Slide rule (2 of 2)

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This excise officer's slide rule was made around 1800, and sold by John Bleuler, a London scientific instrument maker, working from 1790 until his death in 1829. It is made of wood. It is a variant of Thomas Everard's sliding rule, incorporating Verie's design of the mid 1730s, who placed a line of single radius on two sliders.

Each of the four boxwood faces has two scales and a slider set in a keyed groove. The uppermost face shows scales for 'WG' [Wine Gauge], 'MS ' [Malt Square], 'MR' [Malt Round] and brass pins denoting gauge points most frequently encountered.

In brewing and distilling, it was necessary for excise officers to work out the tax due from the volume of barley malted and from amounts of liquor held in casks. Calculation of the total and partial content (or ullage) of casks was aided by specially designed slide rules such as this one.

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• Online ID: 000-190-002-210-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1972.129
• Date: Around 1800
  c. 1800
  
• Material: Inscription: -BLEULER-LONDON-
  Slide rule
  
• Dimensions: 305 mm x 27 mm x 22 mm
  
• What: Slide rule
  
• Subject: 19. MATHEMATICS (Departmental Classification)
  
• Who: Bleuler, London (Maker)
  
• Where: England, London
  
• Event:
• Description: Excise officer's slide rule signed by Bleuler of London, c. 1800
  
• References:
  • Charles Leadbetter, The Royal Gauger, London, 1739. 
  • For John Bleuler, see Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument makers 1550-1851, London, 1995, p.32 
  • Peter Delehar, 'Notes on Slide Rules', Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society, No. 3 (1984), pp.3-10 
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