Keuffel & Esser Log Log Duplex Decitrig

[sheepherder]

...I know; you young guys are thinking "What???"...

But the older more technical guys are thinking "Wow!!!"...

A little history...Back before computers or pocket calculators, there was...The Slide Rule... Some sources say they were introduced in the 17th century, but I seem to recall being told that ancient Egyptians used them as well...

In any case, when I entered technical college in 1967, slide rules were required...The best on the market was the Keuffel & Esser brand...There were dozens of different functions and many tech-specific styles & sizes...I couldn't afford a K&E (or even a 12" rule"), so I had to make do with a 6" Japanese plastic rule...

I spent two years there, then most of a year as a machinist, two more years in the military, then in 1972 back to college...Texas Instruments had introduced a pocket calculator during that period, but they were expensive, so my second college had banned their use...Slide Rules only...I stepped up to a 12" plastic Japanese rule...

The years went by, I got into computers, got away from engineering (they wouldn't let me *do* anything!), and one day, while browsing eBay, saw someone had an old broken slide rule for sale...(Not a K&E)...I decided to hunt down an old K&E (which I had lusted after ever since reading one of Heinlein's heroes using one) and found the exact one I would have bought if I wasn't born poor...

A little bit of nostalgia...Atomic bombs were designed with these...Propeller driven fighter aircraft...Lighter than air ships...Battleships...Skyscrapers...Automobiles...Pretty much every technical item prior to 1970 or thereabouts...

IIRC, a K&E Log Log Duplex Decitrig went for ~$400 new...It was the Cadillac of slide rules...The one below cost me a tenth of that...

[Norme]

Hi Rich, I, too, used one of these in engineering school in the late 50's. The wooden core is actually a bamboo composite which was used as it is very dimensionally stable. I wish I knew what happened to mine! Regards, Norm

[FNorm]

I had one that had a yellow background. Yeah? i wonder.....

FN

[Ron Wood]

I've still got mine! Purchased in 1958. Dad bought it for me after asking some of the engineers he worked with what he should buy for his college kid. I still have the manual for it also. I used to carry it on my belt hanging from a swivel hook. Just your average nerd.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Ron Wood

I've still got mine! Purchased in 1958. Dad bought it for me after asking some of the engineers he worked with what he should buy for his college kid. I still have the manual for it also. I used to carry it on my belt hanging from a swivel hook. Just your average nerd.

Ron - Do you recall what your dad paid for it??? The price I quoted seems high...but that's what I remember...or think I remember...

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by FNorm

I had one that had a yellow background.FN

Here's a site showinmg a lot of them...some with yellow...

http://www.sliderule.ca/index.shtml

[guns3545]

Originally Posted by postino

...I know; you young guys are thinking "What???"...

But the older more technical guys are thinking "Wow!!!"...

A little history...Back before computers or pocket calculators, there was...The Slide Rule... Some sources say they were introduced in the 17th century, but I seem to recall being told that ancient Egyptians used them as well...

In any case, when I entered technical college in 1967, slide rules were required...The best on the market was the Keuffel & Esser brand...There were dozens of different functions and many tech-specific styles & sizes...I couldn't afford a K&E (or even a 12" rule"), so I had to make do with a 6" Japanese plastic rule...

I spent two years there, then most of a year as a machinist, two more years in the military, then in 1972 back to college...Texas Instruments had introduced a pocket calculator during that period, but they were expensive, so my second college had banned their use...Slide Rules only...I stepped up to a 12" plastic Japanese rule...

The years went by, I got into computers, got away from engineering (they wouldn't let me *do* anything!), and one day, while browsing eBay, saw someone had an old broken slide rule for sale...(Not a K&E)...I decided to hunt down an old K&E (which I had lusted after ever since reading one of Heinlein's heroes using one) and found the exact one I would have bought if I wasn't born poor...

A little bit of nostalgia...Atomic bombs were designed with these...Propeller driven fighter aircraft...Lighter than air ships...Battleships...Skyscrapers...Automobiles...Pretty much every technical item prior to 1970 or thereabouts...

IIRC, a K&E Log Log Duplex Decitrig went for ~$400 new...It was the Cadillac of slide rules...The one below cost me a tenth of that...

OMG, I'm having flashbacks to 1953-57 when I carried one similiar in a leather case attached to my belt. Now Physics Majors carry Laptops or Tablets containing more computing power in those tiny packages than existed in the entire world in the 50s.

John

[FNorm]

I vaguely remember an old joke. The punch was:

"...these figures were calculated with a sly drool".

FN

[Norme]

Originally Posted by guns3545

OMG, I'm having flashbacks to 1953-57 when I carried one similiar in a leather case attached to my belt. Now Physics Majors carry Laptops or Tablets containing more computer in those tiny packages than existed in the entire world in the 50s.

John

As a summer intern back then, I worked at EMI in England. They had an ENIAC computer, the first computer to cross the Atlantic. It was the size of a large room, had almost 20,000 vacuum tubes and worked less than 50% of the time (the vacuum tubes kept burning out). It had less computing capacity than some of the toys my grandchildren play with. Regards, Norm

[guns3545]

Norme,

The first commercial computer actually built in the UK was the LEO.

Interestingly, it was built by a bakery not one of the Electrical Engineering giants of the day..

LEO was the acronym for Lyons Electronic Office. Lyons later sold the rights to English Electric which was the UK subsidiary of Siemens that was seized in WWI and renamed English Electric.

John

[Ron Wood]

Rich,
I don't know what Dad paid for the slip-stick. It was a gift, and I remember at the time it seemed like a pretty expensive item for a carpenter to be buying for his son. It is a model 4081-3.

They still had one of those vacuum tube monsters at Ft. Bliss, TX, in the early 60s. I remember it taking up several rooms, and we programmed it by flipping bit switces on the front panel and entering each instruction one at a time.

[tomaustin]

i really understood all the things they could do....

i also remember in 1961, some fellow coming to our Humble Oil office in Tyler, Texas and showing us a storage device which would eliminate all our filing cabinets. thank god we waited a year or two before expanding our use of the "new technology"

incidentally, my first handheld calculator was in 1970, cost $86.00 and would do FOUR functions.....
still got it and it still works fine....

[lugerholsterrepair]

You guys ever heard of a Curta? It was a rotary calculator we used in the surveying business for field work.

http://www.vcalc.net/cu.htm

[John Sabato]

The five year old Dell D600 laptop that is in my briefcase contains more computing power than the entire U.S. Department of Defense had back in 1967 when I was drafted. The first crypto equipment I was trained to repair still used vacuum tubes, and so did the television in my father's living room at the time.

[Don M]

I still have mine which is a Dietzgen N1725 with lots of scales! During the course of my college career, the glass cursors on both sides cracked, introducing a slight offset about half way down each cursor. This probably affected my grades!