Design Considerations for the Analon Slide Rule

摘要

The Analon slide rule (see Figure l)has achieved iconic status among slide rule enthusiasts. Keuffel & Esser (K&E) patented the Analon in 1966, and their 1967 catalog~1 touted it as "a revolutionary concept in slide rules" because "it allows the student, professional engineer and scientist to perform reliable dimensional calculations". However, manufacturing problems delayed production, and, when electronic hand calculators became available in 1971-72, the market for the slide rules virtually disappeared. As a result the Analon is moderately rare; fewer than 600 were released; many slide rule collectors have never handled one. The layout is relatively attractive as slide rules go. The Analon is occasionally mentioned as a candidate for "the holy grail of slide rules" on collectors' blogs that discuss such issues.~2 The blogs have also questioned whether or not dimensional analysis slide rules would have caught on and achieved widespread acceptance and use, if slide rules had not been displaced by hand calculators.