> POST and Kueffer & Essel (sp?) were the 2 major manufacturers
> of Slide Rules
> in the 40's & 50's (prior to the HP50 ? - never could afford
> one of those at
> $400 a pop! That was REAL Money back then. ).

The Frederick Post Company, later subsumed into Teledyne-Post, did not
manufacture slide rules; it was primarily the US distributor of slide
rules made by the Hemmi company of Japan (at least regarding the slide
rule operation; Post, like the others, manufactured and sold drafting,
surveying, and engineering supplies). The same Hemmi rules were sold
in Canada by Hughes-Owens and Geotec, and in the Philippines by
Odelco. At various times, Post sold Post-branded rules from a
half-dozen manufacturers.

Keuffel & Esser was a New York-based manufacturer of slide rules,
surveying equipment, drafting equipment, papers of all types, and
similar items. K+E was certainly *a* major manufacturer--along with
Faber-Castell, Nestler, Pickett, Staedtler-Mars, and Aristo. Dietzgen
was another big name, but it's likely that they didn't actually
manufacture any of the slide rules they sold. Hemmi may hold the prize
for the largest number of rules made, since they sold under at least a
dozen brand names.

High-end rules were typically priced in the $50-$80 range; really
exotic, low-volume specialty rules could double that. The price tag on
my Teledyne-Post Versalog II is $32, but it's from a university book
store.

> There were slight differences between them which created
> infinite, heated
> arguments between engineering students of the period.
> Somewhat akin to the
> argument between Apple & IBM PC fans in the 80's (for a more recent
> analogy).

The differences were a bit more than 'slight'. Both companies sold
numerous types of rules, from simple one-sided Mannheim rules with a
handful of scales to complex log-log and vector-type duplex models
with two dozen scales or more. Post rules were usually of laminated
bamboo, and later of plastic. K+E rules were laminated wood (usually
mahogany), also migrating to plastic.

The Post Versalog, particularly in its final 24-scale Versalog II
incarnation, is widely considered to be the best engineering slide
rule ever created. K+E's 4081 model, in its numerous variants, may be
the largest-selling engineering rule from any US maker. In contrast to
the Versalog II, K+E's last rule, the 26-scale Deci-Lon, was (in my
mind) a triumph of style over substance.

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