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+--- Thread: Slide rules still commercially available? (/thread-1334.html)
Slide rules still commercially available? - Dave Britten - 05-17-2014 12:23 AM
My wife's a teacher, and brought up those old EZ Grader special-purpose grading slide rules that teachers always seemed to have. I made her a quick and dirty iPad rendition in Numbers (would have been Lotus, but she doesn't use an LX), and then went hunting around and found they're still commercially available!
http://www.ezgrader.com
Are there any other companies still commercially producing some form of slide rules/cardboard "computers"? I'm guessing they'd all be pretty special-purpose, much like the EZ Grader products.
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - twdeckard - 05-17-2014 12:51 AM
E6B aviation circular slide rules for time-speed-distance
and wind vector problems. It's still expected
to have some facility with them in most ground
school curriculum
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - Garth Wilson - 05-17-2014 12:55 AM
Concise, Co., Ltd. is still making them. (This is from my slide-rule links at the bottom of my slide-rule page.)
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - JimP - 05-17-2014 07:07 AM
(05-17-2014 12:23 AM)Dave Britten Wrote: My wife's a teacher, and brought up those old EZ Grader special-purpose grading slide rules that teachers always seemed to have. I made her a quick and dirty iPad rendition in Numbers (would have been Lotus, but she doesn't use an LX), and then went hunting around and found they're still commercially available!
http://www.ezgrader.com
Are there any other companies still commercially producing some form of slide rules/cardboard "computers"? I'm guessing they'd all be pretty special-purpose, much like the EZ Grader products.
Last year I bought a Faber-Castell 2/83N direct from Germany -- brand new, top-of-the-line with a huge number of scales on it. It ran about 80 euros as I recall, including shipment to Australia. My brother-in-law liked it so much that I bought him one for Christmas...
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - bhtooefr - 05-17-2014 10:53 AM
Also, quite a few watches (typically, but not always mechanical) have a C scale on a rotating bezel, and a D scale on the face.
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - jebem - 05-17-2014 11:57 AM
Hi Dave,
In first place, I wish You a fast recovery!
Apparently Faber-Castell distribution channels here in Portugal are not advertizing slide rulers anymore, but I found this site that does, despite the high asking prices!
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - HP67 - 05-18-2014 10:20 AM
Unfortunately the collectors have overrun the slide rule market and getting a good one to actually use is now an exercise in bidding, hair-pulling, etc.
There are some sites with good inventories, but expect to pay an arm and a leg.
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - Dave Britten - 05-19-2014 01:43 AM
(05-18-2014 10:20 AM)HP67 Wrote: Unfortunately the collectors have overrun the slide rule market and getting a good one to actually use is now an exercise in bidding, hair-pulling, etc.
There are some sites with good inventories, but expect to pay an arm and a leg.
That's a bummer. I've got a couple slide rules, though nothing remarkable. At least one of them is a Pickett. I find these special-purpose cardboard "slide rules" rather interesting, for whatever reason.
On a related note, anybody know where to snag one of those CARDIAC cardboard "computers"? It's like part digital computer, part slide rule. It's more an educational aid than an actual tool. I recall there being some NOS available maybe a few years ago.
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - JimP - 05-19-2014 04:53 AM
(05-17-2014 11:57 AM)jebem Wrote: Hi Dave,
In first place, I wish You a fast recovery!
Apparently Faber-Castell distribution channels here in Portugal are not advertizing slide rulers anymore, but I found this site that does, despite the high asking prices!
Yep, that's the one. They appear to have a reasonable inventory and the merchandise is brand new (may be old stock).
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - Dave Britten - 05-19-2014 07:52 PM
Oh man, so man lovely specimens in this thread that I want to start throwing money at.
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - everettr - 05-19-2014 08:41 PM
When I hear "special purpose calculation" and cardboard, nomograms are just what comes to mind. While they lack the satisfying feel of a slide rule or an HP keyboard, they do distill a lot of information onto a page. They can seem magical, in the same sense a slide rule seems magical to someone who doesn't know about logarithms.
RE: Slide rules still commercially available? - Matt Agajanian - 05-19-2014 11:49 PM
THIS IS WILD!!!! Without even looking at this board, I was just pondering if, outside of auction sites, slide rules were even being manufactured or sold. Wow!!!