...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...
03-27-2011, 02:36 PM
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