I browsing a local antique market when I saw a Gerber Variable Scale:confused:. I went home, got on line, found out what it did, saw that it was intact (it was only missing the Allen wrench used to adjust it and the instructions were available online) and that the price reasonable, so I went back and bought it:).
The Gerber Variable Scale is best described as a stretchy ruler, that can be used to perform calculations involving ratios, as a slide rule substitute, as a pantograph, a linear planimeter, for doing graphical interpolations, solving certain kinds of graphical problems (estimating centers of gravity and solving some types of navigation problems), as proportional dividers, and most importantly for scaling and rescaling paper models. It turns the scaling calculations into a simple mechanical process.
Joseph Gerber invented it because late one night he realized he needed a tool to take the drudgery out of doing his engineering homework.
He used his pajamas to make the prototype:eek:.
After graduation this invention was the basis of a multi-million dollar company (Gerber Scientific, Inc.) which is still in business today making wonderful things.
The Gerber variable scale
Gerber Variable Scale (c1960)
http://ift.tt/Z3CIgTGerber_Variable_Scale.pdf
They turn up on EBay, but you have to be careful about buying one you have not personally checked out. The all important calibrated springs might be damaged or broken, and this will not show up in a photograph, and sellers have been known to fib about how well something works in the product description:mad:.
Here is some information about the inventor who who spend his life developing one useful device after another. Nazi Germany's loss was a big win for the US.
Joseph Gerber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Field Precision LLC (Field Precision Universal Scale: precision screen measurement tool for scientists and engineers) sells a software program that superimposes a variable scale over the images on a computer screen and acts like a virtual variable scale. In the past they made the program available as freeware, but the latest version is only offered as an incentive to their regular customers.
The Gerber Variable Scale is best described as a stretchy ruler, that can be used to perform calculations involving ratios, as a slide rule substitute, as a pantograph, a linear planimeter, for doing graphical interpolations, solving certain kinds of graphical problems (estimating centers of gravity and solving some types of navigation problems), as proportional dividers, and most importantly for scaling and rescaling paper models. It turns the scaling calculations into a simple mechanical process.
Joseph Gerber invented it because late one night he realized he needed a tool to take the drudgery out of doing his engineering homework.
He used his pajamas to make the prototype:eek:.
After graduation this invention was the basis of a multi-million dollar company (Gerber Scientific, Inc.) which is still in business today making wonderful things.
The Gerber variable scale
Gerber Variable Scale (c1960)
http://ift.tt/Z3CIgTGerber_Variable_Scale.pdf
They turn up on EBay, but you have to be careful about buying one you have not personally checked out. The all important calibrated springs might be damaged or broken, and this will not show up in a photograph, and sellers have been known to fib about how well something works in the product description:mad:.
Here is some information about the inventor who who spend his life developing one useful device after another. Nazi Germany's loss was a big win for the US.
Joseph Gerber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Field Precision LLC (Field Precision Universal Scale: precision screen measurement tool for scientists and engineers) sells a software program that superimposes a variable scale over the images on a computer screen and acts like a virtual variable scale. In the past they made the program available as freeware, but the latest version is only offered as an incentive to their regular customers.
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