International Workshop AU

Nathan's fourth mystery slide rule.

Textile ?

Click image for magnification

Data:

  • Three stators and three slides, and a multitude of scales
  • Hand-drawn in India ink on paper glued onto wood (on one side only).
  • The scales carry names like “No. of ends”, “Lbs. per 1,000 ft”, “Circ. Mills”, “Feet per 10 Hrs”, “Dir. Over Rubber”, “Cable”, “Angle of Lay”, “Carriers”, “Small”, “Size of Cotton”
  • Bought at an OS swap.
  • Questions originally submitted to the Oughtred Society Newsletter in 2014.

Questions:

  1. Who made it?
  2. What purpose?
    Does it have something to do with manufacturing insulated cables of some kind? Nathan Zeldes
    “No. of ends”, “lbs per 1,000 feet”, “Angle of lay”, etc. are textile calculations but “Dir. over rubber” is very strange and I think this slide rule is related with the woven elastic fabric invented in the 1930's with the name “India Rubber Textile Fabrics.”; See Patent GB366019A Nicola Marras
    “Dir. over rubber” is actually “Dia. over rubber”, i.e. “Diameter over rubber”, which suggests electrical cables. Andries de Man