The Oughtred Society June and September Meetings

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The Journal of the Oughtred Society
Vol. 6, No. 2, Fall, 1997
The Oughtred Society
Bob Otnes, Editor
Tax-Exempt Status
The last item in the chain of becoming a nonprofit
educational corporation has been achieved: the Society
is now tax-exempt. This status was recently granted by
both the IRS (Federal) and the State of California. The
board of directors is still looking into the ramifications
of all of this, and it is very much a learning process at
this point in time.
Note that none of the officers is paid a salary, nor is
anyone reimbursed for anything, including trips to meetings. All of the money derived from membership dues
goes to support our publications and the various meetings. Also note that all of the hardware and software
used to generate this Journal has been paid for by the
editor. This is mentioned only to assure you that all of
the income goes into the organization.
Membership
Thomas Münstermann of Germany is our 400th member. He is a young civil engineer, and has helped Dieter
von Jezierski compose his recent book on Faber-Castell
slide rules (see the review in this issue).
§
Theo Adriaans
member Theo as a participant in the First International
Meeting of Slide Rule Collectors held in November, 1995
in Utrecht. He surprised the group during the evening
dinner by singing a number of pieces from famous operas.
He had promised to perform in Stein . . .
Theo was a very active member of the Dutch Circle
and put much energy into it. The annual meeting of the
Circle, which is held each year in the fall, took place in
his home, where he and his wife Marijke supplied lunch
and a cheerful ambiance. The Circle remembers him as
an enthusiastic speaker on all his hobbies and his work,
and will never forget him and his contributions to the
group.
§
The Society sends its best wishes to UK members
John Brooks and Dr. Brian Lloyd, both lately recovering from serious illnesses.
§
I would like to mention that, due to popular demand,
a FAX machine has been installed at my residence with
telephone number 650-324-2569. This machine is working 24 hours per day. As it does not ring, feel free to
send a FAX to this number (only) at any time. I prefer e-mail (my address is bobotnes@mediacity.com ), but
it has been brought to my attention that e-mail is not
available to many members. Regular mail is okay too.
§
I do not have a reference for the following (I heard it
on the radio), but it would seem that the single most important factor in predicting a student’s success in getting
into college and then graduating is the taking of algebra
in the eighth grade. Think about that. Can we help?
June and September Meetings
The 7th Annual June Meeting, in Palo Alto
Ed Chamberlain
We lost Theo Adriaans, a good friend and slide rule
collector, on June 1. Theo was a member of both the
Dutch Circle of slide rule collectors and of the Oughtred
Society. He succumbed to a series of heart attacks, and
could not be helped by surgery.
European members of the Oughtred Society will re-
Members of the Oughtred Society met in Palo Alto on
June 28th to display slide rules, and to join in the auction of many interesting slide rules. There was a short
business meeting where the officers were elected, and
other business was conducted. Thomas Wyman is the
new President, Robert DeCesaris the VP, Wayne Lehnert the Secretary, Rodger Shepherd the Treasurer, and
Bob Otnes is the Editor of the Journal of the Oughtred
Society . Regional officers are: Bruce Babcock (the Midwest), Bobby Feazel (the South), Conrad Schure (the
East Coast), and IJzebrand Schuitema (Europe).
The Journal of the Oughtred Society
Vol. 6, No. 2, Fall, 1997
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The Palo Alto Meeting in June
Osborne Price
Conrad Schure
W. Richard Davis
Captain Billy Kerr
Wayne Lehner and Rodger Shepherd – the Auction
Monroe Postman
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The Journal of the Oughtred Society
Vol. 6, No. 2, Fall, 1997
The Stein Meeting in September
Organizers Schiller and von Jezierski
Dr. Rodger Shepherd
IJzebrand Schuitema
The Mart
Dr. Joachim Fischer
Dinner after the meeting
The Journal of the Oughtred Society
Vol. 6, No. 2, Fall, 1997
The morning hours were spent setting up slide rule displays, and looking at all of the interesting slide rules. Tom
Wyman had a great (and rare) Weaving Technician’s slide
rule made of boxwood and German silver by William Bolton;
Osborn Price showed a large number of alcohol Proof Rules
and related instruments; Bob Otnes showed some of his
special mechanical Arithometers, and Bobby Feazel and Ed
Chamberlain both showed very rare K&E Urea Index and
K&E 4092 (with column cursor) slide rules. Bob DeCesaris displayed many interesting slide rules, including two
Tavernier-Gravet rules, one possibly dating to the mid 1800s.
Richard Davis showed his collection of special-purpose Pickett slide rules, including two Executive slide rules with very
interesting coloring. Gordon Anthony had a great display of
interesting catalogs, including several K&E catalogs bound in
leather. Altogether, more than thirty collectors showed some
of the gems of their collections.
The afternoon auction was fast and at times furious as
perhaps more than 100 slide rules changed hands. The highest bid was on a K&E special duplex slide rule for about $700.
After the meeting was over, the participants adjourned to the
homes of Tom Wyman and Bob Otnes for refreshments and
dinner. All had the great opportunity to view the unique collection of Bob Otnes, and to talk about slide rule collecting. If
all of that activity was not enough, many OS members spent
the next day scouring the San Francisco region for more slide
rules to add to their collections.
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collectors and their wives. The international nature of
the meeting was underscored by the fact that eight nations were represented. As might be expected, Germany,
The Netherlands, and the U.K. were well represented,
and four U.S. Oughtred Society members attended with
their wives.
The September Stein Meeting a Great Success
Thomas Wyman
Count von Faber-Castell
A gift from Faber-Castell.
On the reverse, an adder.
The 3rd International Meeting of Slide Rule Collectors was held on September 12, 1997 at the FaberCastell Castle in Stein/Nurenberg. Most appropriately,
the meeting was opened by Count von Faber-Castell who
extended a warm welcome to the some 70 attendees.
The entire event was both an outstanding educational
experience and a friendly social occasion for slide rule
The castle provided a grand setting for the meeting,
and the Faber-Castell permanent exhibit of the development of the company’s slide rules attracted considerable attention. IJzebrand Schuitema of The Netherlands
brought his impressive slide rule exhibit mounted on 40
meters of vertical display boards. This comprehensive
and highly informative display lined one wall of the room
where participants had their own display tables.
Twenty persons exhibited and offered slide rules for
sale, and active trading, buying, and selling took place
before and after the formal sessions. Collectors took advantage of this opportunity to add to their collections at
modest prices.
Hans Schiller and Dieter von Jezierski, the cosponsors of the meeting, were pleased with the attendance
and with the press coverage. As Hans Schiller observed,
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The Journal of the Oughtred Society
“You can’t buy publicity for slide rule collecting like the
press has given us during this meeting.” A number of
new members have already joined the Oughtred Society
as a result of the meeting.
In the course of the meeting, five papers were presented. These were all well received and included a presentation on John Napier’s development of logarithms
by Dr. Joachim Fischer, former curator of the Informatik exhibition in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
He stressed the uniquely important contribution that this
amateur mathematician made in simplifying calculations
through his development of logarithms, a term he coined
and translated as “number of ratio”.
Dr. Rodger Shepherd, The Oughtred Society’s treasurer, presented a research paper on “The Slide Rule
Manuals by Pickworth”. One must admire the fact that
Rodger took it upon himself to offer a paper involving
Faber history in the Faber schloss or castle where, of
course, it received especially close scrutiny and, moreover, that he presented his paper in German.
The slide rule exhibits of the Deutsche Museum were
discussed by curator Hartmut Retzgold. He offered some
provocative and relevant thoughts on how public awareness and interest in slide rules might be enhanced.
“The development of Data Slides from 1920 until today” was reviewed by Harald Riehle of IWA (Information media, Working aids, Advertising support). IWA
continues to produce a variety of plastic slide cards, slide
devices and other computational aids for use in making specialized calculations and in displaying information
simply and graphically. The speaker was most generous
in the handouts and sample rules he presented to those
who attended the conference.
Meeting cosponsor Dieter von Jezierski offered a perceptive paper “Duplex Slide Rules from Faber-Castell,
circa 1935”. The Proceedings of this International Meeting constitute an important contribution to available literature on slide rules. Preprints are available, in English,
of the papers presented. Arrangements have been made
for those who did not attend the meeting to obtain copies
of the Proceedings . (See below.)
The social scene included dinners the evening before
the meeting on September 11 and then following the
meeting the next day. The 15 wives attending the meeting with their husbands were treated to a walking tour
of central Nurenberg the day of the meeting. Even twoyear-old Peter Munstermann, who attended the meeting
with his parents, enjoyed the walking tour, although he
found the architectural discussions of limited interest.
The sponsors of the 3rd International Meeting, which
Vol. 6, No. 2, Fall, 1997
was preceded by the 2nd International Meeting in Cambridge, England and the 1st in Utrecht, The Netherlands,
continued to build upon the tradition of hosting broadly
based meetings with substantive papers and numerous
opportunities for attendees to enhance their collections.
These international meetings are becoming “not-to-miss”
events for serious slide rule collectors and historians as
well as for those interested in extending their social contacts. Some have suggested that the Faber-Castell Addiator Slide Rules, given as commemorative souvenirs to
those attending, will quickly become collector’s items.
Attendees to the 3rd International Meeting expressed
keen interest in next year’s meeting in Zurich.
§
To order copies of the Proceedings of the 3rd International Meeting of Slide Rule Collectors, European members should send a EuroCheck in the amount of 20 Dutch
Guilders to IJezebrand Schuitema (the amount must be
payable in DG, or it will be returned!). US members
should send $12 to Bob Otnes for their copy (a supply
has been bulk shipped to him, in order to avoid airmail
charges to the reader).
Plans for the 8th Annual US Meeting
The 8th Annual West Coast Meeting of the Oughtred
Society will take place in Palo Alto Saturday, June 26,
1998. It will be held at the Palo Alto Holiday Inn, the
same location as the 1997 meeting. There will be more
information in the 1998 Membership Packet to be sent
out at the end of the year. Or, in the meantime, contact Rodger Shepherd, Meeting Chairman, for advance
details.
Plans for the 4th International
Meeting Developing
Plans for the 4th International Meeting of Slide Rule
Collectors, 1998, are already moving ahead. The meeting will be hosted next year by Swiss collectors in Zurich
in late September or early October. Papers involving
Swiss contributions to the development and production
of slide rules will be presented, as well as papers by contributors from other nations. An active social program
is also planned for the two-day meeting.
Plans for the 1998 meeting are being developed under
the able leadership of Oughtred Society member Heinz
Joss. He emphasizes that, “Slide rule collectors should
begin to make plans now to attend this important event”.
He went on to stress that. “There will be wonderful opportunities for those attending to see Switzerland before
or following the meeting”. Members will receive more
information as plans evolve.