THE SLIDE RULE TRADING CO., Paul Ross
Sorry, no discounts on slide rules.

Slide Rules for Sale
"New" and "New Old Stock" slide rules were purchased from retail stores or distributors.  They have been unsold on store shelves for 35-40 years and the boxes show shelf wear.  Boxes have been opened and the rule may have been examined by prospective buyers but it has never been in daily use.  The edges are sharp and the markings are crisp. All the original documents and accessories are included. 

Slide rules in original plastic bags have not been cleaned or aligned.  Some collectors, including myself, like having rules that have been sealed since they left the factory.  However, 35-40 years of storage have effect even on slide rules in sealed plastic bags:  The metal end brackets have dulled; the stators are usually out of alignment and some grit has deposited the celluloid surface.  The rules can be returned to 1970 condition with some metal polish on the end brackets and a wipe-down with Windex.
Hemmi 32 Four-Inch
Vest Pocket  Mannheim Slide Rule


   Click on picture to enlarge.

Four-inch closed-body bamboo slide rule with  magnifying cursor.   Scales are A [B, CI, C] D and [S, L, T] plus a 10-cm measuring scale on the top edge.    Complete, brand new package includes slide rule, brown leather sheath, 40-page factory instruction book, and shelf box.

Rule, case and box are brand new, factory perfect; instruction book has remnant of retail label on front cover, otherwise perfect.

Brand New

Includes
Box, 
Slide Rule,
Leather Case,
Factory Instructions.

Price
$XX SOLD

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Hemmi Cardiothoracic Slide Rule

Click on picture to enlarge.

Special purpose slide rule made by Hemmi about 2000.  Transparent top scale (0-32 cm) is for taking measurement directly from  x-rays or other medical images.  Bottom consists of a simple all-plastic slide rule for calculating various ratios.  Overall size: 4.25 x 31 inches.  Labels are in Japanese.

Brand new in black vinyl sheath with factory original instructions.  (Single page in Japanese.)  
NEW

Includes slide rule & sheath
Price
$8.

SOLD

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Blundell-Harling NL 11-95 Commemorative Circular Slide Rule
3.75 inches diameter.  Scales on outer disk:  L, D.  Inner disk: C, CI, A.  Did not come with a case.

On front: “First International Meeting of Slide Rule Collectors, Utrecht, The Netherlands, November 10, 1995.”  On back: “Only 100 of these slide rules were made for the Dutch Circle of Slide Rule Collectors, NL 11-95.”  I cannot find any indication that Blundell-Harling ever manufactured this model, or anything closely similar, at any other time.

Brand new. Still sealed in factory plastic.
Click on picture to enlarge.
Brand New

Rule only

Price
$8.

SOLD

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K & E "Doric" 4150-1 Pocket Slide Rule
Click on picture to enlarge.


Basic all-plastic pocket slide rule serial number 2168. Scales are DF [CF, CI, C] D, L.  (Back of rule and back of slide are blank.)  With leather sheath, shelf box, and 12-page instruction manual.

All items are in mint, unused condition.
  
New Old Stock

Includes rule, leather sheath, instructions, shelf box.

Price
$25

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1940 Fuller's Calculating Slide Rule, Model 2

Serial # 7491, manufactured in 1940 by W F Stanley and Co, Ltd, London.  Model 2 with scales of logarithms and sines.  With mahogany box/stand, original 32-page book of instructions and two advertising brochures.

Made of  Bakelite and brass with scales of varnished paper on composition in original mahogany box. Spiral scales are 500 inches long.  

Very fine condition.  Almost like new except for one small cigarette burn (shown in a picture below).

Includes original 32-page instruction manual titled "The Fuller Calculator For Calculations involving: MULTIPLICATION, DIVISION, LOGARITHMS, PROPORTION, PERCENTAGES, ROOTS."  Manual is undated but appears contemporary with calculator.  Also two advertising brochures--the earlier of which lists the price of Fuller model 2 as £6, the later says £14 but that has been hand-corrected to £22 (Equivalent to about £117 today).

Click on any picture to enlarge it.


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1940 Fuller Calculating Slide Rule, Model 2

Used


Includes cylindrical slide rule, original mahogany case, original instruction manual. 

Price

$740
 SOLD
Priority Mail shipping within 48 states:  $28.

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Historically Important Thacher’s Calculating Instrument

This is the oldest Thacher Calculating Instrument known to have been sold by Keuffel & Esser, New York.  Its estimated date is 1887.   

Starting about 1881, Thacher Cylindrical Calculators were manufactured and sold by W. F. Stanley, London, UK and also sold by Edwin Thacher, C.E., out of his office in Pittsburgh, PA.  About 1887 all sales were taken over by the Keuffel & Esser Co, NYC.  (As K&E model 4012.)  K&E eventually became the sole seller and manufacturer of Thachers.  The instrument offered for sale here, serial 278,  is the oldest Thacher known to carry a K&E badge.  It likely was at least partially manufactured by Stanley.   (Ref: Feely, Wayne; “Update of Known Fuller and Thacher Rules;“ Journal of the Oughtred Society, Vol 5, No 1, March 1996, pp 25-29.)

The instrument consists of an inner cylinder about four inches in diameter enclosed in a cage of 20 triangular brass bars. The inner cylinder is free to rotate and move left or right independently of the outer cage.  The bars and the inner cylinder both carry 40 segments of a logarithmic scale over 66 feet long, enabling calculation to a least four significant digits of accuracy.

The box is 24 x 6.5 x 6.5 inches.

There is little damage beyond normal wear and tear.  There is a coffee (?) stain on the base of the instrument.  The scales on the bars have been re-papered by Keuffel & Esser.

Documentation includes a 71-page Instruction Book by Edwin Thacher (printed by Van Nostrand, NYC, 1884), a 16-page pamphlet printed by Thacher ,himself, promoting sales from his Pittsburgh office and overprinted on the cover with "Manuf'd by Keuffel  & Esser, New York" (Containing endorsements dated 1886 and early 1887), and photocopies of two articles from the "Journal of the Oughtred Society" which describe all the known Thacher instruments as of March 1996.  (This instrument is not included as it came to market only recently.)  The 16-page pamphlet is in very poor condition as it was printed on thin acid paper which has decomposed until it seems like ashes of burnt paper; photocopies of all 16 pages are included so that one can examine the pamphlet without further damaging the original.     
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Click on any picture to enlarge it.  






Thacher's Calculating Instrument,
Serial # 278.
Used

Includes cylindrical slide rule, original mahogany case, documentation.

Price

$1900
 SOLD

“Midget” Circular Slide Rule

Click on picture to enlarge.
Single fixed disk with two cursors on front and one on the back.  Eleven scales on the front (including drill and thread specifications and a scale for adding /subtracting common fractions).  Ten trigonometric scales on back.   Outer scales, which are the ones used for multiplication and division correspond to a linear slide rule about 12 inches long.  Body of rule is an enameled aluminum disk.
 
 42-page Instruction Manual.

Rule is a little dirty and chrome-plated central pivot is slightly rusty.  Torn cover of instruction booklet has been taped; interior pages are undamaged but brittle with age .  Case is missing.

  This is one of three circular slide rule models manufactured by the Gilson Slide Rule Co. of Stuart, Florida.  Gilson slide rules were distributed by every significant slide rule manufacturer /distributor in the United States but the Gilson name appears nowhere on the rules or in the instructions.  (The distributor’s name was usually printed on the cover of the instructions.)   Gilson was a small family business which moved from Michigan to Florida in the 1920s and set up on an undeveloped parcel of land accessible only by boat.  We have corresponded with Clair Gilson’s daughter who remembers sewing slide rule cases on the family sewing machine.

Used

Includes slide rule, instructions.

Price

$8


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