overall: 4.7 cm x 41.2 cm x 6.3 cm; 1 27/32 in x 16 7/32 in x 2 15/32 in
Object Name:
template
Place made:
United States: New York, New York City
Date made:
ca 1930
Description:
This lettering set, stored in a wooden case, contains ten plastic stencils to draw parts of letters, numbers, and symbols in various sizes. Shift buttons at one end of each rule to allow the letter parts to be lined up correctly. The templates are all marked: THE WOOD-REGAN INSTRUMENT CO. INC., NEW YORK. They also are all marked: WRICO. They also are all marked: LETTERING GUIDE PATENTED 1926.
Three lettering guides are for for drawing numbers and a few miscellaneous signs in three sizes. These are marked VN 240, VN 350, and VN 500. Three lettering guides are for drawing capital letters in differing sizes. They are marked VC 240, VC 350, and VC 500. Finally, lettering guides marked VCN 90, VCN 120, VCN 140, and VCN 175 are for drawing both numbers and capital letters. With all of these lettering guides, drawing a symbol often requires use of more than one opening.
Six metal pens are in cylindrical wooden cases with paper labels. The pens are sizes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. In most cases, the number on the pen corresponds to the number on the case. However, the case labeled "LETTERING PEN NO. 6" actually contains a No. 7 pen.
For instruction sheets, see 1986.0790.09 and 1986.0790.10.
Individual lettering guides as well as single pens and sets of lettering guides and pens are described in detail in catalogs of Eugene Dietzgen Company of Chicago. Dietzgen assigned them their own model numbers.
The donor, Philip Krupen (1915–2001), was a physicist who graduated B.S. from Brooklyn College in 1935, worked on the development of the proximity fuse during and after World War II, earned a master's degree in physics from George Washington University, and spent a total of thirty-eight years working for the U.S. government before he retired in 1973.
References:
<I>Catalogue of Eugene Dietzgen Company</I>, Chicago, 1926, pp. 212-213.
<I>Catalogue of Eugene Dietzgen Company</I>, Chicago, 1931, pp. 230-233.
