On the History of Gunter's Scale and the Slide Rule During the Seventeenth CenturyCajori, Florian
History
On the History of Gunter's Scale and the Slide Rule During the Seventeenth Century
Cajori, Florian
Slide-rule
One line on Coggeshall’s rule begins with 4 and extends to 40, these
numbers being the “Girt” (a quarter of the circumference), which in
ordinary practice of measuring round timber lies between 4 inches and 40
inches. This “Girt line” slides “against the line of Numbers in two
Lengths, to which it is exactly equal.” A second edition, 1682, shows some
changes in the rule, as well as an enlargement and change of title of the
book itself: A Treatise of Measures, by a Two-foot Rule, by H. C. Gent,
London, 1682. In this, the description of the rule is given thus:
There are four Lines on each flat of this Rule; two next the outward
edges, which are Lines of Measure; and two next the inward edges, which
are Lines of Proportion. On one flat, next the inward edges, is the
Square-line [Girt-line in round timber measurement] with the Line of
Numbers his fellow. Next the outward, a Line of Inches divided into
Halfs, Quarters, and Half-Quarters; from 1 to 12 on one Rule; and from 12
to 24 on the other. On the other flat, next the inward edges, is the
double Scale of Numbers [for solving proportions]. Next the outward on
one Rule a Line of Inches divided each into ten parts; and this for
gauging, etc. On the other a foot divided into 100 parts.
Later further changes were introduced in Coggeshall’s rule.[36]
It is worthy of note that Coggeshall’s slide rule book, The Art of
Practical Measuring, was reviewed in the Acta eruditorum, anno 1691, p.
473; hence Leupold’s description[37] of the rectilinear slide rule in his
Theatrum arithmetico-geometricum, Leipzig, 1727, Cap. XIII, p. 71, is not
the earliest reference to the rectilinear rule found in German
publications. The above date is earlier even than Biler’s reference to a
circular slide rule in his Descriptio instrumenti mathematici universalis
of 1696.
Two noted slide rules for gauging were described by Tho. Everard,
Philomath, in his Stereometry made easie, London, 1684. He designates his
lines by the capital letters A, B, C, D, E. On the first instrument, A on
the rule, and B and C on the slide, have each two radiuses of numbers, D
has only one, while E has three. The second rule is described in an
Appendix; it is one foot long, with two slides enabling the rule to be
extended to 3 feet.
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