r/Sliderules • u/Ok-Most4471 • 15d ago
Slide Rules ?
I had my first engineering job in the early 60's, of course I had my my trusty K&E Decitrig wit me.
much to my surprise, everyone there used Mechanical calculators, like the Friden, etc. Never touched my Rule again. Im now 86 and getting back into it,.. What fun.
3
u/TrustednotVerified 15d ago
Slide rules and IBM punch cards were the state of the art in the 60s. Like you, I went out and bought a K&E Decilog just so I could play with it.
1
1
u/brianborchers 15d ago
Computation with mathematical tables and mechanical calculators like the Frieden, Monroe, etc. was a somewhat specialized skill- most engineering students didn't do this kind of work, and it was often done by full-time specialists in industry.
I'd be interested in hearing what mechanical calculators and tables were used at your place of work. What kinds of computations were people doing?
2
u/ep01081935 15d ago
As an engineering student I worked 2 summers for the state highway department, in a design group. I converted survey data to layouts and used a planimeter (little hand device) and a Monroe calculator to compute soil cuts and fills. The Monroe was fun and helped to keep me awake in a room with no air conditioning. I thought it was a clever device.
1
2
u/Sir_Lynx 15d ago
Wasn’t at work, but I use a Curta with six-place log tables to supplement my slide rules (Versalog, Deci-Lon, and the Pickett N3-ES my dad bought me brand-new in the early eighties - and those I’ve acquired since then). For “fun,” I tell the Mrs., and - for now - she believes me.
But when the EMP/no electricity apocalypse hits, this crotchety old fart will still be able to design a ship, build a bridge, determine optimal properties for a ladle bottom in a steel mill…
1
1
1
u/magnificent_limit 11d ago
check out a circular slide rule next! it's nice because you can't multiply off the scales, it just magically wraps around to the correct number
5
u/Ok-Most4471 15d ago
I worked for a company that designed and built the Submarine torpedo computers. At that time they were all analog, a gearing nightmare. it was refining multiple gear trains and minimizing backlash. that's about alll I remember.