"Ridgway's Rocket" electric erasing machine
Inventory Number2014-1-0162
ClassificationDrafting Machine
Subject
Dimensionswithout cord: 20 × 7.1 × 6.2 cm (7 7/8 × 2 13/16 × 2 7/16 in.)
box: 7.6 × 9.8 × 22.2 cm (3 × 3 7/8 × 8 3/4 in.)
box: 7.6 × 9.8 × 22.2 cm (3 × 3 7/8 × 8 3/4 in.)
Material
DescriptionBox containing 4 erasers adapted to the machine, a pencil and a standard eraser
In Collection(s)
Inscribedon side of machine: Ridgway's / Rocket / (company logo) / (left side of the logo) 115 V / 60~ / (right side of the logo) 30 / WATT / SICO MODEL 76 / (half erased logo)
on the top of the box: Ridgway's / 2676 / ROCKET / ELECTRIC / ERASING / MACHINE / (company logo)
on the front and back of the box: Ridgway's / 2676 / ROCKET / ELECTRIC / ERASING MACHINE / (company logo)
on the right side of the box: (picture of the machine) / Ridgway's ROCKET ERASING MACHINE
on the left side of the box: (picture of the nachine being used) (company logo) / Ridgway's ROCKET Electric Erasing Machine is the / FAST way to remove unwanted material. No drafts- / man, designer, architect, engineer, or artist has / ever erased as quickly and quietly.
FunctionThis electric eraser is a vibrating/rotating tool that allows for quicker erasure with less pressure that could possibly damage writing surfaces.
ProvenanceLionel Spiro, Brookline, MA; Gift to CHSI, 2014.
Zeiss-Aerotopograph
Date: circa 1950
Accessories: in wooden storage case with metal handles; documentation booklet is now kept in the instrument's file; all other accessories are kept in the box and are included in the description.
Object number: 2009-1-0002b
H Hughes & Son
Date: ca. 1890-1903
Accessories: 2 plastic (celluloid?) circular discs, pin tool; telescope; leather strap; pencil; 2 erasers; peep sight; eye shade; extra screws
Object number: 5318
Walter Balcke
Date: 1955
Accessories: mahogany box with plexiglass lid; pencil; eraser; box of lead; putty ball; cleaning cloth; cardboard instruction card
Object number: 1997-1-1619
Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory
Date: circa 2000
Object number: 2003-1-0311
Walter Balcke
Date: circa 1958
Accessories: wooden case; blue pencil; pink eraser
in library folder (Lib 4927):
-twenty-one letters from Joseph L. Walsh, mathematics professor at Harvard University, to Walter Balcke, dated between 27 May 1957 and 24 January 1964 (letters thank Balcke for the many mathematical models he gifted to the Mathematics Department, praise his skill and ingenuity, many invite him to faculty and personal luncheons, and one letter provides an analytic solution to the "13-point problem" behind one of Balcke's models)
-three letters from Garret Birkhoff (then Chairman of the Harvard Mathematics Department) dated 3 March 1954, 4 January 1955, and 10 January 1955, each expressing gratitude (and in one case, an official department thank you) for the many mathematical models he gifted to the mathematics department
-photocopy of original envelope in which correspondence between mathematics department and Walter Balcke was stored (original was destroyed on 13 July 1997)
-photocopy of instructional card for object 1997-1-1671
- seven instructional cards that accompany the following Balcke models: Pascal's Theorem, Brianchon's Concurrent Lines, Trisector, Twelve Point Ellipse, Rolling Parabola, unknown, Equation Solution with a 'Constant' Variable and Thread
- photograph of the display case containing Balcke's models in the Harvard Mathematics department
Object number: 1997-1-1671
Hans W. Egli
Date: circa 1925
Accessories: brush
Object number: 1996-1-0166
Daniel Branton
Date: 1979
Object number: 1999-1-0041l
Nairne and Blunt
Date: 1774-1793
Object number: DW0338a-o
