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Instructions for Otis King's Pocket Calculator

National Museum of American History
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Object Details

Carbic Limited
Description
This pamphlet folds out to eight pages and was printed on light green paper by Carbic Limited, the British manufacturer of Otis King's Pocket Calculator, a cylindrical slide rule. Carbic's address on the pamphlet—171, Seymour Place, London, W.I.—is scratched out and reprinted as 54, Dundonald Road, London, S.W.19. Dundonald Road was the last known location for Carbic, and the company was there by 1959. The calculator was available by mail order in 1960 for 62s. 6d. (roughly $175.00).
The pamphlet provides details of the scales on the Model K (which performed multiplication and division) and the Model L (which also provided readings of logarithms for determining roots and powers). The examples also include problems of proportion, percentages, constant factors, and calculations in pounds sterling (before decimalization of British currency). The last three pages provide instructions for operating the instrument.
See also 1987.0788.01 and 1987.0788.07.
Reference: "Finding the Answer is Simplicity Itself," advertisement for the Otis King Pocket Calculator, The New Scientist 5, no. 121 (March 12, 1959): 548 and 8, no. 213 (December 15, 1960): 1568.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Howard I. Chappelle
ca 1960-1962
ID Number
1987.0788.06
accession number
1987.0788
catalog number
1987.0788.06
Object Name
leaflet
Physical Description
paper (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 20.2 cm x 13 cm; 7 15/16 in x 5 1/8 in
place made
United Kingdom: England, London
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Slide Rules
National Museum of American History
subject
Mathematics
Rule, Calculating
Record ID
nmah_904567
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a7-2e3d-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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Instructions for Otis King's Pocket Calculator.
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