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Versalog Slide Rules

The Versalog 1460 slide rule was a highly regarded calculating instrument and very popular. The Fredrick Post Company didn't make its own slide rules, but had other companies manufacture them with the Post name. The Versalog slide rule had the Post name embossed on it in the United States. In Canada, the name used was Hughes-Owen, later Geotec.

Versalog 1460
- From 1951 to 1973 the Japanese slide rule manufacturer Hemi made the Versalog model strictly for Post and Hughes-Owen. The Versalog was a 10-inch rule made of laminated bamboo with celluloid faces and engraved scales. Laminated bamboo gave the Versalog stability and accuracy. Brackets on each end held the outer stators in place and the middle scale slid back and forth between them. A cursor with a hairline mounted to the two stators slides along the rule. The construction was similar for most slide rules. Users could buy it in one of three cases. The cases made for the Versalog were a molded gray plastic case, a black fibroid case with a flap, and a quality cordovan brown leather case. Post also published high-quality hardbound and softbound manuals for the Versalog. In 1957 Post introduced the 5-inch pocket Versalog. The Versatrig was similar to the Versalog with fewer scales, but with some trigonometric scales added. The Versatrig doesn't have the extended logarithmic scales of the Versalog. It was considered the little brother of the Versalog.
Uses
- The Versalog is a general-purpose slide rule with 23 scales. Slide rules don't add or subtract, so users had an Addator for addition and subtraction. Slide rules multiply and divide, calculate square and cube root numbers and do trigonometric functions. The Versalog is a slide rule used for civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering. The Versalog has enough mathematical functions for mathematicians to use it.
Calculators
- Engineers used slide rules to design bridges, roads, machinery, automobiles, rocket ships, and the electronic calculators that made them obsolete. For 300 years slide rules provided complex calculations. While slide rules are still used for specialized work, few people do not know how to used them, nor would they know how best to use them for those applications. Versalog was one of the most popular slide rules of its time. It fulfilled the calculating requirements of engineers, scientists and mathematicians. Most slide rule users kept them, and have a touch of nostalgia for the Post Versalog.

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