Welcome to

Eric's Slide Rule Site

Greetings! This site contains scans and descriptions of my collection of slide rules, along with several pages of (hopefully) useful background information. I haven't been actively collecting new rules for several years now, but I have kept the site up as a resource for others. If you would like to make a donation to my server/registration fund, please see my Donation page. Thanks!

All the high resolution scans have been reduced to 75 dpi, so what you see on the screen should be roughly the actual size of the rule. Please don't use them anywhere else without letting me know first - thanks!

Looking for flashlight reviews? Please see my Flashlight Reviews site.

Slide Rule Resource Centre


Special Feature - The Evolution of a Slide Rule


Slide Rule Collection

  • Dietzgen
    • 1732 Maniphase Multiplex
    • 1733 Polymath
    • 1735 Maniphase Multiplex
    • 1738 Multiphase
    • 1779 Pocketlog

  • Faber Castell
    • 2/82 Duplex
    • 1/54 Darmstadt
    • 57/87 Rietz
    • 375
    • Unknown model (360?), ca. 1900

  • Hemmi
    • Hughes Owens 1777 Versalog
    • Hughes Owens 1776 Versatrig
    • Hughes Owens 1773
    • Hughes Owens 1771 (several versions)
    • Hughes Owens 1768C
    • Hughes Owens 1765
    • Hughes Owens 1763
    • Hughes Owens/Geotec 341 3050 Pocket Versalog
    • Hughes Owens/Geotec 341 3120 Versatrig
    • Hughes Owens/Geotec 341 3425
    • Hemmi 130W Darmstadt
    • Post 1441

  • Keuffel and Esser
    • 4053-3 (several versions)
    • 4058W
    • 4080-3
    • 4081-3 (several versions)
    • 4083-3 (several versions)
    • 4088-3
    • 4091-3
    • 4092-3
    • 4100 Stadia



  • Nestler
    • Nr. 0130 Multimath-Duplex
    • Nr. 0210 Darmstadt
    • Nr. 0292 Multimath-Duplex

  • Pickett
    • Model 4
    • N4-ES (several versions)
    • N515-T Electronics Rule
    • N600-ES Speed Rule
    • N1010-ES
    • Microline 140C-T
    • Microline 160C-ES/T

  • Miscellaneous Linear Rules
    • Aristo Studio Nr. 0968
    • Ecobra 1461
    • Engineering Instruments 10-B
    • Kutsuwa 1004
    • Lawrence Engineering 8-B
    • Lutz No. 252
    • Russian Rule, 1969
    • Russian Rule, 1978
    • Staedtler 544 28
    • Sterling/Acumath 400
    • Sterling/Precision (unnumbered)

  • Circular and Combination Slide Rules
    • ALCO Addiator with Slide Rule
    • ASA E6-B Flight Computer
    • Concise No. 28 Circular Rule
    • Concise No. 300 Circular Rule
    • Otis King Model L Cylindrical Rule
    • Sterling Silver Tie Clip

  • Slide Rule-related Paraphernalia
    • Aristo ruler Nr. 1369
    • Dietzgen surveyor's hand level
    • Hughes Owens ruler 324-1125




Why Collect Slide Rules?

I suppose it does require some comment. In the history of the modern world, probably no other technological instrument was so widely used for so long, only to disappear virtually overnight. The slide rule's form and features were revised for centuries, and there are probably few people today over the age of 50 who didn't routinely use one in school or at work at some point in their lives. Yet with the advent of inexpensive pocket calculators in the early 1970s, slide rules quickly went the way of the Dodo. What's all the more remarkable is that today it is possible to pick up 140+ function scientific calculators for as little as $5!

For me, I guess slide rules carry with them a sense of nostalgia for earlier scientific times. When you use one, you get a much better feel for what numbers really mean than when you use a calculator or computer. They are remarkable technological instruments, built with precision and reliability in mind, and are as useable today as the day they were first made. Many are also intrinsically beautiful, with their celluloid covered wood, metal-framed glass cursors, and richly coloured leather cases. I didn't set out to collect slide rules ... but I find their incredible diversity and functionality amazing and intriguing. If you're reading these pages, then maybe you do too, and so no other explanation is required. In any case, I hope you enjoy the site!

If you're interested in learning more about collecting slide rules, check out The Oughtred Society. They are an international organization dedicated to the history and collection of slide rules and related calculating devices.


Sliderule.ca in the News

Sliderule.ca was featured in the technology section of the Los Angeles Times (June 28, 2001). The article was reprinted in several online newspapers, most notably the Nando Times and Pioneer Planet. Since the online links are often updated or removed, click here to see a scanned copy of the original article.

You might also be interested in following the discussion of the article that ensued at the technology site Slashdot (July 7, 2001). I now know first-hand what it means to get "slashdotted"!

A brief review of sliderule.ca has been reported in the online version of the technology business magazine Business 2.0, entitled "When Slide Rules Ruled" (July 18, 2001).

One link to sliderule.ca (January 19, 2002) that generated a lot of hits was from the online collection of unusual sites known as memepool. I guess slide rules strike a common meme among people (my apologies to Richard Dawkins for the pun).



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Site last updated on September 7, 2011 -
All material © 1999, 2008 by Eric Marcotte.

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