My 1st Computer "The Slipstick"

Before the pocket calculator became popular and economical, the slide rule (sometimes called a slipstick) was the commonly used calculation tool for scientists and engineers. Their use continued until about 1975 when Hewlett-Packard introduced pocket calculators for under $50.00

A good history and explanation of how to use a slide rule can be found in this Wikipedia Link.

My first slide rule, which I purchased my freshman year in college (1958) for about $25, was the Post Versalog Model 1460. This is the classic bamboo slide rule. It was manufactured by the Frederick Post Company. It came with a hard leather case, belt loop and a metal hasp on the belt loop. This slide rule was also a good humidity indicator. Being bamboo, it tended to swell in damp weather and the slide could become to tight to operate. Here are the front and back views of the Post Versalog.
Today a Post Versalog Model 1460 can still be purchased on eBay- cost range of $10-70 based on quality.

Without a slide rule the other method of doing scientific calculations was the use of logarithms. I remember using logarithms to do multiplication-division calculations in freshman chemistry.

When I started to work as a chemist for Petrolite Corporation in June of 1966, the company issued me a slide rule. It was a plastic 12 inch Acu-Math Model 400B.
I also have a 7 inch plastic pocket Acu-Math Model 1240.
I also have an aluminum 6 inch Pickett Model 600 pocket slide rule.
Here are the front and back views of the Pickett 600.
I have a pocket circular slide rule that was provided by one of my equipment vendors.
This slide rule had handy slide out conversion tables for such units as mass, volume, velocity, flow rate and pressure along the periodic table of elements and temperature conversion chart on the back.
I can remember when one of the groups in my company bought a HP10 calculator for everyone in the group for $100 each. These were a basic 4 function calculator (multiplication, division, addition, subtraction) . Today a basic 4 function calculator is a give away item the size of a credit card.

I still have the calculator that I used at work, the Texas Instruments programmable TI-66.
Even though slide rules had gone almost completely away by the 1980's, I can remember colleagues (engineers) that still had to carry a slide rule in their pocket.

Timber!!!

This is not what I expected when I drove back home today after the Cardinals Baseball game. Pat said she was sitting by the front window and heard a odd noise, then looked out and saw the results. These Bradford Pears are beautiful trees, but I have heard that they are bad about splitting like this. Not what I had planned for tomorrows schedule. Neither of my two chainsaws are runnable now, so I will either have to rent or borrow one to tackle this job.

Can't tell what kind of damage there is to Jeff's car, but I don't think it will be to bad.

Famous Budweiser Clydesdales Highlight Webster Groves July 4th Parade

We lived in Webster Groves, Missouri from October 1966 to November 1997. One of the traditions of Webster Groves was it's July 4th Parade. The parade was part of the the annual four day Community Days Carnival held around the July 4th holiday. A great fireworks show was on the night of the 4th. We would take lawn chairs and join the thousands along the parade route. For the first time in about 10 years, we went back to watch this parade. The highlight of this years parade was the Famous Budweiser Clydesdales.
At least one of the Webster Groves fire trucks always joined the parade.
Of course antique fire trucks were part of the parade.
What would be a parade without clowns?
Or marching bands? The Webster Groves High School Marching Band.
Or antique cars?
And speaking of antique cars. When was the last time you saw a Ford Edsel? The Edsel only lasted three model years, 1958-1960.

Here is a photo of a 1958 Edsel Convertible that I copied off the internet.
Or a Studebaker? Studebaker production in the United States ceased in 1963. The last Studebaker rolled off the line in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on March 16, 1966.
The St. Louis Corvette Club had over a dozen cars in the parade.
Political candidates are always plentiful at a community parade.
Police on motorcycles are always part of the Webster Groves parade.
An annual fixture of the parade was an entry by the residents of Helfenstein Avenue. Here is their lawn chair brigade.
The Community Days Carnival was sponsored by the Webster Groves Lions Club. You couldn't miss the smell of smoke at the Lions BBQ booth.

Veteran groups are always part of the parade.
World War II Battle of the Bulge Vets.
Candidates for Miss Webster Groves.
Webster Groves mayor.
Cub Scouts.
The church that we attended in Webster Groves, Old Orchard Presbyterian Church, had an entry advertising their upcoming Vacation Bible School.
Horse Riding Group.
An unique cycle!
Super Dog!
A bubble mobile!
Two Men and A Truck!
When we lived in Webster Groves, we lived in this house at 505 Marshall Avenue.
Our two children attended this elementary school just across the street.
I worked at Petrolite Corporation which was only about 3 blocks from home, so I walked to work every day. I worked there from 1966 until 1997 when the company was bought out by Baker Hughes and renamed Baker Petrolite. The company was relocated to Sugar Land, TX, so we moved to Rosenberg, TX. I retired from the company in 2002 and we moved back to the St. Louis area in 2007, where we now live in St. Peters, MO. St. Peters is about 30 miles northwest of Webster Groves.

Here is the current entrance to the former Petrolite property. The sight is now occupied by several companies, one of which is Covidien, formerly Mallinckrodt Chemical Co. which occupies the laboratory space where I worked.
This railroad trestle crossed Marshall Avenue just a couple of blocks west of our house. I remember two railroad incidents that happened at this trestle. One a 33 car derailment caused by a loose rail and the other where a bottom dump coal car decided to dump it's load just as it crossed the trestle. Luckily no cars were under the trestle for either of the two incidents.
Many years ago commuter trains ran between Webster Groves and downtown St. Louis. This neighborhood station was about five blocks north of the trestle over Marshall Avenue. An attorney is now using it for his office.