Dad's old planimeter

Hello members:
I've joined the DESIGN forums to see if there are any boat designers out there who still use a manual planimeter.... my Dad used to design wooden boats of all sizes, and now we are clearing out his house (he has gone to a retirement residence) His planimeter is sitting there awaiting someone who would value it as much as he did.. contact me privately for details. Thanks very much.
sherleetooze@interlinks.net

 

I sent an email to that address and got an error message. I am definetely interested and would certainly value and care for it. I'll try send you a message again.

 

wow..not seen one of those since i was a student.
I'd like to be on the list after Gonzo

 

Dad's planimeter

It's a huge thing... the framework attaches across the top of the drafting table and down one side so that the arm can swing the full width of the drafting surface - I have not removed it from the drafting table, but it looks to be a heavy piece of equipment....
Sher

 

which means it wont be cheap to ship, whether to UK, or Japan!

Any idea how much it weighs etc....hence the shipping costs?

 

I would like it shipped to my home in Milwaukee. Let me know what it would cost.
Thanks

 

what a shame... i have seen this post too late...

i would be very interested in this planimeter of yours as well and will bring it to good use since i am an absolute computer iliterate and like to work on a drawing board... hence needing a planimeter...

 

Is it a drawing machine or a planimeter?

My dad used a planimeter for calculating the area of printout for ship's engines (valves for exhaust / inlet, area for opening/ suction/ outlet etc..., that's one of the uses for a planimeter....).
like these (have this myself, not for sale...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planimeter

They may look like one of these, but these are not planimeters (found only the new paralell arms now...The old ones had geometrical paralell arms, with a lead/ steel weight on top, to balance it out).
http://www.draftingsteals.com/catalog-drafting---drawing-equipment-drafting-machines.html


Used some of these myself, for close to 15 years... (man.... that long....).

 

My first thoughts were it sounded more like a drafting machine.
My old planimeter sits in a box 250 x 100 x 50 mm.

 

About the same dimention on my black box too, not too heavy to ship, but somewhat brittle i'd guess (the box, not the planimeter).

(box material; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite )

 

There are lots of small Polar Planimeters available on ebay.

In the old-timey days ship designers used something called an Integrator, very similar to a Planimeter and operating in a similar fashion. But the Integrator measured the moment of an area about an axis as well as the area itself. It seems to me I've seen photos of guys operating one of these, big cast iron piece of equipment.....could be mistaken for an antique drafting machine.