| Author | Message | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
Advanced Member Username: Peter Post Number: 2887 Registered: 12-2000 |
High School antics... Those were the days... Nice one Arlie.  | ||
| Horsefly (Arlie)
Intermediate Member Username: Arlie Post Number: 1323 Registered: 5-2002 |
Erick, I remember reading about that Curta type rotary calculator, but I never actually knew what it was called. Now I know. Speaking of calculators, back in high school in 1974, a friend of mine had just received a Bomar MX-140 calculator as a gift. Incredibly advanced for a high school student to be using. He was out of the room one day, so we took the calculator out of it's pouch and replaced it with a black board eraser, and hid the calculator where he couldn't see it. When he back walked into the room, we were throwing his "calculator" back and forth across the room like a football!!! His eyes were wide with anger and terror. I told my other football associate to "GO LONG" as I deliberately threw the "calculator" straight into the blackboard with a loud WHACK. Calculator Boy was having a heart attack by now and was screaming with rage. It was then that we removed the "calculator" from the pouch to reveal that it was only an eraser. We laughed for quite a while as we revealed the real calculator safely inside our desk as he recovered from his brief heart attack. | ||
| Izel K. (Ferrarist)
Member Username: Ferrarist Post Number: 256 Registered: 3-2001 |
Grazie Peter!! | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
Advanced Member Username: Peter Post Number: 2879 Registered: 12-2000 |
Izel: "...Any links about how to use them?" http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/srsoftware.html http://www.sliderules.clara.net/ http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/slide/ | ||
| Izel K. (Ferrarist)
Member Username: Ferrarist Post Number: 252 Registered: 3-2001 |
Hey, my dad also gave me a ruler like that one but shorter. Don't know how to use it but from what you say i can understand that it's very useful. Any links about how to use them? | ||
| Tim N (Timn88)
Advanced Member Username: Timn88 Post Number: 3194 Registered: 6-2001 |
So i guess i should replace my abbacus with one of these eh? | ||
| Eric Eiland (Eric308gtsiqv)
Member Username: Eric308gtsiqv Post Number: 894 Registered: 11-2001 |
Have one laying on display on the mantle in our front office, along with a CURTA Type II mechanical calculator (here's a link if you're wondering what one of those are: http://www.rskey.org/curtaii.htm ). My father used them daily both in the field and office -- the old fashioned way with logarithm books in hand! Luckily, I came along when the handheld electronic calculators were arriving on the scene. Did, however, do quite a bit of hand drafting for 10 years using drafting arms, Koh-I-Noor ink pens, electric eraser, etc. until CAD finally became the norm back in the late-80's / early 90's. Prior to CAD, we did most of the calculations on the HP-97, HP-15C, and HP-41CX. Very functional, programmable, and versatile hand-helds BTW. It's amazing the technological advancements in the last 20 years. When I first started out in the field, we used bubble-level K&E transits with plumb-bobs and 100-ft. steel "chains". Now we use robotic laser transits and GPS equipment! Can't wait to see what it will be like in another 20 years. | ||
| Russ Turner (Snj5)
Junior Member Username: Snj5 Post Number: 234 Registered: 2-2003 |
Learned how to use one in High school. Now I have one on the rotating bezel of my watch - VERY handy and a good skill to keep tucked away. | ||
| IamA (Ski_bum)
New member Username: Ski_bum Post Number: 14 Registered: 12-2002 |
I learned to use one in HS one year, the next we switched to calculators and I promptly forgot how to use one. I still have it in a box somewhere. The school had these giant sliderules mounted on the wall to teach us how to use them. I think it was this website that had some pictures of someones *NICE* garage that had one in their workshop, brought back some memories. | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
Advanced Member Username: Peter Post Number: 2871 Registered: 12-2000 |
Honestly, it only takes a few minutes to learn. Its amazing what kind of calculations you can do with it: multiplication, division, square roots, cube roots, trig, etc... | ||
| Christopher F. (Dallasguy)
Junior Member Username: Dallasguy Post Number: 177 Registered: 10-2002 |
Peter - I actually have that exact model of slide rule somewhere around the house. It belonged to my dad when he was in engineering school. I never bothered to learn how to use it, but it certainly is a cool tool. | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
Advanced Member Username: Peter Post Number: 2870 Registered: 12-2000 |
Anybody out there who still uses them? I developed a facination for them recently, while going through old machinist books/manuals from my late Uncle. Almost all of the books had sections/chapters dealing with slide rules and their use when doing intricate layouts/setups. I wanted to see for myself what it was like to use one. I picked this up - where else - on Ebay, Its a 10" Mannheim rule, made by Sun Hemmi (labled Hughes Ownes, the Canadian company that marketed them). Its really neat. Hard to believe two pieces of bamboo could be so smart... . Also a piece of history too: Since the Ebay auction was hosted by a resident of Vancouver, I picked it up in person. An older fellow who got it new, as a gift from his parents, back in 1958!    Another neat calculator I have is this, which my Dad gave to me. It too also dates back to the '50's, its an adding/subtracting machine, made in Germany. The little aluminum pen slides numbers up and down, adding or subtracting respectively.    So with these two devices, I have completely replaced my calculator... I'll never need batteries again! |