Slide rules who uses them?

[Phil Pascoe]

I've still got mine from school '65 - '72 - and my book of log tables. My daughter got "A"s at gcse in maths, physics, and chemistry with knowing what a logarithmic scale was - we'd been taught them in junior school.

 

[dickm]

Anyone out there remember the Otis cylindrical slide rule? Much more accurate than the run-of-the mill straight ones and very fashionable among certain professions in the 1960s. Never used one myself, as Diehl and Facit mechanical calculators were much more useful for statistical work.
Somewhere, still have my straight sliderule bought secondhand for A-levels in the 1950s, which must have come from a Brummagem foundry, as it had tables of casting shrinkage on the back. Also have a broken Hoppus feet slide/folding rule which really ought to be restored just for interest.

 

[graduate_owner]

I bought a British Thornton 10" slide rule in 1969 when studying engineering an university. I seem to remember it cost about £3, equivalent to about £60 these days I reckon. I still remember how to use it but of course a calculator is so much easier and more accurate. We used log tables at school. I seem to remember log books still being used in schools around the mid 70s, then pocket calculators started to become common.
I remember a relative showing me a scientific calculator from his work, and it cost £200 in 1974. £200 !!!

K

 

[Racers]

Did you hear about the constipated mathematician? He worked it out with out with a slide rule!

I do have a couple and did use them but calculators soon replaced them.

My farther has a HP scientific calculator which was very expensive.

Pete

 

[bugbear]

Anyone out there remember the Otis cylindrical slide rule? Much more accurate than the run-of-the mill straight ones and very fashionable among certain professions in the 1960s.

Never seen a small cylindrical rule - thanks for that.

http://www.hpmuseum.org/srcyl.htm

The BIG Fuller one comes up surprisingly often at auction, so they must have been quite practically useful.

Their size overcomes the major problem with slide rules - they're not very accurate, (2 or 3 sig figs), being essentially
an analogue device. Tables (7 or 10 figure) were used for "real" maths, but they;re much slower.

Digital calculators (mechanical, then electronic) replaced them all, of course.

BugBear

 

[novocaine]

I want one of these. if you ever see one at a car boot grab it, even if it isn't all there, grab it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta

 

[Benchwayze]

Presumably they are like some kind of portable abacus?

Careful now! You'll upset a 'bean-counter' somewhere! :lol:

I was never taught how to use one. Maybe I'll buy one and amaze myself by figuring it for myself! :mrgreen:

Cheers

John

 

[ChrisR]

Still have mine, purchased in 1959, when I started my electrical engineering apprenticeship.

Those were the days. :wink:

Chris R.

 

[Benchwayze]

Good old days?

Gritty, bitty steam trains, coal-holes in the cellar, no central heating, toilet in the garden, few of us owned a car, smog, dowdy fashions. and pub tipping-out time was 10.30pm. Yeah... Happy days. :lol: :lol: :lol:

On the other hand. Real beer, less than 10p a pint! Okay, Happy nights!

John

 

[xy mosian]

I started at college, Electrical Engineering, just as reasonably priced calculators became available. I remember one lad calculating current in a resistor to about 6 decimal places. The tutor told him off, " You can't read more than two places on an AVO meter the rest is daft ".
xy

 

[RogerP]

.... On the other hand. Real beer, less than 10p a pint! Okay, Happy nights!
John

... and a fiver a week wages. :shock:

 

[mind_the_goat]

. The tutor told him off, " You can't read more than two places on an AVO meter the rest is daft ".
xy

Don't start us reminiscing about AVO meters too :roll:

 

[xy mosian]

. The tutor told him off, " You can't read more than two places on an AVO meter the rest is daft ".
xy

Don't start us reminiscing about AVO meters too :roll:

OOPS! Sorry about that
xy

 

[bugbear]

. The tutor told him off, " You can't read more than two places on an AVO meter the rest is daft ".
xy

Don't start us reminiscing about AVO meters too :roll:

OOPS! Sorry about that
xy

Waddya' mean, reminisce? My usual meter is an AVO!

BugBear

 

[Racers]

I have about 5 AVOs, sad I know.

Pete

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Anyone remember making Napier's bones? We did them in junior school.

 

[rxh]

I had a nice model 8 AVO complete with leather case but it was stolen in 1985. I always wanted to replace it but was put off by the cost. A couple of weeks ago while I was shopping for rusty tools I saw two AVOs for sale and managed to get the price down to £25 for the pair

As for slide rules, I have a few but it must be about 40 years since i used any of them.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Ah but what's the resistance of the movement? IIRC, the posh ones had really high Z movements - 10k if memory serves. Mine is a 'cheapie' AVO 8 at (I think) 2k Ohms, and still gets a lot of use, although I have a wonderful 7-digit HP benchtop model.

The trouble is that none of the meters ever seem to agree with each other - two DMMs, one el-cheapo moving coil, the AVO 8, The HP benchtop and a four channel (supposedly-calibrated) storage scope.

I do have one of those standard voltage source chips - I really ought to hook it up and calibrate them. but then, as XY's tutor said, two sig figs is usually quite enough.

 

[Jonzjob]

Going back on topic. I only have one slide rule. Not quite pocket size at about 18" long it is a Pilot Balloon slide rule with 2 slides. It does all the normal plus Sine/Cosine and Tangent. I acquired (?) it in the late 50s when I had a part time job with a west London surplus place. J J Hicks made it and it carries the serial number of No. 475. If anyone has any ide of how I can get some more info on it would be very grateful. It is a lovely bit of kit. Original box, mahogany with ivory faces and 3 brass/glass slides. Used by the metio blokes.

This is the sort of thing http://web.csulb.edu/~mbrenner/slide.htm

About the only part I have used are the 2 inner slides that doe the multiplication and division. I never was any good at maffs

 

[AndyT]

In case anyone has had their interest raised and wants to find out a lot more about slide rules in their many varieties, have a look at the website for all slide rule collectors - the Oughtred Society

http://www.oughtred.org/index.shtml