You say Golmet, I say Golmet
As today is St David's Day, the traditional feast day of the patron saint of Wales, I decided to showcase a drawing instrument that was actually manufactured in Wales. The…
Superbow Sunday
I heard it on the grapevine that today the USA celebrates "Superbow Sunday", apparently an annual national event of great importance - and who am I to argue with that?…
Rotring’s eccentric Centro
In the same vein as Staedtler's Galileo, the 1990s also saw Rotring trying to reinvent the compass, in particular the spindle-adjustment master bow. The resulting design is unusual not only in…
Dial M for Measure
As the saying goes, you wait ages for a London bus and then two come along together. The same would appear to hold true for Elliott Bros dividers with a big…
Purple Reign
Tangentially to my recent post on Bagshaw's patent diagrammeter, I was reminded of something that had always puzzled me, but until now had not seemed of any particular significance. As…
Inglorious Bagshaws
Occasionally I will buy something without bothering to find out what it is first, especially if the price is right. Today's post concerns a recent acquisition that falls into this…
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…
Stanley’s first planimeter (part 3)
As November draws to a close, it seemed an opportune moment to conclude my investigation of Stanley's planimeter, at least so far as the instrument itself is concerned. One of…
Stanley’s first planimeter (part 2)
My last post ended with a slew of questions that I had intended to address in a second instalment, but as I began to assemble the evidence it quickly became…
Stanley’s first planimeter (part 1)
November 16th 2023 marks the bicentenary of Jakob Amsler-Laffon's birth - at least according to the more trustworthy sources - so it seemed only fitting to save a rather special…