Slide rule by shute, nevil and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Nevil shute norway 18991960 is best known to me as nevil shute, the author of novels including. Bissaker slide rule 1654 circular slide rule king pocket calculator 66 sclales thacher calculator 30 ft. Mannheim slide rule 1850 faber castell 283n nestler 23r mannheim issac newton put 3 scales in parallel in 1675 to compute cubes. Fascinated by aircraft from his childhood days, shute studied at the royal military academy with the intention of joining the royal flying corps. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. The physical form of the slide rule was developed by william oughtred in 1630 two logarithmic scales placed side by side to perform multiplication, seth partridge a body or.
Autobiography of an engineer is the partial autobiography of the british novelist nevil shute. Nevil shute project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Engineer, aviator, author and model engineer by allan j bester few people may be aware of the multifaceted life of nevil s norway, better known as nevil shute, a popular novelist of the latter half of the last century. Npr ed before the smartphone, the laptop and the pocket calculator, there was a. Biogrpahy of nevil shute norway 1899 1960, aeronautical engineer, airspeed. The book concludes with the narrator joining forces with italian fascists against a group of russian spies. The life explorer vol 3 issue 6 2004 asian scientific article on slide rules 1. Before the invention of the pocket or handheld calculator, the slide rule was a popular tool for calculations. To build the slide rule, you will need to download and print the following image at 300 dpi. Nevil shute norway born on 17 january 1899 in ealing, a suburb to the west of london, nevil shute. Nevil shute, slide rule an autobiography of an engineer, winning at work. He wrote 24 novels many of which ive yet to read as well as this autobiography. Slide rule is a quite remarkable memoir of a quite remarkable man.
The family moved to dublin where his father was head of the post office, and nevil was a stretcher bearer during the 1916 easter rising. Nevil shute norway 17 january 1899 12 january 1960 was an english novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in australia. Nevil shute best describes this autobiography in his own words. Nate, the mathematics guy shows you the basics of a slide rule. The book begins with details of shutes childhood and upbringing, his school years, events in the easter 1916 dublin rising, where his father was secretary to the post office in ireland, and service during world war i. Slide rule is nevil shutes autobiography from his childhood until 1940, and was published in 1954. Simulated pickett n909es slide rule instruction sheet jpg explanation gallery index back to antiquark copyright 2005 derek ross. Nevil shute project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks read. It is unfortunate that, for some reasons not easy to see, the slide rule is sometimes regarded as a difficult instrument with which to. The slide rule s importance to the industrial revolution, and the impact of the industrial revolution upon the slide rule, are demonstrated by the proliferation of designs.
In indochina the vietminh forces were engaged in a similar rebellion against french rule. The number of scales on a slide rule vary depending on the number of mathematical functions the slide rule can perform. Multiplying with the slide rule suppose you want to multiply 2x4. Additional slide rule material can be accessed using the links in the left bar under slide rule content pages. An english aeronautical engineer, nevil shute norway wrote his novels under the name nevil shute. Slide rule refers to the now largely obsolete calculation tool a manual analog. Mathematical foundations of the slide rule with ack corrected. The metal window is inserted over the slide rule to act as a place holder. The autobiography of an engineer reprint by shute, nevil isbn. All other scales on a slide rule are referenced to the c and d scales.
William oughtred made the first slide rule by inscribing logarithms on wood or ivory. They have a standardised set of markings called scales. The slide rule and other instruments which give the same facilities for rapid calculations, are covered by the term mechanical calculation. This 1961 version was prior to the lionelporter merger. The book begins with details of shutes childhood and. Field artillery military slide rule, war department technical manual, tm 6240 1945 this instruction manual is for a special slide rule for use by the military for artillery calculations. To someone who doesnt know how to use it, a slide rule looks like a ruler designed by picasso. The parallels between shutes life and his fiction can be seen. You can enter and read a number typically to two or three decimal digits only. Slide rule is his memoir of his earlier life, focusing on his adult years when he earned his living as an engineer and a businessman. Slide rule a quality instrument for sterling student or professional operating instructions a complete course in use and operation of slide rule the sterling student slide rule is an accurate instrument for use in multiplication, division, proportion, square and cube root problems, as well as sine, tangent and logar ithm solutions. Nevil shute norway 17 january 1899 12 january 1960 was an english novelist and. How to build yourself a slide rule math wonderhowto.
Henry suttons slide rule top was an early circular rule circa 1663. Nevil shute, slide rule an autobiography of an engineer, physics. Buy slide rule by nevil shute from waterstones today. Slide rule concentrates on nevil shutes work in aviation, ending in 1938 when he left the industry. Nevil shutes autobiographical work charts his selected remembrances from childhood to 1938. Ensn020, slide rule, 1954, 107, 544k, ebook, download pdf slide rule. Slide rule by nevil shute abebooks passion for books. Buy a cheap copy of slide rule book by nevil shute.
Mathematical foundations of the slide rule joseph pasquale department of computer science and engineering university of california, san diego june 26, 2011 abstract we present a mathematical principle that provides a precise formulation for the types of functions a slide rule can be designed to calculate. There are at least three different scales, and on most of them the numbers arent even spaced evenly apart. Slide rule is an autobiography, but the part that almost everyone will buy it for is the account of the building of the r100 airship in competition with the r101. Open library is an initiative of the internet archive, a 501c3 nonprofit, building a digital library of internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Slide rule is shutes personal memoir of the early days of flight and the air industry in great britain. Here are a few instruction manuals for aw faber faber castell slide rules that i have acquired, most came with slide rules as indicated. One fascinating thing about slide rule is the parallels and examples that one can draw to the fiction mr. Overview of the major categories of slide rules, and descriptions of common scale labels and meanings.
My slide rules this gallery is in the process of some updating, as many of the scans are from the 1990s, when my way of taking pictures was to put the slide rule on a flatbed scanner and hope it came out reasonably clearly. Updated november 3, 2001 types of slide rules and their scales. Nevil shute led a full, varied and active life in peace and war, which informed his work as a novelist. He explains what a slide rule is and how you can build one of your very own.
Well, i stumbled on this forum googling some slide rule info, and id like to say thanks for both the link to the slide rule book pdf and to fabercastells online shop. Speaking of keeping technology alive, slide rule autobiographical by nevil shute puts it in. Slide rule the autobiography of an engineer by nevil shute. Multiplying with the slide rule department of mathematics. The slide rule, or slipstick, is a mechanical analog computer.
Unfortunately on both counts, neither quite lives up to former hemmi standards. These were the largest of their generation, vastly larger than the a380 and 747 jets of today. As graphical analog calculators, slide rules are closely related to nomograms, but the former are used for general calculations, whereas the latter are used for applicationspecific computations. Background on logarithms, history of the slide rule, and how it all works. The use of slide rules continued until about 1974, after which electronic calculators became more popular. I had had the itch for a 283n and failed to pull the trigger a few years ago, but today the euro has fallen enough that i. Slide rule concentrates on nevil shutes work in aviation, ending in 1938 when he left the industry the book begins with details of shutes childhood and upbringing, his school years, events in the easter 1916 dublin rising, where his father was secretary. A cursor is fixed in the center of the window to allow for accurate readings.
His writing is clear and concise, even if its not meant for people, like myself, who have no familiarity with some of the technical terms. History of the logarithmic slide rule 1 editors foreward this version of the cajoris important. He used his full name in his engineering career and nevil shute as his pen name to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels. When i was research head of general motors and wanted a problem solved, id place a table outside the meeting room with a sign. For shute fans, the book provides a look into the man and his background that we could only guess at previously. He used the name nevil shute for his novels, but as an engineer he was nevil norway. Slide rule was published in 1954 and represented nevil shutes selected remembrances from childhood to 1938.
In addition are a few manuals i have written for my own jugglers and radix series slide rules. Compared to a calculator, a slide rule is severely limited in its accuracy. The slide rule the book, written by florian cajori, is the standard work on the early history of the slide rule. From 1625 to 1800, the first 175 years after its invention, a total of 40 slide rule types, including circular and spiral designs, are recorded. Slide rule was invented by english minister william oughtred in 1622. Are, in the order they were written, the far country, in the wet and slide rule. Line up the 1 on the left hand side of sliding scale c with 2 on frame scale d. The slide rule is used mainly for multiplication and division, and also for scientific functions such as roots, logarithms and trigonometry, but usually not for addition or subtraction there are many different styles of slide rules. The scales ad are labeled on the lefthand side of the slide rule. The autobiography of an engineer by nevil shute and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at.
To go from engineer, to businessman and entrepreneur, to bestselling author in a lifetime is very rare. The slide rule, also known colloquially in the united states as a slipstick, is a mechanical analog computer. Scientific american may 2006 university of vermont. For some reason a stammer prevented his joining the royal flying corps. Slide rule simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. There is also a version as a word document which is smaller 2040 kb. Due to a stammer, shute failed his medical examination and returned to civilian life.
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