Tim has provided a free downloadable software emulation of the sliderule. Compared to a calculator, a slide rule is severely limited in its accuracy. You may see some of the works of art at slide rule artpage. Slide rules usually look like a narrow ruler, but for todays demonstration we will be building a circular slide rule. Circular slide rule calculators wheel chart volvelles by. Unfortunately because of the screen resolution, numbers are displayed digitally.
One of the nice things about circular slide rules is that youll. Slide rule scales build your own sr slide rule museum. The top picture shows the setting for the multiplier 8 in the sum 8 x 6. There are places on the internet that have templates for circular rules. Professionally engineered and custom manufactured by datalizer. The radiological tables and circular slide rule were compiled and designed to provide a compact calculator and reference source to aid the radiologist or radiation therapist in his or her daily duties. The lower picure shows the answer on the leftmost cursor. Insurance wheel replaces the old circular slide rules. This new form of a slide rule was patented by gilson on october 19, 1915 and was considered far more accurate than the traditional straight slide rule. To someone who doesnt know how to use it, a slide rule looks like a ruler designed by picasso.
As graphical analog calculators, slide rules are closely related to nomograms, but the former are used for general calculations, whereas the latter are used for applicationspecific computations. Before the advent of the electronic calculator, it was the most commonly used calculation tool in science and engineering. Contribute to dustincswagnersliderule development by creating an account on github. The first thing youll need to do is design the rule. There are at least three different scales, and on most of them the numbers arent even spaced evenly apart. It is designed for people who have never used a slide rule before or who have used one in the past but largely forgotten what to do. Old pilots watches feature these slide rules, and any newer pilotstyle watches also have this. This set is unused and immaculate the box is a little worn.
Slide rule software sphere researchs slide rule universe. I have used this software to build demonstration sliderules for papers that i have prepared for the international meetings and can highly recommend it. The first of three templates to build a circular slide rule background. Dolans popular childrens book, the effects of nuclear weapons, which along with classics like hersheys hiroshima and lapps the voyage of the lucky dragon, made growing up in the 1960s the delightful, carefree experience it was. Keeping it up with my math helping tools and after i finished my straight cardboard slide rule, i decided to make. There are also a couple of slider calculaters from brian and myself. See the page devoted to the watch style of slide rule at the international slide rule museum. This page gives my own templates see below for constructing a circular. I f youve ever seen a watch with a slide rule bezel and havent known how to use it, we have a little guide for you. It replaces the cardboard circular slide rule that just about every natural gas engineer has received from a compressor vendor at some point. Slide rules were key to engineers in the 1950s and 1960s even though. Slide rule circular logarithmic ruler kl1 ussr calculator. This circular slide rule was included in samuel glasstone and philip j. This site hosts a portable package of derek ross, stefan vorkoetters, and brian bartholomews virtual slide rules browserhosted slide rule simulators.
Addition slide rule wolfram demonstrations project. Relax, you dont have to load any to actually run your slide rule, these are training and experimentation aids. Contact author contact andrew nikitin if you know interesting. As many of you know, watches with slide rule functions have 2 logarithmic scales the outer of which turns. The slide rule is based on the mathematical principle of logarithms developed by scotsman john napier in 1614. A brief tutorial on finding the log of a number, useful for db scales. Slide rule was invented by english minister william oughtred in 1622. The last slide rule manufactured in the united states was produced on july 11, 1976. A large number of templates for circular slide rules are given, along with many other templates. On this page are links to a number of software simulations of slide rules, mechanical. Fowlers longscale calculator vest pocket modelrx for engineers, draughtsman and science students supplied complete in leather case fowlers calculators, like all slide rules, are based on the properties of logarithms, which enable multiplication to be performed by addition and division by subtraction. The slide rule, also known colloquially in the united states as a slipstick, is a mechanical. Slide rule and art like many other neat things slide rules always inspired writers, poets, dancers, singers i guess and artists.
Circular slide rule based on my guess concerning nystroms calculator design. The slide rule, also known colloquially in the united states as a slipstick, is a mechanical analog computer. Customers tell us that they know circular slide rule style calculators as. A slide rule in a circular form whose advantages over a straight slide rule are its precision, because it is equivalent to a straight slide rule many times longer than the circular slide rule s diameter, and ease of multiplication, because the scale is continuous. Clair gilson was a civil engineer and developed a circular slide rule for use by banks, businesses and accounting offices. Instruction booklet that came with the conray radiological tables and circular slide rule.
This slide rule is a genuine classic and deservedly so, with one of the best scale layouts ever devised for professional technical work. Background on logarithms, history of the slide rule, and how it all works. Scientific american may 2006 university of vermont. Overview of the major categories of slide rules, and descriptions of common scale labels and meanings. Interestingly the first computer programmer turned out. This software tries to replicate the slide ruler which was so popular way back than. This one is for a generalpurpose rule, except that hyperbolic functions are present, and loglog scales omitted. Sophisticated models have more scales than my simple circular slide rule, making for greater flexibility. How to use a circular slide rule caliper timepieces inc. Its usage is identical to that of a real slide rule, but tim has introduced two major enhancements. I worked at eastman kodak for 30 years as a software engineer specializing in realtime. A circular slide chart is sometimes referred to as a wheel chart or.
Includes a brief side show slide show of famous and interesting slide rules, most of which are in the authors collection. Scales to make a circular slide rule using a cd case. Dozens of scales are included and numerous features that could never exist on a physical slide rule are also included, such as color options, numeric displays of the values under the hairlines, and so on. The single slide rule is designed for beginner, consisting of k, a, b, ci, c and d scales only. Slide rule for windows is a revolutionary new software it is a single sided slide ruler for windows 3. After seeing phil bs making your own slide rule, i went on a huge slide rule kick. Just line up the two numbers to get quickly tabs on all their multiples. Circular slide rules here is different emulator for circular slide rule 1and other. Conray radiological tables and circular slide rule. Aviation remains one of the few places that the slide rule is still in widespread use. Today planes rely on very different technologies but the rule is still useful whenever you want to do operations without having to type. Datalizer wheel chart calculators are designed for quick calculating.
A gift from a retired engineer, this marks my first cylindrical rule, also known as a tubular or helical slide rule. Tapping three times in the same place will return the program to the home position. The slide rule also does not tell you the sign of your result. Most students learned slide rule use on the linear slide rules, and never found reasons to switch. You can enter and read a number typically to two or three decimal digits only. Insurance wheel is a useful tool for insurance brokers as well as insurance carriers. Feb 17, 2014 here i cover the most basic operations of a slide rule. This is peculiar, but it is intended that this rule will be used in conjunction with the one with two fourdecade loglog scales, normal and reciprocal, as part of a set.
Extra marks and windows facilitate calculations specifically needed in aviation. As the programmer, i have to agree with your complaints. Henry suttons slide rule top was an early circular rule circa 1663. This circular slide rule was used to calculate the most efficient code for. Sep 16, 2014 before there were computers, insurance companies used a round slide rule device called an insurance wheel to calculate how much premium was to be refunded for a policy cancelled before its expiration date. Get the best deals on circular slide rule when you shop the largest online selection at. Oct 28, 2017 also because of all the detail, the 30loop spiral slide rule converts to a lowrez bitmap data image while you move it, then back to a vector based image as soon as you release. An historical introduction to slide rules from the museum of hp calculators. I did a lot of research on them, and when i did, i discovered that there are circular variations. Takeda concise 300 circular slide rule diameter 412, c scale length 10 made in japan this concise circular slide rule has the standard 10 scales arranged on a doublesided plastic disc of about 5 diameter. Circular slide rule article about circular slide rule by.
The construction is bamboo, a wonderfully stable, mildly lubricious material. Circular slide rules also eliminate offscale calculations, because the scales. If both the outside and inside circular rules have identical scales with a full range from 10 to 90, then you have what are known as c and d log scales. Circular slide rule calculators wheel chart calculators. With the introduction of this device every engineer sold their souls to the. The first circular slide rule on this link uses a cd case as the basis for the slide rule. All other scales on a slide rule are referenced to the c and d scales. Many pilots watches made make use of a circular slide rule on the bezel of the watch. Circular and combination slide rule devices erics slide. Using a slide rule is a bit of a lost art but with a bit of practice, it can be a useful everyday tool. My collection of circular and combination slide rule devices. To minimize rotational delays, a programmer had to figure out each. Also because of all the detail, the 30loop spiral slide rule converts to a.
The concise company of japan still manufactures circular slide rules which can be purchased. The e6b flight computer, nicknamed the whiz wheel or prayer wheel, is a form of circular slide rule used in aviation and one of the very few analog calculating devices in widespread citation needed use in the 21st century. It was around this time that engineering became a recognized profession, resulting in widespread slide rule use in europebut not in the united states. The reverend william oughtred and others developed the slide rule in the 17th century based on the emerging work on logarithms by john napier. Once all the pilots had a rule of this kind on the clock, knowing how to do multiplication and division quickly could save your life.
One slide rule remaining in daily use around the world is the e6b. May 24, 2016 also because of all the detail, the 30loop spiral slide rule converts to a lowrez bitmap data image while you move it, then back to a vector based image as soon as you release. Esperanto programming languages are java, php hypertext pre. The design site for hardware software, and firmware engineers. These were used by pilots to do simple arithmetic, conversions and other calculations in an era before gps and calculators. This specialpurpose 1950s circular slide rule from remington rand was used by programmers to optimize how the roomsize mainframe executed instructions. This program replicates the most common types of slide rules. Electronic versions are also produced, resem bling calcu lators, rather than m anual slid e rules. The appeal of slide rules for use and as collectables. Our next project will include a circular slide rule in the design of the watch.
This is a circular slide rule first created in the 1930s for aircraft pilots to help with dead reckoning. Enlarge an image by doubletapping in the same place. Many calculating histories write off the slide rule around the 1970s. Contribute to dustincswagner sliderule development by creating an account on github. The dual slide rule has scales as shown in the image.
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