Pen, Slide Rule, And Log Book

[Sheaffer1000]

I just love your fountain pen collection

[WhosYerBob]

I love seeing the slide rules. I learned to use one just as consumer electronic calculators were beginning to be sold by Texas Instruments back in the early 1970s.

[nluoma]

lol! I love this thread!

When I was in high school, I wanted a calculator. My dad gave me a slide rule. I complained to my Physics instructor, who laughed and showed me how to use it.

Used it all the way through high school, and didn't actually get a calculator until I headed off to college where they were required.

[Procyon]

I see this thread has been revived recently, so I will take the opportunity to show an unusual slide rule I recently acquired. I doubt if many of you have seen one of these. It is a K&E Analon slide rule made for only one year (1966). It's purpose is not to compute numbers but to engage in dimensional analysis. It turned out to be a big failure for K&E - it was difficult to use and there probably wasn't much demand for this anyway. Since so few of them were made, it is a big collector item. I have been trying to find one for years and finally succeeded a couple of months ago. Here are some pictures:

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8072/8326377267_39c351db78_b.jpg

 

 

 

The pen pictured is a Conklin Filigree Crescent Filler in the 3 Leaf pattern.

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/8326376917_e67fa382a9_b.jpg

 

 

Here is a close-up. Notice that the A,B,C, and D scales are the only ones in common with most other slide rules.

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8075/8327436330_b19e4e09f7_b.jpg

 

 

 

And a picture of the back:

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8221/8327436220_df3d7394ef_b.jpg

 

Anyway, hope you all enjoy seeing something unusual. I am trying to learn to use it, but, as everyone agrees, it ain't easy.

[invisiblehats]

I'm fascinated by all these pictures of slide rules - I fully admit to being young enough that I've never seen a slide rule in my life before.

[stevesurf]

Great thread! It makes me want to rescue my Pickett Log-Log from storage. I know some pilots that still use 'em!

[JeanManuel]

I'm fascinated by all these pictures of slide rules - I fully admit to being young enough that I've never seen a slide rule in my life before.

 

I was in the same situation. I heard about them while reading about mechanical calculators (using gears). Since then I bought a little one, received 2 large as a present (gave a bottle of champain in return as a measure of savoir vivre). And I learnt to use them to some level.

Well. They are great tool to understand maths (it's analogic, so it's easier to grasp), and to calculate some things quickly and roughly. But the capacity of formal calculus that was put into electronic calculators, e.g. the ti89, is really superior.

In a way the digital calculators have gained the analogic trait, as soon as they supported formal writing, and graph display.

 

P.S.: some mathematical functions, on digital computer, use evaluation algorithms which are not unlike slide rules.

Edited January 2, 2013 by JeanManuel