Well-used Calculators for Hairy-Eared Engineers*
ISRM was featured in an exhibit at the
Louisville Public Library, Louisville, Colorado.
Welcome! Click Here for Introduction,
Museum Mission Statement, and Donation Policies
New and Recent Additions to the Museum

|
Vernon Estes, founder of Estes Industries, donates his personal slide rule to ISRM. He presents his K&E 4083-3 to Mike Konshak at NARAM-51.
Estes Industries made the first safe black powder rocket motors in
1958 used by members of the newly formed National Association of Rocketry (NAR) . Vern purchased this slide rule
in downtown Denver, Colorado in 1948 when he was in his 3rd year at Westminster Union High School. He used it for advanced math classes in
high school, then later at Central College in McPherson, Kansas. He later founded Estes Industries which began his career
in model rocketry.
|
>
|
ISRM is now administering the International Slide Rule Championships.
Any collector group, school or engineering association are invited to participate. Problem sets provided by
ISRM as well as the Medals to be awarded to the local champions, FREE! The first innagural contest in was Rose Suarez's Mathematics and Research Class in Half Hollow Hills, NY. (on Left). Kristen Fouss's Pre-calculus class at Anderson HS in Cincinnati, Ohio had the most recent champions (on right).
|
|
-
WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! - The ISRM is hosting the
NESTLER STORE as an exclusive service to its visitors, where you can buy factory NOS (New-Old-Stock)
slide rules directly from Jürgen Nestler in Germany (the great grandson of Albert Nestler). A small portion
of the sales will be donated to ISRM by Jürgen for its School Loaner program and other projects. There are
very few left so act now.
-
There are numerous new additions to theSlide Rule Library, especially in the Books, K&E, Dietzgen, Japanese,
Pickett and Post Sections. Many items waiting in the archive, since 2003, to be scanned have now been digitized (200 dpi) and
are now available for downloading. Others are still in process.
-
There are new additions to Slide Rule Scales which you can use to
build your own slide rule. The latest uses a CD/DVD case to support a circular slide rule (by Ying Hum of Canada)
-
A new gallery of Pocket watch Calculators. This gallery was combined from the other Galleries and includes new specimens.
-
A new gallery of Technical Slide Charts and Disks. Over
700 pre-programmed calculators made of cardboard or plastic film for designed for specific
repetitive tasks and offered as promotional items.
-
A new gallery of Slide Rule Who's Who - Past and Present.
Slide rule manufacturers, inventors, dealers and collectors has been added to the museum.
-
A new gallery of Historical Photos of People with Slide Rules.
Over 400 Photographs and Ephemera showing slide rules in action has been added to the museum.
-
A new gallery of Patent Database..
Downloadable Patents as early as 1851 to the present day, involving logarithmic calculating devices.
There are currently over 900 worldwide Patents available for downloading in PDF file format.
-
A new gallery of Herman van Herwijnen's Slide Rule Catalogue.
We've added clickable thumbnails to over 2200 slide rules and slide charts.
-
The ISRM's Free Slide Rule School Loaner Program now has many
new sets for use in the USA, Germany, Netherlands and Japan. Teachers may now keep them out for
a full semester! The program has been expanded to include Home Schoolers. Students! - Be
the first in your class to get your teacher or school to participate and receive a FREE SLIDE RULE
that you can keep and treasure forever!
-
Free Web Hosting for ISRM Associates Put your collection here!

St. Vincent de Paul Elementary School
in Petaluma, Ca took advantage of the ISRM's Free Slide Rule School Loaner
Program to teach Rocketry fundamentals using Slide Rules. Mike Konshak, the curator of ISRM,
was made an honorary member of Delta V for his continued involvment in both
rocketry and slide rules.
Here's ROCKET LAUNCH VIDEO
of the kid's efforts in using the slide rules to design the rockets. Notice Dick Herman, the instructor,
holding up a Pickett at the end of the video.
Dr. Barbara Rooker of the Joplin, Missouri K12 School System, introduced students to slide rule math during 2009 using ISRM's free loaner program. Click banner for more pictures:

Galleries
All slide rules are organized into one of the following
galleries (webpages) based upon the number in the collection
|
The original specimens and files found in this museum prior to 2005 were
donated to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California in for preservation
and display. Take time to visit CHM when you are in the area. ISRM continues to expand.
|
Modern Logo's depicting Slide Rules

USAF Test Pilot School Patch Edwards AFB California
|

Joe Miner, Official Mascot of University of Missouri-Rolla
|
Purdue Engineer's Yell (1960's)
e to the x, dy, dx
e to the x, dx
cosine secant tangent sine
three point one four one five nine
square root, cube root, Btu
slipstick, slide rule, Yay Purdue
Contributed by Bruce Chelf,
Purdue Alumnus (The ISRM curator
subsitutes CSU for Purdue)
|
* Hairy-Eared Engineer - definition:
1) An engineer who's old enough to have hair growing out of undesirable places. 2) Who's been
practicing engineering so long that he or she has already made all possible mistakes at least once.
3) A desirable person to have on a project to ensure the mission succeeds.
4) Quote: "Every
project needs at least one hairy-eared engineer" Marvin B. Davis -1980. (Marvin was one
then and 25 years later, my barber can attest that I've finally made the grade).
|
|
|
Slide Rule Wallpaper
This wallpaper is a collage of many slide rules. It is 1240 x 1020, 582kb and I have almost every slide rule manufacturer and country represented. Save this file (Right-Click Save Target) and select it using for the background on your computer monitor. 'Right-Click' on your screen and select 'Properties', then 'Browse' to the file to change your wallpaper. I hope you enjoy it.
|
Astrological Nerd Signs - A Y2K Compliant Zodiac
|
Keuffel and Esser, the Slide Rule
September 24th ~ October 22nd
People born under the sign of the Slide Rule have a particular talent for extending
themselves to handle new problems and situations. They are able to look at problems,
both small and large, and immediately keep the basic details in proportion.
Elegant and dependable, Slide Rules are known for keeping their cool and never
letting on that they're being pulled too far until they reach their limit and abruptly
fall apart.
|

Not you? See where your birthday falls in Nerd Signs
|
Bennie Tschoerner
Paris, TX
|
NEWS: 2009 World (Texas) Championship Slide Rule Competition
The World Championship Slide Rule Competition held on March 14, 2009 in Irving, TX
was won by Bennie Tschoerner, who was also 2007 and 2008 champion.
Bennie lives in Paris, Texas and is a member of the Oughtred Society.
1st Place: Bennie Tschoerner using a K+E 4181-3
2nd Place is Courtenay Martin using a K+E 4081-3
3rd Place is Mike Yancey using a Pickett 905-A Texas Speed Rule
(There were four entrants)
The competition consisted of a set of problems that needed to be solved within a given time limit. The winner who gets the highest number correct wins.
Congratulations to all participants from the Slide Rule Community
and to Skip Solberg the Competition Director.
|
|
Proud Member of


1574-1660
William Oughtred
Inventor of the Slide Rule

1831-1936
Victor Amadee Mannheim standardized modern scales

c1890
DUPA (Aristo) Class Germany

c1900
Englewood (NY) High School Students

c1905
IIT Classroom

1909
IIT Elect. Engineers

1934
Iowa State SR Class

1941
IIT Engineering

1942
Purdue Aeronautics

1952 Edwards AFB Test Pilot School

1954 Hamburg, Germany

1956 Edwards AFB Test Pilot School

1965 NCF Math Class

1970Colorado School of Mines

1976 Joe Pasquale (right) Weehawken HS, NJ now a Professor at UCSD

1997MIT SR Class

2006 UCSD SR Intro

Present Collector
|