The A-to-Z of Slide Rules

This is a fairly general A-to-Z of slide rules. It is designed for people who have never used a slide rule before or who have used one in the past but largely forgotten what to do. The sections are arranged in alphabetical order.

If you are a complete novice then I suggest that you go first to the "Beginners Start Here" section and then work through the individual sections of the A-to-Z. After that you can tackle the book "Teach Yourself the Slide Rule" or read some of the on-line instruction manuals.

Whilst this A-to-Z tries to cover a wide range of scales, it is impossible to cover all possible types of scales or all types of rules. If you have a scale that you cannot identify then have a look at some of the sites mentioned on the resources page. If you cannot find what you want there there, post a question on the slide rule forum (http://www.egroups.com/messages/sliderule) where someone will, almost certainly, be able to be able to help you. (A word of warning - some of the participants have a rather unusual sense of humour!).

The descriptions below are of two main types: descriptions of general purpose scales which you will find on many rules and descriptions of rules for special functions. In the latter case I consider how typical calculations can be performed using a range of special purpose slide rules but only consider any special scales or gauge marks. The aim is to cover enough rules so that if the actual rule you have is not included a similar one will be, which will enable you work out how to use it. (For me part of  the fun of slide rule collecting is working out how to use new rules.) Much of my effort over the coming months will be to add more information on these special rules some of which is at present covered by special purpose rules in my collection. The sections are identified by the yellow background.

BEGINNERS START HERE

Contents

Notes