My dad had a really oddball slide that he used as an artillery scout / artillery surveyor in the Army. I've never seen another one with these particular scales and indexes on it.
What really stands out in my memory when I think of slide rules though was the awe and wonderment on his face when he bought his first HP calculator and brought it home, it was like a toy to him. He sat up till midnight that first night playing with it and comparing the numbers on it to his long hand calculations I guess "checking it" to see if it was right... LOL
Well...mine sits next to my curta, and staff compass.
I wouldn't be able to pick up the slide rule and use it (or the curta for that matter). I just think it is an amazing tool.
I had forgotten that I used slide rules over 45 years ago
LOL2
When I began my freshman year of High School ('63) Hoagie the math teacher had a 6 or 8 foot slide rule above the chalk board, he was quite proficient in it's use... I worked rather hard to gain those skills...
My older brother was a whiz, I envied that.
In the early '70s we would sit under a tree and calc traverses and slope reductions with our Book of Peters and Curtas. We all compared our calcs to assure we had not made fumbles.
In '75 Some had that new Sears electronic calculator that had built in trig functions (and required a bucket of penlight batteries)... later in the season some got the real new HP25s... Mike (that wild eyed hippy that lived in his VW micro-bus) would whip out his slide rule and would always get done first, and I believe he was always right.
I sold my Curta for cash to buy one of the Sears things, and soon after sold that for my HP29C.
I have several rules around the office, but I have no clue how to use them... everyone picks them up and smiles... the under 50 set often ask what the heck it is.
Yeppers. Still have a couple along with my aging 11C. Just pulled out my two slide rules and surprisingly they both still worked.
Nice to have something where you don't have to worry about the batteries.
I like that you can see this thread on Deral's computer in the picture. 🙂
Just curious Wendell, don't really know how the times viewed tag works...I don't remember seeing a post with so many views, somethin' like 700, probably curious about what a slide rule is, or were. Funny to think about our favorite HP handhelds, or our fancy new GPS, and some old fart askin' "remember when"???
Well Both R Old..
It would be hard to find another profession that has seen so much change in the last 50 years.
Many of us started doing dmd's by hand but now have a computer with the latest least squares programs.
Doing GPS for 24 hours to get enough observations versus instant RTK.
Computing sag and temps for the chains instead of just inputting PPM's in the total stations.
Artistic drawings by hand instead of the cold and antiseptic world of cad.
I think this is all important though for the young bucks. You have to understand not only who you are following but sometimes just how you should follow them knowing how they worked.
The 0.3 mm argument the other day astounded me. In my day we were concerned about any and every type of correction. It was called procedure and methodology. Sometimes now I wonder if it's been lost.
Wax On, Wax Off
Modern day teaching of the slide rule is not because the student will ever need to use a slide rule. It is a very good method of teaching the reading of scales of all types. But, just like the Karate Kid, The student won't see the benefits until much later.
James
Mine is a Dietzgen Maniphase Multiplex Decimal Trig type Log Log rule Cat. No. 1732 with a Micromatic Adjustment that allows re-calibration of the index lines due to changes in temperature & humidity. Got mine in 1961, used it until 1972. (Cost $32 in 1961 - which was a LOT of money back then.) I have a magnifier made for the glass index window, too. Pretty elaborate instrument. I've got a circular one that I built into a pen desk set and hidden under a Corps of Engineer benchmark disk, and a 6-inch Pickett pocket slide rule that I have framed in a glass case with the sign: "For Computing Emergencies when Power is Lost."
Slide Rules?
Is that where only one can go down at a time?
Safety first, right?;-)
I have one, but I don't what is for, just like Sam Cooke.
Of course!
Do you remember the round kind?
Great for the field, reducing slopes, and tangents, to do stakeout!
🙂
N
