Wizard Fire Stream Calculator Slide Rule

Object Details

Adams, Bertram

Description

This rule has a rectangular wooden base, a wooden slide, and a metal runner. The scales and instructions are on paper pasted to the left side of the base, both sides of the slide, the base underneath the slide, and the runner. Given the pump pressure, hose length, and nozzle size, one can find nozzle pressure, gallons of water flowing through the nozzle per minute, and the effective reach of the stream emerging from a fire hose. The slide is marked: THE (/) WIZARD (/) FIRE (/) STREAM (/) CALCULATOR. The bottom of the base is marked: COPYRIGHT 1933 BERTRAM E. ADAMS BROOKLINE MASS. A sticker on the back of the base reads: JAN 23 1933 (/) © C1 I pub. 7077.

The inventor of this object may be Bertram Ernest Adams (b. 1885). Adams graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in sanitary engineering in 1915 or 1916 and subsequently became a noted magician based in the Boston area. Best known for his 1921 book on card tricks, Adamatica, he served as president of the Society of American Magicians in 1932 and 1933. He was a registered voter in Brookline, Mass., as late as 1959. His papers are in the Boston Public Library.

References: Library of Congress Copyright Office, Catalog of Copyright Entries: Part 4, Works of Art, Etc., n.s. 27 (1932): 157; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Register of Former Students 55, no. 15 (1920): 9; MIT Alumni Office, "News from the Classes: Complete List of the Members and Addresses of the Class of 1916," The Technology Review 18, no. 7 (1916): 791; "List of Voters in the Town of Brookline [Mass.]," August 1959, Precinct 9A, 21, http://archive.org/details/townofbrooklinel599broo.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Transfer from Smithsonian Institution Libraries

1933

ID Number

1983.3009.02

catalog number

1983.3009.02

nonaccession number

1983.3009

Object Name

calculating rule

slide rule

Physical Description

metal (cursor material)

wood (overall material)

paper (part material)

Measurements

overall: 1.2 cm x 8.3 cm x 21 cm; 15/32 in x 3 9/32 in x 8 9/32 in

place made

United States: Massachusetts, Brookline

See more items in

Medicine and Science: Mathematics

Science & Mathematics

Slide Rules

National Museum of American History

subject

Mathematics

Rule, Calculating

Fire Fighting

Record ID

nmah_694154

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-10d5-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa