Snappy Canada Day!
As it is once again Canada Day, I dug around in my collection for something suitably Canadian to mark the occasion. As mentioned previously, Canada was not especially known for…
A Christmas Ca-rule
... but at the first sound of "God bless you merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!" Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror…
Fan scales
A recent discussion with Peter Hopp of Slide Rules fame, prompted by an item in the latest UKSRC Newsletter, finally encouraged me to photograph some of my fan scales. This type of…
OK Computer
It is a well-worn truism that nothing is certain except death and taxes, and certainly throughout history much effort has gone into making sure that the latter is as inescapable…
The Armstrong scale: a hypothesis
Among the more ubiquitous instruments named after their inventors - from Captain Field's parallel to the Napier compass, Gunter's chain to Marquois' triangles - arguably the most widely-known and numerous…
Rules are made to be broken
When is a rule not a rule? When it's four rules! This deceptively simple rolling ruler offers an unexpected "twist" on the conventional design. Made of what appears to be…
More patent sticks
Here is a trio of glorified wooden sticks for ruling parallel lines that each somehow managed to secure patent protection. Two are so similar that they could easily be mistaken…
Thornton on folding pocket rules
I recently took a gamble on a job lot of plastic slide rules and other oddments on account of a blurry pocket rule in one corner of the photo. Superficially…
Stanley vulcanite scales
Today's post showcases a set of six W.F. Stanley vulcanite chain scales and matching offsets, something that had been on my wish list for a long time. Vulcanite (aka ebonite)…
Rule Britannia
When it comes to patented rulers, it's difficult to concieve of anything more basic than this particular example. It consists simply of a pentagonal section ebonised rod with the end…