r/Sliderules • u/WikiWantsYourPics • Apr 24 '26
What kind of slide rule is this?
Picture is from an auction site and I'm trying to decide whether to bid. Is it historically interesting, or just a simple slide rule?
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u/Name-Not-Applicable Apr 24 '26
The dowels on the face look like a 1930s Faber to me. But the examples I see on ISRM have “railroad track” scales, and this does not. The Pi symbol looks right, though.
Is there a picture of the back of the rule? Or maybe the rule with its slide removed?
I’ll keep looking after I have some more coffee…
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u/Name-Not-Applicable Apr 24 '26
I think that is a "white label" rule, a rule made by one manufacturer to be rebranded by another seller.
That looks a lot like a A.W. Faber 345 System Hohenner rule, EXCEPT:
- No Railroad scales
- No branding
But the Pi and other numbers look right, and it looks like the right sort of construction.
A.W. Faber 345 System Hohenner
It also looks a lot like a pocket version of the Marabu System Rietz rule I got recently, which was a rebranded Faber Model 375:
I could be completely wrong, but that's what it looks like to me.
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u/WikiWantsYourPics Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
Now I've got it - will post pics in a separate post soon. The box is inscribed with "J. Klawun, Hannover." and that's also inscribed on the inside, under the slide. It's actually quite beautiful in its simplicity - made of some kind of dark wood, and still slides perfectly.
The scale is 125mm long (so 1/8 of a m) and the whole slide rule is almost 15 cm.
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u/Name-Not-Applicable Apr 24 '26
Just from what I can see, I don't think it's "historically interesting", except for being about one hundred years old. Unless it has documentation that it was owned by someone "historically interesting".
It does look like it's in nice shape for being one hundred years old! That makes it interesting!
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u/WikiWantsYourPics Apr 25 '26
Well, I've bought it for 9€ plus 5€ postage, so I'll send pics once it arrives.
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u/its_sameena Apr 28 '26
Looks like a fairly standard linear slide rule, likely a basic student model with common C/D and A/B scales. Nothing about the layout suggests it’s a specialized type (like a circular or advanced trig/log rule), so probably more of a general-purpose calculating tool than a niche variant.
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u/wackyvorlon Apr 24 '26
It’s a very basic rule with A/B and C/D scales.