Accession No

6372

Brief Description

Gerber Variable Scale in a brown, leather bound case with a black Allen key; The Gerber Scientific Instrument Company, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.; c. 1948 - 1976.

Origin

Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.

Maker

The Gerber Scientific Instrument Co.

Class

drawing; cartography; earth sciences

Earliest Date

1948

Latest Date

1976

Inscription Date

Material

Metal; plastic; paint; hide (leather); fabric (thread, other); paper (cardboard, other); cloth (felt)

Dimensions

Case: height 27 mm; width 594 mm; depth 60 mm.

Special Collection

Tjeerd Van Andel collection

Provenance

Donated by an individual from the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, 16/07/2009.

Inscription

‘THE GERBER SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT COMPANY HARTFORD. CONN. GERBER VARIABLE SCALE MODEL TP007200B PATS. 2530955 . 2561020 PTHERS PEND. MADE IN U.S.A.’
(engraving on front of instrument)

20500 (scratched onto right-hand end of ruler)

‘THE GERBER SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT CO.
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT’
(printed on inside of case)

‘Tj. H. van Andel
School of Oceanography
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331’
(printed on sticker on front of case)

‘VAN ANDEL’
(written on front of case with marker pen)

Description Notes

Gerber Variable Scale in a brown, leather bound case with a black Allen key; The Gerber Scientific Instrument Company, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.; c. 1948 - 1976.

The main body of the scale is a black rule composed of a silver metal beam and a black plastic top; The plastic top has four scales stamped onto it; The four scales are divided into two couple, one of which is marked ‘RI’ and the other ‘RF’; There is a silver metal slide which moves up and down the black rule and is connected to a metal spring with triangular coils; The side of the coils that face out are painted white, with every fifth coil alternating red and green; The triangular spring is connected to a standard coil spring that runs parallel; Attached to this spring are numbers that mark this ruler’s major division in multiples of two; Two two springs are protected by a clear plastic cover; The ends of the scale are secured with silver metal bolts; Along the bottom side of the black rule is the inscription: ‘THE GERBER SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT COMPANY HARTFORD. CONN. GERBER VARIABLE SCALE MODEL TP007200B PATS. 2530955 . 2561020 PTHERS PEND. MADE IN U.S.A.’; Scratched onto right-hand end of ruler is the inscription ‘20500’

The instrument is in a brown, leather-bound case composed of cardboard and stitched together with thread); The case is secured with two snap fasteners; ‘VAN ANDEL’ has been written on the top side of the case in black ink and there is a sticker with the following printed onto it: ‘Tj. H. van Andel
School of Oceanography
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331’
The inside is fitted with a black felt lining; The following inscription is printed onto the felt inside case:
‘‘THE GERBER SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT CO.
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT’

Inside the case there is also a handmade paper envelop which contains a black Allen key.

Condition: Fair; incomplete, missing one number from spring and *might* be missing an instruction manual (the Gerber Variable Scale shown on the following website is reported to have been missing it’s instruction manual: http://www.nzeldes.com/HOC/Gerber.htm); Case is worn; Instrument is missing the numbers ‘10’ and ‘14’ that ought to be attached to the metal coil spring.

References

Events