Need a slide rule?

[Ed in Tampa]

Interestingly I have seen carpenters back in the late 50's early 60's use framing squares like a slide rule. The carpenter that was building my parents garage used it to calculate how many yards of concrete to order, what angles to cut in the framing lumber and how many square of roofing shingles he needed.

He used it to calculate the siding and grade for floor of the garage, with differences of how much above grade they would have to be and angle of the drive into the garage.

He showed me how he did it and actually it was quicker and easier than even finding a calculator and doing it but I have long forgotten how he did it.

I know when I bought my first framing square a book of at least 50 pages came with it, on how to use it.

[robinson46176]

[quote="JPG40504"]
2 x 3 = 6 ]



That is the part I remembered... All of the rest of the stuff on the stick might as well be decorative carving as far as me remembering any of it.
Today I would have to look in an instruction manual to use an abacus.


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[wrdavis]

Great now I can some serious stuff.

Back when I used these so much in school I could see the thing with my eyes closed. Then I learned to slide it in my mind and read the result. Was accurate to a place or two.

Never was able to do that with calculators.

[fjimp]

Great now I can some serious stuff.

Back when I used these so much in school I could see the thing with my eyes closed. Then I learned to slide it in my mind and read the result. Was accurate to a place or two.

Never was able to do that with calculators.

No disrespect intended. I was first guy on my block to acquire calculators. The early ones were pricey. Later they were used as giveaways. Slide Rules, well that is a different story. Never learned to use one. I could work up a great sweat just from the threat that I needed too. Jim

[Ed in Tampa]

My first calculators were little more than adding machines (era 69-70). The most fun I had was the SHELL OIL 71077345 thingy we did. You would ask something like who wins when you have 1184 Israelis figthing 6224 Arabs with 17 tanks Keying in 11846224.17and fighting for 6 days you would then times the number by 6 and the answer would be 71077345 which when you turned the calculator around would read SheLL OiL.

Most calculators could not begin to do what a slide rule could. It wasn't until mid to late 70's when they could do trig functions.

[robinson46176]

No disrespect intended. I was first guy on my block to acquire calculators. The early ones were pricey. Later they were used as giveaways. Slide Rules, well that is a different story. Never learned to use one. I could work up a great sweat just from the threat that I needed too. Jim

Allison Aircraft sent my father to school in 1942 (he was testing aircraft engines) and much of the school was on the slide-rule. He tried to teach me a time or two when I was a kid but I had little interest and wouldn't have had a need often enough then to remember how.

BTW, Allison Aircraft was in Indianapolis. It later became Allison Engineering and maybe a couple of other names but people around here usually just said "Allison's". It is now part of Rolls Royce and I think making transmissions.

My father worked there from 1942 thru 1945, 12 hours a day 7 days a week and only missed the day I was born in spring 1942. He was also farming full time.


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[bobgroh]

Guys, you are making me feel so very, very old!! When I was in college (1959 to 1964), calculators were big old mechanical things with cranks on the side. First thing I had to do when I started my sophmore year was to go to the college bookstore and buy my first slide rule - a Pickett! Awesomeness on the hoof! Still have it.

About 20 years ago, I found my original slide rule in a storage box (as well as my wife's college slide rule) and that got me on the kick of collecting the darn things. Now I've got maybe 20 of them - purchased over the years on eBay, at antique stores and the like. In fact, just bought one last weekend at a local antique mall - a Dietzen wood rule with 22 scales - in great condition.

Back in 1966'ish, my uncle, who had a custom machine shop, bought one of the first 4 function electronic calculators and he was so proud of that machine! Ah, how things have changed over the last 50 years.

[skou]

No disrespect intended. I was first guy on my block to acquire calculators. The early ones were pricey. Later they were used as giveaways. Slide Rules, well that is a different story. Never learned to use one. I could work up a great sweat just from the threat that I needed too. Jim

Jim, I remember my father bringing one home from work. Said it cost more than we did!

I still remember typing stuff like 7734 or 77345 into it. (The second one was only around parents, and represented an oil company.)(turn the screen over.)

This thing had a rechargable battery, cost in the thousands, and barely had 6 digits. (Dad worked for numerous "Silicon Valley" companies, in the '60s and, in the early '70's worked for a TINY memory company, intel. Back then, Intel was PROUD of not capitalizing their company name.)

I DO remember his 3 foot long slide rule, too.

steve

[saminmn]

I am reminded of the old math joke about a man who had a pair of adders. He wanted them to mate, but to no avail. Finally he gave up and took them out in the woods and turned them loose on a fallen log. Later on he went on a walk i the wood to see how they were doing. When he got to the log he found lots of little adders.

Moral of story - adders need logs to multiply!:eek:

[shaun]

Moral of story - adders need logs to multiply!:eek:

Now that's funny! (But you've prolly gotta be older than a "Generation X'er" to appreciate it.)