Bruce Fowler, Class of '66 - Keuffel and Esser (K&E) Slide Rule. From the photograph it appears to be a 10 inch Log Log Duplex but the resolution is not sufficient to determine whether it is a model 68 1318 Trig or 68 1210 Decitrig.
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Jeff Fussell, Class of ’66 - It's a safe bet that mid-sixties Huntsville had more slide rules per square mile than anywhere else in the south. When we were learning to use them, a lot of us brought in the standard-issue Sterling student model. But, I remember seeing quite a few guys unholstering some fairly high-end slipsticks. A lot of these probably had some NASA legacy.
Always looking to do something a little left of center, my choice was an oddball Lietz circular slide rule that my dad used. Probably Chrysler Missile Division property at one time, but I'm not admitting anything.
I hope we see a reply from John Scales on this subject. He was the "go-to" guy for slide rules.
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John Scales, Class of ’66 - I also still have my slide rule, but I can't say I still use it. With some coaching, maybe I could remember! I do remember that some wore it on their belt--the engineer's sword.
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Rodney Vandiver, Class of ’65 - Slide ruler.
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J.R. Brooks, Class of ‘64 - Even a Political Science major can recognize a slide rule when he sees it. In the 1960s, we could tell who the engineering students were at the University of Alabama. They carried slide rules attached to their belts. I guess calculators changed all that.
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Mike Griffith, Class of '66 - This week's Mystery Photo is a "Slide Rule." It would take a lot of practice for me to use it now, but I still have the one that my Dad gave me; it was one that he used as a Design Engineer at Thiokol, where they designed and made solid propellant rocket motors. I used it some in my first year of college. My plan was to major in Electrical Engineering, but a certain Chemistry course had other ideas and I soon found myself in the middle of a 20-month tour of Viet Nam, courtesy of the U.S. Army.
After the Army, "Uncle" provided me with the G.I. Bill funds to finish getting my degree (Business and Math this time) and during this period a wonderful gentleman by the name of Bill Hewlett decided that he wanted the world to have an electronic calculator of "the size that would fit into his shirt pocket." The HP-35 (because it had 35 keys) was the first "electronic slide rule" and soon every "geek" replaced the slide rule scabbard on their belts with an HP-35. It sure helped me through several calculus, statistics and probability courses! For many things today, I use the HP-12C Financial Calculator that, introduced in 1981, is HP's longest running and best selling product. No one else in my family wants to use my calculator because they cannot get accustomed to the RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) used for entering the numbers/equations; I have the same problem with the algebraic entry on other calculators.
That calculator was my first, but not my last, introduction to the Hewlett-Packard Company. Soon I will reach my 27th year of working at Hewlett-Packard, and during that time I have been fortunate enough to have been able to meet with both Bill and Dave on several occasions.
They are both gone now (and the company will never be the same), but the legacy lives on!
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Thomas Hunt, Class of '66 - Tommy, this appears to be a slide rule. Please don't ask me how to use it because I never learned. Anything more complicated than a yard stick is too much for me.
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Judy Bills Tate, Class of '65 - The item in the photo is the venerable K&E (Keuffel & Esser) slide rule. The one in your photo does not include the strap that allows one to wear it on his belt for ultimate nerdiness. Also worth remembering is the Dietzgen slide rule, which was much more high-tech because it had Teflon-lined slides!
The age of calculators meant the demise of the slide rule, along with the phrase “slide rule accuracy”, which allowed a student to perhaps get partial credit on a problem if he could come up with an answer that was just somewhere in the ballpark of the correct answer.
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Polly Gurley Redd, Class of ’66 - I never owned the mystery item, but my father (an EE from Duke) and my husband (a CE from Alabama) both did. Jim, in fact, can still show you his. I knew immediately that it was a slide rule, but Jim came in to look and said, "A K & E Versalog Slide Rule." Obviously, he knew it. Jim worked for many years on heavy (very large, usually marine related) construction projects. At one dam, the new coop engineer whipped out his solar powered calculator for survey calculations, and Jim took it away from him and told him to learn to use a slide rule, because the battery never wore out and the sun didn't have to be out to use it. The boy had never even seen one. Went to Cinncinatti - unbelievable. I even learned how to add on the slide rule and still can work it for the rudimentary needs. Great job.
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Linda Kinkle Cianci, Class of ’66 - This week's mystery item is a slide rule. Not only was this used to make a living, but for fun -- while visiting my family in Florida last week, my aunt told us she had figured golf handicaps on a slide rule for years, until her golf league finally started using a computer a couple of years ago.
Eddie Burton, Class of ’66 - I'm not 100 percent sure but I think that's a slide rule. My Dad was a construction superintendent and he could sling one of those things around pretty well.
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Linda Beal Walker, Class of '66 - To the best of my knowledge, information and belief this is a photo of a slide ruler. Since I gave up on majoring in math after barely making it thru Ms. Cruise's Algebra II class, I never had one of these, but sure looks like a slide ruler to me.
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Subject:
Chief's
Collins (CE) Wynn
Class of ‘64
Tommy,
Man, you sure do nail it sometimes with the items you come up with (or, with which you come up). I have not thought of Chief’s in years and years. It was all but forgotten until that little pocket change holder helped me get those thoughts back into focus.
Although I haven’t had much to say lately, I haven’t missed reading a single issue. I noticed with only a passing interest that you asked what we each did with the high school job income we had. That is, until it occurred to me to respond when I saw that change holder.
I think, like all the guys in our classes, that around 15 or 16 I began to be aware that personal appearances were important and gravitated to the Men’s Ware section of the Belk-Hudson store downtown. From there, Chief’s in Five Points was my next step up. It remained my store of preference for several years. I kept a large brown leather fleece lined coat (Marlboro Man type) I bought there for many years – until 1995 or so when all the cotton threading finally rotted completely away. I tried to have it repaired but the cost was out of sight.
Button down, short sleeve Madras shirts were all the style along with Penny Loafers (Bass Weejuns) and Canoe’, English Leather and other manly fragrances. I spent most of everything I made on clothes with some kept back for dates. My brother Don (Class of ’67) still talks about all of us older “cool” guys hanging out at Chief’s. Maybe he’ll comment later on. I think some of my school photos were made in those shirts.
I may have mentioned this before and I offer this tidbit now only for the humor value of it (no comment is intended about “youths gone wild” or “youths out of control” etc). I promise you I witnessed a student from Huntsville High School drink a bottle of English Leather Cologne during Spring Break 1964 in Daytona Beach, Florida because he did not have money for more beer. I suppose that made it a “utility” fragrance – it was a good thing it was not sold in quarts.
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