Collection of pages from K&E catalogs for the 4015 Fuller's family of Slide Rules
Description:
Catalog page from the 1895 catalog
Catalog page from the 1901 catalog
Catalog page from the 1925 catalog
The 4015 group of slide rules consist of a single spiral scale. It was designed by George Fuller in the late 1800s. It was manufactured by Stanley of London. K&E marketed the rule from 1895 to 1927. The rule continued in production until 1972.
The Fuller design is a single scale in spiral on a cylinder. The length of the scale is 500 inches. A set of movable indexes allow saving the length of the scale for a given number then by moving the sliding scale add that distance thereby adding the log of two numbers (multiplying). With a 500 inch scale it is possible to resolve a number to five places on the low end and four on the top end of the scale. The base part of the cylinder under the sliding scale has log and sin tables.
K&E only marketed the 1742 and 4015 which were the Fuller Model 1. Stanley had two other versions of the rule. The Model 2 had log and sin scales on the body instead of the tables. There was a Model 3 that had special scales for solving hyperbolic equations.
The Fuller was produced for almost 80 years by Stanley. Construction techniques evolved during that time. The first rules were made of mahogany with removable handles and a matching mahogany box. Some time around 1910 to 1920 the rule was modified to have a solid handle. The boxes for these rules were longer to accommodate the handle, however there was a series for a time that had a slot in the shorter box for the handle. From about 1928 on the body of the rules was molded in Bakelite. The fuller slide rule was a standard for calculation for astronomers and scientist as late as 1970
It is interesting to note that in all of the catalogs from 1901 on K&E made a negative comparison of the Fuller rule to the Thacher and other standard slide rules.
The following K&E model numbers are part of the 4015 family:
- 1742 ------ Model 1 Fuller's Calculator
- 4015 ------ Model 1 Fuller's Calculator
History:
The origin of the Fuller's slide rule is known from other sources than K&E catalogs. The following is a list of catalog entries from 1901 to 1927. It is not know why but the 4015 was not shown in the soft bound 1913 and 1922 catalogs.
- 1895 -- The 1742 model was introduced.
- 1901 -- The 1742 model number was changed to 4015.
- 1913 -- The 4015 was not shown in the soft bound version of the 1913 catalog.
- 1922 -- The 4015 was not shown in the soft bound version of the 1922 catalog.
- 1927a - The 4015 was last shown in the 1927 soft bound catalog
Links to catalog pages for the 4015 family of slide rules:
Pictures: Link to pictures of Fuller's Calculators