhand for all these years, or with the boring old soulless calculator, it’s amazing how quickly calculations can be done with a slide rule. Not as quick as a computer program or calculator, for sure, but much more fun! I’ve been using an old Keuffel and Esser basic from 1936 at work, which I got for peanuts on eBay UK. I figure on getting 20 inch later on when I’m more accurate and practised with the ones I’ve got. Most of the rules on British eBay are Thorntons. Did they do any 20 inch models?
A lot has been lost by the use of calculators and computers. As noted by others … setting up the problem, thinking about the limitations of the calculation, etc. I have an old K&E slide rule (still in its well used and perfectly sound leather case) used by my uncle (a chemistry major in 1939) and given to me to begin my physics major in 1962. I used this slide rule as a tool through my PhD program and and as a teaching companion until around 1975 when handheld calculators began to take over and became the affordable norm for most students. Bottom line — I don’t want to throw away this slide rule nor do I want my kids to do the same when I croak. Is there a place for it or do I just let it pass into oblivion.
recently acquired a Gilson binary slide rule with manual. it has a small bit of damage from humidity. can this be restored?
For those of you asking questions in restorations , value or wondering how to donate your slide rule or one belonging to your relatives, please contact me through sliderulemuseum.com. I have not been able to replay directly to any individual post through this website. If you are donating a slide rule with a known history, try to include a digital photo of the original owner (or yourself) along with a short bio, and these will be archived with the slide rule and posted in the gallery. This makes visiting the on-line galleries more interesting to visitors and we can honor their (your) life and career in this small way. ISRM does not purchase slide rules, but for large collections, we can help provide funds for shipping. Thank you for your support and consideration.
The International Slide Rule Museum (ISRM) at sliderulemuseum.com has a slide rule loaner program for schools. If you know of, or are, a teacher wishing to demonstrate how slide rules were used to perform calculations, and to improve a students numeracy, ISRM can provide 25 or more matching slide rules at no cost and the slide rules may be kept for as long as one school year. ISRM will pay shipping to the school, and the teacher or school will have to ship the slide rules back at their cost (Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate – about $11).
Our only request is that you send digital photos of your class using the slide rules. If you decide to hold a slide rule contest, ISRM will also supply custom medals (Gold, Silver, Bronze). Pictures of the winners are required.
Note: the loaner program is supported by members of the Oughtred Society. See oughtred.org
Where can I locate a cursor for my Faber Castell 111/54A bought when I was a marine engineering apprentice long long ago? It cost me more than a weeks pay at that time, and I would like to pass it on to my grandson. He laughed when I called it my guessing stick.
Hoping you can help, bob scott
Found a military slide rule in leather case with US stamped on outside. Do you know when this was used? Thank you
Hi.
I have a Keuffel & Esser ‘ Young’s Specific Gravety & Compound Calculator’. Copyrighted 1913, still in its original tan leather cover. I understand it was made for the Firestone company. Could anyone offer further information on this instrument? Thanks, Hugh.
How rare is the Keffler &esser 4108 military slide ruler and how much is it worth I have one
I have found a number of slide rules in my fathers desk that I know he used for work. He was based out of Wright Patt Aeronautical Division and lent to and did work for many other bases and even NASA. Some are labled things like r”Radar Detection Range”, “Parabolic Antenna”, Millimeter Wave system”, “noise figure”, “earth Satellite guide”, there are also 3 unlabeled in hard cases. I have no clue on how to identify what they are and what projects he used them for. If you could please help me. thank you
Dear sir , I am a retired chemistry Instrucyor who also taught the slide rule , I have old 16 mm films from around WWII on the slide rule , I also have the old classroom model ( About 6 feet long ),can you give me any info on them
I have a collection of very special purpose slide rules used to support sales of many industrial and technical products.
Some of them included conventional math calculator slide rules but most were intended to size or scale the products that were for sale.
Are they worth more than the cardboard they are made from.
Not sure why I kept them, but why do people collect old paintings from long dead artists?
Hello, I came across a slide rule in a house I just moved into. It has a case made of brown leather that says “K & E Slide Rule” on the top and on the strap for handle its engraved PAT 2,000.357. T?he actual slide rule says the “unique” log log slide rule and in another place it says “made in England” & in another place, the word copyright on the bottom. I wonder what year it would have been made and if the slide rule actually matches up with the case and if so, what its value is? That’s what I really am wondering, year and value. It appears to be (through web search), the most popular one i find from 1947…..only they all have a piece of chrome at the ends but mine does not. I don’t know if that makes it broken, or made at a different time and i just can’t find it……..that’s something i guess i’d need to know in order to know the value but i hope i can get answers through sending this. I appreciate any assistance you can give me.
I have 4 slide rules. They are
1. Keuffle and Esser Co wooden rule in leather case
2. Pickett Microline 120 plastic with case
3. Pickett model N902-ES, metal , the slide is a little sticky
4 Acu-Math No 1240, a small plastic rule
My dad taught me to use a slide rule and I did all my calculations with it. When I taught freshman chemistry, I had to teach the class to use a slide rule for solution chemistry. We bought a large teaching slide rule. The very next year HP calculator came out. No one could afford one, but it spelled the doom for slide rules.
Is there any real value, monetary or collectible, to what I am assuming is a teaching slide rule? My father passed away a number of years ago and he had this very large, approximately 5 foot, slide rule stored away. Never seen anything like it in person, only in pictures. Thank you…
Lol… I’m now considering a collection of buggy whips as well.
Dear Mike, I have looked for info on a slide rule I have had since the 1960’s. Itg was passed down thru the family. It is Dietzgen Improved Slide Rule No. 1769L. It is about 17″ long with a wood body and probable a celluloid of some type on the top. It does look like Ivory..!! The patent dates on the rear are 189? and 190? as I recall. I have had the slide rule in a shadow box for probably 15 to 20 years. I have a cardboard box that has the name Manheim on it also. The box is not in great shape. I am an architectural engineer as is my son and I am planning on passing it on to him. As such I would very much appreciate finding out some of the history of the 1769L and if it has any value. Years ago I tried to find one for sale but found none. I think I even looked at the slide rule museum site and did not find one listed. Any help would be greatly. Thank you in advance . If you would like any photos just let me know. If you would like photos of the patent dates or back side I will need to take it out of it’s shadow box bit I would be glad to do so. Thank you again…..Ken Rolin
Hi Mike I have a “Mclaren Mirlees” slide rule for calculating speed from shaft horsepower, rpm diameter and pitch of marine propellers. This is clearly a highly specialist and assumedly quite rare. Is it of any particular value and where would I find a market for such a thing. Stewart Bayram
I have a foot locker full of slide rules. I want to know about refurbishing the magnesium models that are stuck. Should I try to free them up or leave them alone??
I have an old Keuffel & Esser slide rule and cant find out any info online about it other than a picture of one at the K & E Slide rule museum. It is a Keuffel & Esser 4088-5…….I can find 4088-3 everywhere but nothing on the 4088-5….any idea as to its rarity and value would be helpful…..before I give it away
Respectfully, Carl Jacobs
I am now retired from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where I directed a lab on holographic image processing and pattern recognition.
I required of the students in my lab that they learn to use a slide rule. Just by reading this site, it’s clear that you are old enough to have used them, and technically savvy enough that I don’t absolutely need to ‘splain to you how they work, but the students needed that. All a slide rule does is add and subtract distances. You make number marks according to functions that form a homomorphism between, say, multiplication in one domain and addition in the other. From that, and the definition of a derivative, you can work out the differential equation for the logarithm that is, of course, said function. Then integrate it, term by polynomial term. Then make marks appropriately disposed on a sheet of paper, slice the paper along that row of marks, and bingo, you have a slide rule! At the end of the semester I’d give ’em a slide rule I had picked up at flea market or pawn shop.
Well, one student, Mike, was highly resistant to learning to use a slide rule. “Richard, we have hand calculators these days, and no one uses slide rules anymore!” He was missing out on the numerical analysis, the visual functional relationships, keeping track of decimal places, etc. But he really really didn’t want to learn slide rules. Then, with six weeks left in the semester, he said “I am applying for graduate school, and I wonder if you would write me a recommendation.” Oh, yeah, now I had my opening. “Sure, Mike, and you know that in graduate school you do research. Why don’t you show me that you can do research. What happens inside the vaunted hand calculator when you push the arctan button?” “Slide rules, huh?” responded Mike with renewed enthusiasm for that old technology. “Nope, hand calculator. What is the algorithm it runs?”
Well, indeed Mike knew the proper approach to doing research. First thing you do is find someone who already knows, and ask them. He wrote to a fellow who had taught him a digital circuitry lab course as a graduate student assistant. “What is your company’s chips’ algorithm for the arctangent?” he wrote. A really blistering reply came back. “Mike you have written me at my Intel address, asking for corporate private technology, and they read my emails. I might get away with your having done that this time, but Don’t do that again!” Chastened, Mike went to the library, dug out information on the CORDIC algorithm, wrote it up for me, went to graduate school, is now Dr. Mike. The really fun part, though, is when he writes and tells me that he does the same things to his students that I did to him.
On a slightly different topic, I am looking for a Pickett Model 17 radiation rule.
My father was an accountant, probably started working in the early 30’s. Found two slide rules in back of a closet.One is a K E #68 1775, green leather case, original box. Other is Dietzgen National #1767, in tan leather sheath. No date on either of them, outside box looks used but rules are in perfect condition. Can you tell me the approximate dates he would have used them and if they have any value for resale? Thank you.
I am from Hawaii. Would you know what material my Dad’s Keuffel & Esser slide rule No. 329004; patent: June 5 ’00, Dec 22 ’08; Apr 1 ’24 is made from? I was told that it is a bamboo slide rule but I also read that K&E used mahogany to make their slide rules., Pls can you help? Is this slide rule a collector’s item? Mahalo!
I have my grandfather’s Keuffel & Esser patent 1900 slide rule. When I slide the slide out, there are some formulas printed very precisely on the wood under the slide (e.g., Sin B =b/a, CosB = 90deg-sinB, etc.). Were these part of the original slide rule, or something my grandfather wrote on the wood for his own reference? (I’m guessing the latter, but the writing is so precise I can’t tell for sure.)
Hi, are you the Mike Konshak who wrote software for the Commodore 64 in the 1980s? I’m specifically referring to “DFILE64.”
Fascinating article!
I have a Keuffel & Esser slide rule with leather case, the original box and the manual. Can someone tell me the value?
Brenda
I have a Sterling #587 with instructions that I believe was used by my father around 1944, 1945 and can’t verify that this model was available during that period. Could you verify for me.
Thanks
I have a rather unique history when it comes to slide rules. I went to two high schools in small towns; Sebastopol California and Lebanon Oregon. Never so much as heard of a slide rule at that time. Brains, paper and pencil were all we had. Surprising looking back at it. I spent three years in the Army without having heard of a slide rule. But then I wasn’t involved with anything that required anything more than simple math. I didn’t hear of a slide rule until Oregon State University in 1968. Then it was only yellow slide rules. Pickett as it turns out. It’s only a dim memory now so I don’t remember which ones I had. Only that I had a 12 inch and a circular. And that I found the 12 inch much easier to read and to use. It got a lot of use because I didn’t buy an electronic calculator until the end of the eighty’s. The slide rules disappeared about then. I remember buying the first graphing calculator by Casio (7000G) when it came out. I liked the larger screen real estate and the graphs on a square screen that looked like they do on an oscilloscope. Since then they have become more rectangular. Through the years I’ve had Casio Casio 9850GB PLUS, Hp 48GX, Casio fx-9860G Slim (which together with the 9860GII was the only black and white screens to have the innovative backlight), Hp 50g, and the innovative Casio fx-CG10 or Prizm.
I started collecting calculators about 2008. First, I was quite taken by the TI-Inspire Clickpad. Very innovative keypad. That changed immediately (2010) into something else. Apparently I was one of the very few that liked the Clickpad. But it did serve to get me started. I couldn’t find a decent Casio 7000G at the time (I like my toys to be in good shape and clean). So I found and bought a Casio 8000G instead. Pretty much the same in most ways that counted. Later (would have been sometime after 2011) I bought the Casio Prizm fx-CG10. Again I found it to have an innovative keypad. And a large screen with something that had become very important to me by then. Large print. While the large print remained the same, the keypad changed in 2017 when the new Casio Prizm fx-CG50 came out. The New(?) keypad reverted back to something more like the square keypads prior to 2011. I have two CG10s. On one I was able to download all that’s in the CG50. For me that’s the best of two worlds.
Having found out about the lineage relationship between slide rules and Electronic calculators I began to collect slide rules. The first one was in 2016 when I purchased from Amazon a K&E Deci-Lon 68 1100 and the green cover version of the manual. Much easier to read than the Pickett slide rules I had in the past. Apparently made of a special plastic called Ivorite. It is warm to the touch and its parts move freely. It has continued to be my favorite slide rule. I wonder if I would have appreciated it if I had of seen one back in the 1960’s. Especially since I had near perfect vision back then.
Now I have about 20 slide rules and about 20 Electronic calculators. A small collection perhaps compared to the much larger ones I’ve seen on the internet. But it takes little space. And what I have are all in pristine condition and usable.
I did not think much about slide rules anymore. I grew up with them in the 60’s during my school and college years in Germany. My slide rule of choice in the electrical business was the Aristo 0968. It has moved with us to the US in 1976 and remained in the drawer since then. My mother passed away in 2013. Cleaning out her place in Hannover, Germany, I found the long 50cm Faber Castell Rietz 4/87 slide rule that my dad used in his well drilling/exploring business. He calculated soil conditions for the architects before new construction could begin. I remember him and this slide rule being used daily. I brought it back with me to the US where the rule joined company in the drawer with my Aristo. Going through family pictures, I saw my dad with his slide rule. This started a journey into relearning slide rules and brushing up on basic math concepts. I have since purchased a few higher end rules from different manufacturers. My best one is clearly the Faber Castell 2/83-N NOVO Duplex, followed by my Aristo 0968 and the K&E 4081-3. Mr Konshak helped me with a new cursor glass. The Ebay seller had no idea what she was selling. The plastic Pickett 140 Microline is mass produced, is cheap and looks cheap – but is just as accurate as the more sophisticated rules. Mt least favorite one is the metal high-end Pickett N3-ES. Its layout and numbering appears just too crowded and small to make quick calculations. It is easy to have a favorite slide rule because of the different scale layouts. I now understand how the different manufacturers could stay in business. I write databases, with all the resources of a computer, and have now reverted back to slide rules for quick upfront calculations. Working with numbers in the head is actually fun. Thank you to Mike Konshak and his Slide Rule Museum for supporting my effort to step back in time. I have never understood slide rules the way I understand them now.