Ready reckoner for ship's cargoes
- Made:
- 1807
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Calculating scale, boxwood weighted with brass, 9" x 1 1/2" x 3/4" for gross and tare weights of ship's cargoes,
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Calculating scale, boxwood weighted with brass, 9" x 1 1/2" x 3/4" for gross and tare weights of ship's cargoes,
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Calculating scale, boxwood weighted with brass, 9" x 1 1/2" x 3/4" for gross and tare weights of ship's cargoes,
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Calculating scale, boxwood weighted with brass, 9" x 1 1/2" x 3/4" for gross and tare weights of ship's cargoes,
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
Calculating scale, boxwood weighted with brass, 9" x 1 1/2" x 3/4" for gross and tare weights of ship's cargoes,
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
Calculating scale, boxwood weighted with brass, 9" x 1 1/2" x 3/4" for gross and tare weights of ship's cargoes,
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
Calculating scale, boxwood weighted with brass, 9" x 1 1/2" x 3/4" for gross and tare weights of ship's cargoes,
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
Calculating scale, boxwood weighted with brass, 9" x 1 1/2" x 3/4" for gross and tare weights of ship's cargoes,
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
Ready reckoner or calculating scale, boxwood weighted with brass, for gross and tare weights of ship's cargoes, engraved "Robert Ludgate, Custom House, London, 1807"
Ready reckoners made calculations faster and simpler. This example aided the calculation of the weight of a ship’s cargo, and might have helped a customs officer ensure the correct fees and charges were levied on shipping merchants.
Tare is the weight of the packaging or container. The instrument’s tables and scales enable a user to find the gross (overall) weight based on the tare weight, which could be set at 7lbs, or at a percentage of the weight of the goods.
Robert Ludgate was one of a number of instrument-makers located close to London’s Custom House. When this ready-reckoner was made, London was Britain’s busiest port, and a hub of national and international trade. Taxes on imported and manufactured goods were an important source of government revenue. By the 1700s the bureaucracy for collecting and administering them was substantial.
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Details
- Category:
- Mathematics
- Object Number:
- 1953-339
- Materials:
- box (wood) and brass (copper, zinc alloy)
- Measurements:
-
overall (flat): 20 mm x 40 mm x 235 mm, 0.71 kg
- type:
- ready reckoners (cargo)
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- tools & equipment
- calculator
- credit:
- Mr George D. Blatchford
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