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  • Author Author: dougw
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Just How Cool Is A Hemmi Slide Rule

dougw

I made an unexpected discovery the other day while purging some old dead storage. I came across a slide rule and a super 8 movie camera. At this point, these items are mostly just curiosities, but I thought I would see if I could remember how to use a slide rule and blog about it in case members would find it interesting.

If you went through engineering after 1972, you probably never needed a slide rule because calculators took over  after that.

A decent slide rule jockey could go much faster than a calculator, but that didn't stop us from all wanting a calculator. Using a slide rule requires using quite a bit of brain power to plan operations and keep track of decimal points, and making a mistake in reading the result was very common.

My slide rule skills are pretty rusty and I never got really good at it since calculators became available in my second year of university.

This fairly high end Hemmi Versalog slide rule is made of bamboo with a celluloid surface. It still works perfectly after 50 years, with a very smooth action.

How many of you remember carrying around a little booklet of trig tables, which provided more significant digits than a slide rule could?

https://youtu.be/Q0W2GLUhwWE

It was interesting to dredge up some old memories about my university days and try to recall how to operate a slide rule.

If you have any technology memories from before PCs, feel free to comment below.

Parents

  • I had several slide rules over the years but lost my "good" one at some point.  The Post is an inexpensive one from high school and my first one.  The pocket slide rule belonged to my father.  The Post is plastic, the K&E bamboo, and the pocket aluminum.  They are all in good working order.

    image

    I was in the military for several years where I didn't use slide rules and got out of practice.  When I returned to school calculators had taken over and after the first test where I was the only one using a slide rule and definitely wasn't faster (or more accurate) than the other students, I went out and bought my first calculator.

Comment

  • I had several slide rules over the years but lost my "good" one at some point.  The Post is an inexpensive one from high school and my first one.  The pocket slide rule belonged to my father.  The Post is plastic, the K&E bamboo, and the pocket aluminum.  They are all in good working order.

    image

    I was in the military for several years where I didn't use slide rules and got out of practice.  When I returned to school calculators had taken over and after the first test where I was the only one using a slide rule and definitely wasn't faster (or more accurate) than the other students, I went out and bought my first calculator.

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