Off Topic - Slide Rules

[BobTurner]

I absolutely agree with Dan. Ever notice the panic a cashier has when the total is $10.24 and you hand them a $20 and before you can hand them a quarter, they enter $20 into the register.

Back before electricity, several of my college classes did not allow any type of calculator (manual or electric) on tests and all questions required calculation work to be shown.

Correct. My wife and I were at a Burger King when their electronic cash register quit. Clerk had just rung up my bill for $3.25. I handed her a five and a quarter, and she was dumbfounded about how much change to give me. Just then the manager comes running in, carrying a small box labeled ‘emergency computer crash supplies’. She opened it up, it was full of pencils and paper!

 

[scsmith]

I absolutely agree with Dan. Ever notice the panic a cashier has when the total is $10.24 and you hand them a $20 and before you can hand them a quarter, they enter $20 into the register.

Back before electricity, several of my college classes did not allow any type of calculator (manual or electric) on tests and all questions required calculation work to be shown

The funniest thing is that you hand them a $20 and a quarter, and they give you your quarter back, along with $9 in bills and 75 cents.

I started out with a simple Faber Castell in high school, then got a Versalog at BCIT just in time for electronic calculators to appear. Started with a TI-SR10, then a couple more up to a TI-59 with print cradle. Then I switched to HP and am still using my HP42S, my favorite, on a daily basis. I had always wanted a Pickett so I bought an N4ES, then a Faber Castell 2/83N Novo Duplex, and finally a K&E Decilon. Also bought a Pickett 600 6", yes, the one that went to the moon. Also ended up with some E6Bs, mostly Kane MK-6Bs. I discovered I had a collection, and so found space in my display cabinet in my living room. My engineering history told in slide rules and calculators
View attachment 58465

Wow! That is really nice!
I've thought of doing something similar as a wall hanging, with a T-square, triangle, french curve, compass, and a tube for "Eagle Turquoise" pencil lead. I even have a planimeter somewhere. Have you tried to buy Velum drawing paper in "D" size sheets?

 

[Mel]

It is SO sad, what the smart phone has done to the human brain!

I use my cell phone as a phone and occasionally a camera. That's it! It is turned off when I'm at home.

 

[Webb]

The funniest thing is that you hand them a $20 and a quarter, and they give you your quarter back, along with $9 in bills and 75 cents.

You still owe me a penny

 

[terrye]

Have you tried to buy Velum drawing paper in "D" size sheets?

I probably have a lifetime supply left over from about 35 years ago when I had a design company. Just before I started the company,I bought a Vemco V-Track drafting machine 36" x 72" with a Vemco VL-4 incandescent/fluorescent light and a Leonar drafting table. I still have them and they come in quite handy all the time, although I use Solidworks most of the time in my work and for my RV-9A. Sad to say Vemco no longer exists. I think they made the best drafting machines.

 

[MED]

Forgot I had this one. Never needed it.

 

[RV8JD]

Forgot I had this one. Never needed it.

So far!!

 

[David Paule]

MIne wasn't so pretty. It came with a very explicit book, "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons." Years ago I thought it was a good read. More recently it was too gruesome for me. Same book, but apparently I changed.

On a happier note, my black D-4 slide rule is still in my flight bag. Got it when I was a teenager.

Dave

 

[esco]

My high school slipstick gave way to a four-function calculator, then a series of increasingly small (powerful, expensive, capable) TI and HP calculators and desktop computing software, and now online and phone apps.
These too will go away, to be replaced in their own time.

I'm somewhat insulated from these changes: my CFO is a "calculator" in the sense of the women who made ballistic calculations during WWII.
She's great at recalling past purchase prices; keeps track of grocery and gardening costs at multiple vendors; and can estimate payments for various interest rates, unit costs, and discounts... far faster than I can fumble for the phone.

 

[PCHunt]

My high school slipstick gave way to a four-function calculator, then a series of increasingly small (powerful, expensive, capable) TI and HP calculators and desktop computing software, and now online and phone apps.
These too will go away, to be replaced in their own time.

I'm somewhat insulated from these changes: my CFO is a "calculator" in the sense of the women who made ballistic calculations during WWII.
She's great at recalling past purchase prices; keeps track of grocery and gardening costs at multiple vendors; and can estimate payments for various interest rates, unit costs, and discounts... far faster than I can fumble for the phone.

This thread is Absolutely, Positively, the best thread ever!! (age 81.....)

 

[BillL]

You bet! My HP-41C was an amazing tool in high school. I still have it. Using RPN has served me well over the decades.

My dad tried to teach me how to use a slide rule back in the 60s, but it didn't seem that useful to an 8 year old.

I have an HP41CX simulator on my iPhone and it is used several times a day. As a result of this thread I did locate a couple of Dietzen slide rules I used in HS and as a freshman. I spent several days going to the campus bookstore Johnston&Malone where George had a display with holes for you hands to operate the calculators. A soon as I could use RPN I got an HP25 and it made back calculations of e^X a breeze in physics exams. The tables were a real pain.