Collections Item Detail
Railroad curves, 10, pearwood, tangent mark, radius in degrees & inches, made by Keuffel & Esser Co., N.Y. N.d., ca. 1900-1925.
Object/Artifact
Railroad curves, 10 each, individual items 2209, pearwood, tangent mark, radius in degrees and inches, made by Keuffel & Esser Co., N.Y. No date, circa 1900-1925. Wood, 1/8" thick, 10 pieces with varying lengths from 11 to 18 inches and widths from 1-11/16" to 1-15/16". Each has a hang hole near left edge. Tangent mark scribed 3" from left edge. Between tangent line and left edge are blind stamped markings: at top, size in degrees and minutes; above the hang hole "100"; flanking the hang hole is the circular logo "Keuffel & Esser Co., N.Y." and the griffin trademark; at bottom below hang hole is the size in inches by inch and hundreths. According to catalogue description: "scale 100 feet = 1 inch."
(The items in this record and related objects in 2009.006.0131 (31 wood railroad curves with tangent mark, radius in inches) are stored in the same wooden container as received; container may been made by K&E, but is not marked or labeled in any way.)
Wood curves with tangents were offered individually as item 2209 in the 35th edition catalogue of 1915. An April 1920 price list stated that 2209 would be discontinued when stock was exhausted. While curves with tangents and radius in degrees were offered in sets made of hard rubber or "Xylonite" (brand name for their plastic), the wood ones do not seem to have been offered as a set.
K & E main offices and factories were in Hoboken during this period.
Curves in this group listed in degree order: radius in degrees and minutes followed by the radius in inches (overall end to end length from parallel ends is in parentheses):
0 degree, 30 minutes; 114.59 inches (18")
1 degree, 30 minutes; 57.30 inches (18")
1 degree, 30 minutes; 38.20 inches (18")
2 degrees, 0 minutes; 28.65 inches (18")
2 degrees, 30 minutes; 22.92 inches (16-1/2")
3 degrees, 30 minutes; 16.37 inches (14")
4 degrees, 0 minutes; 14.33 inches (13")
4 degrees, 30 minutes; 12.74 inches (11-7/8")
5 degrees, 0 minutes; 11.46 inches (11-1/4")
5 degrees, 30 minutes; 10.42 inches (11")
Note: these curves were offered in the largest Xylonite set from 0 degree up to and including 9 degrees by 0, 15, 30 and 45 minutes; 10 degrees up to and including 14 by 0 and 30 minutes; 15 to 20 degrees by 0 minutes.
2009.006.0132
2009.006
Lukacs, Claire
Gift
Museum Collections. Gift of a friend of the Museum.
1900 - 1925
Date: 1900-1925
Good
Status: OK Status By: dw Status Date: 2009-07-10