Sterling 584, 10" Mannheim
Sterling Plastics, the company that gave us the Rolodex, also made cheap plastic slide rules and adding machines. The very last time I ever saw a slide rule for sale as a calculating instrument and not as an antique, it was a Sterling. I bought it, and use it in my workshop. It's a good rule to "put in harm's way", since it's easily replaced.
Sterling bought Acu-Rule (makers of Acu-Math slide rules) in 1968, and was soon bought themselves by Borden, the milk company. Go figure.
Sterling 584, 10" Mannheim
The Sterling 584 may well be the most common slide rule on eBay, usually labeled "ANTIQUE VINTAGE SLIDING RULER L@@K!!", no cursor, and an opening bid of $99.99.
The top slide rule has only two bridges across the back, while all the other Sterlings have five. From Mike Konshak's Site I see this means it is an early version. How early? I don't know exactly, but the instructions do not list a zip code in the company address, implying that it was pre-1963.
The bottom two slide rules are 584 variants; the middle slide rule has red text on the slide, and the bottom slide rule has a green slide. There are other variants that I plan to collect.
Sterling 587, 6" Mannheim
Identical to the larger Sterling 584, only pocket sized.
Sterling "Decimal Trig Log Log", 10" Duplex
Not a bad slide rule for a Sterling. It seems to be the replacement for the very similar model 594 "Decimal Trig Multi-Log" - all the same scales, but no longer bears a model number and uses sans serif fonts. See Mike Konshak's Site of a 594.
I suspect that this slide rule not only replaced the 594, but also the Acu-Math version. I can't see any other reason to discontinue one model and produce a new model that is virtually identical. If this is true, this slide rule dates to after 1968.
© 2003 W. E. Johns