Mystery item: "K+E" leather weight

syncrasy · Aug 2, 2020

This isn't about an antique, but I couldn't find a better forum category to seek help identifying a particular item.

The item is a round quasi bean-bag made of tan leather, about 4 inches diameter and less than 1 inch high. There's a "K+E" logo impressed on both sides. It's very heavy (1 lbs. 3 ounces), so I suspect the stuffing (the "beans") might be tiny lead weights. Assuming it's photo related... What is it, what is it used for, and could the contents be lead?

(If I can't find a use for it and it's full of lead, I'd like to dispose of it properly.)

Thanks for any ID help!

gorbas · Aug 2, 2020

I think it's used while preparing prints for dry mounting to hold print, mounting tissue and cardboard in the place while tackling, marking etc. Of course, I can be wrong but...

syncrasy · Aug 2, 2020

gorbas said:
I think it's used while preparing prints for dry mounting to hold print, mounting tissue and cardboard in the place while tackling, marking etc. Of course, I can be wrong but...

I think you're right! (My dad spent years dry mounting prints.)

Thank you Gorbas!

P.S. I did some more googling and it appears that "K+E" was a manufacturer of drafting supplies, and these are indeed paper weights intended to hold down blueprints (and would be useful for holding prints and tissue paper).

gorbas · Aug 2, 2020

You are welcome

Pieter12 · Aug 2, 2020

A weight to hold paper in position without marring it. Used for architectural drawings, maps, etc. Ready available at art & drafting supply stores and online.

syncrasy · Aug 2, 2020

Pieter12 said:
A weight to hold paper in position without marring it. Used for architectural drawings, maps, etc. Ready available at art & drafting supply stores and online.

Thank you. I found an almost identical version made by Alvin online. Definitely filled with lead shot.

Kodachromeguy · Aug 2, 2020

Pieter12 said:
A weight to hold paper in position without marring it. Used for architectural drawings, maps, etc. Ready available at art & drafting supply stores and online.

Yes indeed. You placed the pads on the corners of Mylar or velum sheets when you were drafting some technical drawing or (in my case) drawing bathymetry maps by hand (i.e., pre-computer era).
Second use: draftsman's or draftlady's elbow rest pad.

GRHazelton · Aug 2, 2020

Keuffel & Esser was a maker of slide rules, a highly regarded brand. I have my Father's K & E, it is a 10 inch log log duplex, made of mahogany with celluloid veneers which are engraved with the scales. My Father probably bought it in the early 1930s when he was earning his BS in chemical engineering at Detroit City College, which later became Wayne State University. He did his PhD in ChemEng at U of Michigan, where he met my Mother. Here's a little info on Keuffel & Esser: https://www.sliderule.ca/ke.htm

wiltw · Aug 2, 2020

Kodachromeguy said:
Yes indeed. You placed the pads on the corners of Mylar or velum sheets when you were drafting some technical drawing or (in my case) drawing bathymetry maps by hand (i.e., pre-computer era).
Second use: draftsman's or draftlady's elbow rest pad.

^^^ Keuffel and Esser had a lot of drafting products. I used drafting machines like this one in making street maps per surveyor's data.

https://www.pinterest.at/pin/406520303840491152/

Sirius Glass · Aug 2, 2020

GRHazelton said:
Keuffel & Esser was a maker of slide rules, a highly regarded brand. I have my Father's K & E, it is a 10 inch log log duplex, made of mahogany with celluloid veneers which are engraved with the scales. My Father probably bought it in the early 1930s when he was earning his BS in chemical engineering at Detroit City College, which later became Wayne State University. He did his PhD in ChemEng at U of Michigan, where he met my Mother. Here's a little info on Keuffel & Esser: https://www.sliderule.ca/ke.htm

If one uses a 6 inch slide rule instead of a 10 inch rule, the one would be closer to the answer.

I used a 12 inch teflon slide rule.

wiltw · Aug 2, 2020

syncrasy said:
This isn't about an antique, but I couldn't find a better forum category to seek help identifying a particular item.
If I can't find a use for it and it's full of lead, I'd like to dispose of it properly.

I would gladly pay USPS Flat Rate Small box shipping , and a reasonal additional amount to buy this from you, to remind me of my early years as a draftsman while attending college!

mshchem · Aug 2, 2020

GRHazelton said:
Keuffel & Esser was a maker of slide rules, a highly regarded brand. I have my Father's K & E, it is a 10 inch log log duplex, made of mahogany with celluloid veneers which are engraved with the scales. My Father probably bought it in the early 1930s when he was earning his BS in chemical engineering at Detroit City College, which later became Wayne State University. He did his PhD in ChemEng at U of Michigan, where he met my Mother. Here's a little info on Keuffel & Esser: https://www.sliderule.ca/ke.htm

Yes, that's it. I remembered it had something to do with drafting. BTW one of my professors of chemistry got his BS at Wayne State, PhD at Iowa State, later in the 50's. There's a little thrift shop here in town had a store display of a slide rule, 6 feet long, designed to be hung from the ceiling, they wanted more than I had. I started college with a brand new Texas Instruments SR-51 (150 $ in 1975 )

GRHazelton · Aug 2, 2020

mshchem said:
Yes, that's it. I remembered it had something to do with drafting. BTW one of my professors of chemistry got his BS at Wayne State, PhD at Iowa State, later in the 50's. There's a little thrift shop here in town had a store display of a slide rule, 6 feet long, designed to be hung from the ceiling, they wanted more than I had. I started college with a brand new Texas Instruments SR-51 (150 $ in 1975 )

My Father was a techie even in his later years. He bought, IIRC, a TI 59 programmable calculator and used it for the ChemEng courses he taught at West Va Institute of Technology. He bought a Radio Shack computer - I forget the model but it was an early one and wrote, of course! a checkbook balancing program. He died in 2001 aged 87, I dearly miss him.

Kodachromeguy · Aug 2, 2020

When oil prices collapsed the previous time, 1982-1984, Houston, Texas, became a semi-ghost town with laid-off (fired) oil people leaving in droves to find work anywhere. Companies that specialized in reselling office equipment had rooms full - hangars full - of drafting equipment, drafting tables, file cabinets, map cases, instruments, you name it, the detritus of technical offices. This was the very tail end on the manual drafting era. I bought a 2-drawer file cabinet for $30. I remember being tempted by Leroy lettering sets and beautiful oak drafting tables, but in retrospect, am glad I did not load up with stuff (also, I was unemployed then, as well). I remember seeing a gorgeous set of railroad curves in a mahogany case (curves to draw railroad tracks, I assume for intended refineries and petroleum developments in South America). Anyway, there were stacks of these lead-filled pouches. I still have flat leather elbow pads from that era. The slide rule was already relegated to display cases by then. We used HP calculators offshore to compute friction on piles, leg penetration into the seabed, and all sorts of other engineering calculations - on paper manually.

guangong · Aug 3, 2020

I used such weighted pads in the late 50s and early 60s when doing cartographic work with pen and ink. These were needed to keep huge sheets of paper in place but still moveable when required. Drafting tables were also huge. Even then many were working with scribers that removed a thin film from a backing support instead of ink. Nowadays, all this is done by computer...no paper, no ink, no motor skills. Well o.k., maybe the mouse.
Speaking of antiques, I still have my K+E flexible rule and lettering set.

fgorga · Aug 3, 2020

Oh my... I'm feeling old!

I took drafting classes in high school (early 70s) and used these weights, also called map weights.

As for calculating devices, I used a slide rule through college. My father had bought me a simple (four function plus square roots) Texas Instruments calculator for my high school graduation (1973); about $100, if memory serves. However, I was not allowed to use the calculator on exams because not everyone had them and the perception was they provided an advantage. When I started graduate school in 1976, I bought a scientific calculator, another TI model for about $150, a lot of money considering my stipend was $300/month.

The pace at which calculators replaced slide rules was amazing. I had a colleague (we were chemistry professors) who was two years younger than me and had never used a slide rule.

syncrasy · Aug 15, 2020

wiltw said:
I would gladly pay USPS Flat Rate Small box shipping , and a reasonal additional amount to buy this from you, to remind me of my early years as a draftsman while attending college!

Sorry, I didn't see this until today (for some reason my Photrio notifications stopped).

Thanks for the offer but I've decided to hold onto it for now because I might find a use for it.

Sirius Glass · Aug 15, 2020

syncrasy said:
Sorry, I didn't see this until today (for some reason my Photrio notifications stopped).

Thanks for the offer but I've decided to hold onto it for now because I might find a use for it.

Your thread got me thinking about getting leather pillows to rest large or heavy didgeridoos while playing and avoiding damaging its body. I found some on the internet. Thank you for your unintended consequences.

Mystery item: "K+E" leather weight

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