Slideshow: Slide rules and charts - a personal collection

9/25/2012 6:52 AM EDT

Great collection Mort. Thanks for the memories.

9/25/2012 2:20 PM EDT

Awesome slideshow on slide rules. It's a great experience going down the memory lane. Thank you Mort Hans.

9/25/2012 2:33 PM EDT

I LOVE that Battenburg Course Calculator. It isn't a mere slide rule, it's more like a danged ASTROLABE... more scientifical, but an astrolabe nonetheless

9/25/2012 2:39 PM EDT

I was a college freshman in the fall of '72. One of my profs owned the first HP-35 on campus, and I owned the 2nd one. I worked overtime all winter break to scape up the cash: $916.80, including tax.

9/25/2012 2:41 PM EDT

The big slipstick when I was in college 1952-56 was the Keufel and Esser log log decitrig. You should look for one of these to round out the collection.

Ron

9/25/2012 2:48 PM EDT

To all the whipper-snappers when their fancy smartphone & calculator batteries run out or they lose their internet connection - these devices keep working.

9/25/2012 2:55 PM EDT

Woah! Is that an Otis King Patent Calculator in your pocket or do you need to see your doctor about that prescription?

9/25/2012 5:11 PM EDT

This is indeed an interesting article that I have enjoyed reading, thank you, I still have my Post slide rule (page 10/14) and a pocket one by K&E very similar to the one on page 11/14. Thanks again!

9/25/2012 5:20 PM EDT

I went to Engineering School (Ohio Northern ) from 1973 to 1977 and mine was the LAST engineering class to learn how to use slide rules my Freshman year - in fact we had part of our engineering orientation class on the 'how to use' the slipstick. It was a POST VersaLog sliderule that we wore proudly in a brown leather case attached to our belts. (I still have it and it still works perfectly. ) Also, mine was the LAST Electrical Engineering class to learn tubes - after that it was all RTL, TTL and other electronics! What a paradigm shift!

9/25/2012 6:12 PM EDT

The most important one for EE's that you are missing is a Spirule for root locus calculations.

9/25/2012 6:32 PM EDT

We learned how to use the sliderule whilst at technical highschool. For us the 'bees-knees' was a Hemmi sliderule. They were a Japanese company. I wish I could find it again! :(
They were made predominantly from bamboo. Beautiful sliderules...

9/26/2012 2:14 AM EDT

About logaritmus: did you heart something about JURIJ VEGA?He was author logarithem tablet, great scientifist who calculate PI on 140 decimal numbers. Receiver war medail from Maria Theresia 1796.

9/26/2012 2:45 AM EDT

I still have a Shure reactance slide rule. I swipped it in 1973, and I still use it today.

It is much more practical than my 'electrical' pocket calaulator.


***************MAYBE IT SHOULD BE REMANUFACTURED ******************

Regards,

Tim Orr

9/26/2012 2:46 AM EDT

I meant calculator!

9/26/2012 3:39 AM EDT

A nice collection- I still have my dad's well worn K&E (it's hard to read in some places). When I was a senior in HS, I was offered the teaching sliderule some department had used for years, but turned it down (it was something like 3'x8')- just not interesting at the time, now I would love to have it. I like the idea of not needing power to do calculations (similarly, I hate e-readers), even though my personal calculator is a solar powered TI model from the late 80's, and still going strong. I really hate today's throw-away society. Nuff said.

9/26/2012 9:11 PM EDT

Pure slide rules are great. They are the incarnation of logarithms which are beautiful in themselves (along with certain series formulae and special numbers). I've got a 5-digit-precision circular slide rule that my dad used. I've also got some other tools and books that we all grew up on on my web site www.strategysanity.com/leroy.html and www.strategysanity.com/hooters.html

And the batteries never run out and you can use them on the airplane or in the theatre.

9/27/2012 1:03 PM EDT

Slide rules, like abacus, are much quicker in experienced hands, as long as you don't need 4 digit accuracy. Also great for verifying that you haven't dropped or gained a decimal place.

9/27/2012 6:08 PM EDT

Great collection. The digital calculator that spelled doom for the average engineer's slide rule was the HP-35. Many companies arranged group buys and discounts for their engineers. I still have my first one (works, if I use external batteries in lieu of the rechargeable pack). In Engineering colleges, one of the first things an aspiring engineer did was to buy "His" sliderule. (I also still have my first one). The next thing he did was to await the itinerant engraver who would visit campuses and engrave your name (small fee!) on the top. Pocket sized ones were often used as promotional items by suppliers. I have one given to me by CELCO (Constantine Engineering Laboratories Company). Abacuses (Abacii?) are another story. My small collection starts with one used by my grandmother on arrival here from "the old country".

9/27/2012 11:44 PM EDT

Really nice collection-thanks for showing! My first calculator was the four function TI 2500 Dataman that I bought in 1972 for $125 (that's $688.93 in today's dollars!!). After the intro of the HP35 I waited for the HP45 to come out and in 1973 paid $395 plus shipping. Our married student housing monthly rent at that time was $60. My wife thought I had lost my mind spending that much for a "stupid calculator thing"! Initially we weren't allowed to use calculators on any exams we were taking but I didn't tell the wife that. :-) I ended up working for HP so I have a pretty nice collection of electronic calculators and still have the TI. Still have my pocket and big slide rules too. You may remember that at HP we first had various non-electronic calculators. A couple I still have are the Pulsed RF Calculator and and the combo Mismatch Error Limits/Reflectometer Calculator. I believe I may have more than one of each and if you're interested (and if I can find them!) I'd be happy to donate them to your collection.

John
K4KQZ

9/28/2012 1:07 PM EDT

Anyone remember the Curta? My lab partner in college physics labs had one.

9/28/2012 1:36 PM EDT

As for the Battenberg Course Indicator, it wasn't the "Famous" Lord Mountbatten that invented it. It was his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg who inveted the "course indicator" in 1892.

9/28/2012 4:14 PM EDT

Does anybody remember the spirule for doing pole zero plots. Those of us who studied classical controls from D'Azzo and Houpis know it well. Also, back in the 60's GE had printed a special version of 3 and 4 cycle semi-log paper and made a clear plastic bode plot ruler with slopes for various numbers of poles printed on it. It made doing bode plots quick and easy. By the way, the Curta mentioned earlier was advertized widely in Sports Car magazines and used for road rallying. Unfortunately, road rallying was killed off by the gas crisis in the 70's

9/29/2012 6:24 PM EDT

I find the "Engineering Slide Chart" very helpful. I use the plastic version & the App.

9/30/2012 11:22 AM EDT

In the 1960's as a chemistry student in NYC the K&E Log Log DeciTrig was the ne' plus ultra of slide rules in its green leatherete case ( about a foot long!) hanging from your belt...no pocket protector for this baby!...and made from Bamboo for stability too. Then the collapsed pocket version ( only 8"long and almost the same resolution ca,me out in a white ivory like plastic and real leather sheath...I still have it somewhere As sometimes pilot I still use my circular speed distance calculator...no batteries etc. and light and lots of other features (density altitude etc) .on the back Jeppesen still has them I think...

10/1/2012 8:22 AM EDT

Does anyone have Mort Hans address? I would imagine there're many like me that have their old slip-sticks collecting dust. I'd rather send them to someone that would appreciate them than to put them in the trash.

10/1/2012 10:22 AM EDT

Tech Ed
My trusty K&E Log Log Decitrig, bought when I entered Brooklyn Tech HS in 1943, serves me now as a visual aid in my docent duties at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island, especially wowing the young visitors, most of whom have no idea what I'm showing them. I use it as a counterpoint to the computing devices and power available today, and obtain gasps when revealing that many of the computations performed in the early stages of the US Space Program into Project Apollo were done on slide rules like mine. Audiences also get a kick out of hearing that Godzilla-size slide rules hung above the blackboards in most of my high school and college math and physics classrooms.

10/10/2012 9:42 AM EDT

Very nice and enjoyable display/presentation! I still have my old pocket-sized Post Versalog slide rule (sold the full size long ago). I also have a circular slide rule with a Smith Chart on the back (obtained as an advertisement from a vendor). I also still own a TI DataMath as well as a number of "antique" TI scientific calculators from the 1970s. To RonR: Road rallying has enjoyed a resurgence. GreatRace Ltd. staged the coast-to-coast Great American Race in the 1980s and '90s (and perhaps beyond). To NapTown: A colleague of mine purchased a Curta, I think in Switzerland, while we were working in Europe. We were all envious of it. Apparently, there are still a lot of them out there. Try Googling "Curta".

10/31/2012 11:53 AM EDT

Ahhhh, Slide rules...sigh...I am still fond of my (now) 45 year old K&E LogLogDeciTrig. I don't use it much any more I (I don't do much with phasers these days) but I DO use the little 6" plastic one that I keep in my car for calculating mileage every time I fill up.

At the risk of sounding like an old fart, I feel that if newbies spent some time getting to know the slide rule they would have a better perception of the importance of checking each step of a calculation to see if it "makes sense before moving on the the next step?