I thought I might try to ask people here, as a couple of B&O products have been designed with the precision of a slide rule in mind.

I suppose that many in here are familiar with the slide rule

Fun facts:

A skilled person can make calculations much faster than on pocket calculator.

A slide rule is based on the relation to different logarithmic and linear scales.

Was invented back in the 1630's, the pointer added to the design by Isaac Newton himself.

Of course the main idol of Jacob Jensen when he designed the Beomaster 5000/Beolab 5000 combo and later the Beomaster 1200/1001, 3000, 4000 and 4400 with the destinctive slide rule design. Some other Beomasters do also have hints from the slide rule, as the volume/tone/balance controls on the Beomaster 2000 and later the 3400.

Just posted this because I have become very interested in this historical object when I inherited my Grandfather's Danish Diwa sliderule in rosewood and celluid/bakelite

My Grandfather was a structural engineer (helped design some of the major power stations in the North West and also South Americas first Gas powered plant in the 70's) and was raised on slide rules! I always remember him opening his buereau and there would always be one at hand, just in case! We owe a lot to these wonderful 'calculators'. Sadly, I am not sure where his are now, must ask mum!

Have you learnt how to use the thing?

i was secondary school between 76 and 81, was taught how to useone but i think i might struggle now !..we even got given one on our first day at school if i remember

andym

End of the 1960s we was using sliderules in my education as an industrial mecanic (maskinarbejder), after my education I continued using it a couple of years, but then the small handy pocket calculaters got cheaper and more sofisticated and the sliderule was obsolete. It was also used in DK in high school and universities 60s-70s.

I had a small one that fit in my brest pocket, some 15 cm long, for "on the floor use", and one big one, like in your pic, but mine was made to also serve as a drawing ruler (to draw lines in scales), a slide rule is a wonderful handy instrument when you know how to use it, super fast calculator, and yes faster than a pocket calculator and more convenient to use. For the small ones you needed a very good eye sight.

I think it was around 1980 when when we were first allowed to use calculators during certain classes in school. To confuse people, I learned to use my father's old slide rule and brought it to class. Much hilarity ensued!

Wish I knew where that thing is now. It was a (Western) German pretty large device; can't remember the brand though...

Way back whe`n, I used to use a cylindrical variant - bit like a telescope with a cylindrical cursor in the middle, brilliant piece of kit - equivalent to a 2 metre slide rule - its floating around here somewhere, if I can find it I'll digi it

Tony

I am old enough to have grown up in a house with a slide rule in the cupboard, yet young enough to have never used one.  Give me an RPN HP calculactor and I'll take on any of you "a slide rule is faster than a calculator" posers.... 

@Soren Mexico - couldn't stay away, could you?  Or did the server timeouts go away?

I have a slide rule - and can use it! My physics teacher however memorised log tables and could perform long multiplication in his head quicker than a calculator - and I saw him do it! I have to confess to always using log tables rather than a slide rule - easier and quicker. Calculators were relatively new and you were not allowed to use them in exams.

I still have my slide rule that served me well right through to HNC. We used to call it a "guess stick" as the results could be far from accurate, and trying to decide where to place the decimal point in the answer could be a nightmare. Can't help but think today's generation have it too easy!

Neil.

Rich:

@Soren Mexico - couldn't stay away, could you?  Or did the server timeouts go away?

I have difficaulties in staying away, but the timeouts are still there, or I get the "you have come to this page ----, please tell us about it. The moderators dont know about it or something like that, so I will stay away as much as I can, until someone does something.

Nice to hear that somebody had a memory of these "nerd rulers"

I learnt to use basic funtions on my Grandfather's 1947 Diwa, a basic "Mannheim" model (the Einstein and Von Braun type). Multiply, devide, finding square roots, cubic roots and trigonometry.

I had just acquired a ca. 1962 Nestler "Darmstadt" type model, a little more complicated but fun to use. Today I found an interesting instruction book in Danish, found it very usefull at showing the differences and how to fully exploit the extra functions. This slide rule can actually add a power op up to x * 10^5 with three log-log scales on the back of the slider

I'm not a math nerd, just sat down for a couple of hours with a book about logarithms and some experience from my mid-level gym math.

This little beauty helped me through university many years ago.  The inner six concentric circles are equivalent to a 50 inch slide rule.

Still in perfect working order and does not require a capacitor change.

Regards

Geoff

One of the reasons I first fell in love with B&O was that cool scientific slide rule look :-)

I had always been in awe of my Dad (an engineer) and his slide rule (which I still have)

And I bought my own (more sophisticated one) when I went to Uni, but lost it shortly afterwards when I went overseas

I "teach" sliderule concepts to people by taking to normal rulers, inverting one, and showing how the two rules slide together to perform addition or subtraction the conversion of the slide rule scale to logarithmic is of course the magic that turns addition into multiplication

When I was at Uni my friend had this device - and was mych envyed (I had always drooled over them in advertisements in Scientific American) for his technological advantage (accuracy) over the rest of us plebs

But it was irritating to be sitting in a silent examination hall and hear the whirring of the Curta's gears as he cranked his way through the calculations

But before I left Uni the first HP calculators had appeared and so these beautiful devices for a 400 year heritage were destined to become collectors items !

elephant:

Curta's gears

Well, that brings this thread full circle for me!

As a recovering retired engineer, I missed the window (college in the '80's) to use a slide rule. I know my father had one, but it disappeared in the early 70's when a TI hand-held calculator showed up. Always wanted to learn, so I may give it a whirl someday.

Back to Curta... Some late night, long ago... I was on an induced eBay binge (read: too much juice) and I stumbled upon old (some vintage) drafting supplies. I thought that would make an interesting collection theme and duly bought a bunch of "stuff" -but stopped short of a Curta. Wow, they can bring some money!

Here is a CURTA SITE if anyone is interested.

burantek:

Here is a CURTA SITE if anyone is interested.

Just looking at their main poster of an exploded/exposed Curta Mark I reminds me how beautifully engineered they were and how complex they were.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Otis-King-Calculator-Cylindrical-Slide-Rule-Model-L-/200697990618?pt=UK_Collectables_Scientific_MJ&hash=item2eba884dda

Follow above to simple slide rule ie multiply divide

tony

That "pepper grinder" sure looks interesting, a very clever piece of engineering

My 60-year-old physics teacher (mid-level in upper secondary school) became totally nostalgic when he saw my Mannheim slide rule. He have had a very similar one, but it disappeared in the 70's when he bought a TI calculator instead. He could still remember how to operate it after 35 years!

One of my old friends who is also 18 years old like me has become very interested in old-school stuff. She went nuts when I told her that I could use a slide rule and begged me to learn her how to make all arithmetic operations.

I might popularize them for use in math exams. In Denmark, a written math exam divided(pun not intended) into two assignments; one done without any mathematical assistive (books with tables/formulas and electronic calculators), and one with assistives. The slide rule is not called a "mathematical assistive" anymore because it's outdated, thus a slide rule can legally be used during the first part of the test

Søren Hammer:

One of my old friends who is also 18 years old like me has become very interested in old-school stuff. She went nuts when I told her that I could use a slide rule and begged me to learn her how to make all arithmetic operations.

Wait a minute, so your telling me I can pick up chicks with math??!?!???!?!!!!?

Evan:

Søren Hammer:

One of my old friends who is also 18 years old like me has become very interested in old-school stuff. She went nuts when I told her that I could use a slide rule and begged me to learn her how to make all arithmetic operations.

Wait a minute, so your telling me I can pick up chicks with math??!?!???!?!!!!?

Absolutely ... magnets too 

Evan:

Søren Hammer:

One of my old friends who is also 18 years old like me has become very interested in old-school stuff. She went nuts when I told her that I could use a slide rule and begged me to learn her how to make all arithmetic operations.

Wait a minute, so your telling me I can pick up chicks with math??!?!???!?!!!!?

Yep, though only those hipster chicks; But it is an interesting thought that I, in theory, can pick up a girl with something as nerdy and outdated as a slide rule!

Imagine if girls would have the same reaction to my valve guitar amplifiers

Søren Hammer:

Evan:

Søren Hammer:

One of my old friends who is also 18 years old like me has become very interested in old-school stuff. She went nuts when I told her that I could use a slide rule and begged me to learn her how to make all arithmetic operations.

Wait a minute, so your telling me I can pick up chicks with math??!?!???!?!!!!?

Yep, though only those hipster chicks; But it is an interesting thought that I, in theory, can pick up a girl with something as nerdy and outdated as a slide rule!

Imagine if girls would have the same reaction to my valve guitar amplifiers

Really Soren !

Surely you are wise enough to know that they SAY they are interested until the knot is tied, and then it is "game over" and a new set of rules

Søren Hammer:

Yep, though only those hipster chicks; But it is an interesting thought that I, in theory, can pick up a girl with something as nerdy and outdated as a slide rule!

 

Imagine if girls would have the same reaction to my valve guitar amplifiers

Hipster chicks - nevermind!

Trust me, there is nothing cool about amps to them.. I have 5 (hi-fi) amps in one stereo and not a peep out of the girlfriends. 

It's not the slide rule that attracts the girls, it's the EP of the guy using it.

Why make things easy for yourself - delete your calculator app and use this instead!

(I'm sure there are similar for those ibods among you)

Rich:

I am old enough to have grown up in a house with a slide rule in the cupboard, yet young enough to have never used one.  Give me an RPN HP calculactor and I'll take on any of you "a slide rule is faster than a calculator" posers.... 

@Soren Mexico - couldn't stay away, could you?  Or did the server timeouts go away?

I'm with Rich! HP48SX ruled in my days at the Institute of Technology.