CASE FOR DRAWING INSTRUMENTS. FRASER. LONDON, 1780-1805

Pocket drawing cases – often called etui, from the French étui – were popular objects for almost a century in Europe, indispensable for storing instruments used for drawing and calculation. The dimensions of the case could vary, depending on whether it was intended for use by architects, civil engineers, mechanical ones or others.
Some treatises, including that of William Ford Stanley, entitled A Descriptive Treatise on Mathematical Drawing Instruments, provide us with a lot of information about the production, use, shape and materials used in the making of these instruments. Stanley focuses not only on the morphology of the cases, but also on the materials generally used in the construction of drawing instruments: brass, silver, steel and ivory, with some differences between the German, Swiss or English manufacturers.

Our case is tapered, oblong and equipped with an iron closure button and hinge supports, while the lid is edged in silver and features a small oval silver plaque, usually intended to contain an inscription with the name of the owner or a dedication.

It is made of wood covered with galuchat in the green variant. Galuchat takes its name from Jean-Claude Galluchat († 1774), a master craftsman active in France at the court of Louis XV; he was responsible for the rediscovery of an ancient oriental method to treat shark or parsnip skin (a breed of the Dasiatidae family), in particular the Dasyatis Pastinaca, fished only in the Indo-Pacific (J. Perfettini, Le galuchat, Ed. Vial, Dourdan 2018, pag. 26). This method of treating leather in green, pink or other colors quickly became fashionable among the French aristocracy and spread throughout Europe in the mid-18th century to cover cases and scientific instruments of all kinds.

The interior is divided into the various housings for the instruments.

These are:

– a sector, complete with brass pin, signed “Fraser London”. This particular instrument can be traced back to an idea by Galileo Galilei. The first geometric compasses for calculation, also known as “proportional compasses”, began to appear between 1500 and 1600. Galileo calls the instrument a “geometric and military compass”, since it could also be used in topography, surveying and ballistics, thanks to the different scales dedicated to these areas. The fundamental principle of this tool exploits the proportionality existing between the lengths of the sides of similar triangles to perform multiplication and division operations;
– two brass and steel compasses with one fixed tip and a removable one. This tip can be removed and fitted with other related elements, such as a pencil holder or four other scribing tools, including two line. All pieces are equipped with thin butterfly knurled screws for stroke adjustment;
– a proportional brass compass signed “Fraser London”. The tool was mainly used by draftsmen to reduce or enlarge drawings. By enhancing the instrument with other scales, it was possible to divide the circles into a proportionate number of parts, determine square and cube roots, as well as perform other operations;
– a wood and brass parallel line ruler: a particular type of ruler, widespread from 1700 onwards, consisted of two or three rows connected by articulated metal arms, in order to keep one row fixed and move the other ones parallelly;
– a scales ruler: to perform multiplication and division, it is similar to the proportional compass and, in particular, it exploits the proportionality existing between the lengths of the sides of similar triangles.
It is signed: FRASER . MATHEMATICAL . INST . MAKER . TO . THE . PRINCE OF WALES . BOND . STREET . LONDON.;
– a file with a blade to abrade the ink and adjust the tools.

The instruments were likely made by William Fraser who appears in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; registered in the Gloria Clifton Directory of Scientific Instrument Makers as active in Bond Street in London as a manufacturer of optical and mathematical instruments between 1780 and 1805 as Fraser and then, until 1812, the year of his death, as Fraser & Son.

Bibliography:

Ford Stanley, Mathematical Drawing and Measuring Instruments, E. & F. N. Spon, 1900;
W. Queen & Company Priced and illustrated catalogue of mathematical instruments and materials for drawing, surveying and civil engineering, Philadelphia, James W. Queen & Co., New York 1873;
Edward Hulme, Mathematical drawing instruments and how to use them, New York, W.T. Comstock 1883;
Gloria Clifton, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Directory of Scientific Instrument Makers, Oxford University Press, 2004;
Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers, 1550-1851, National Maritime Museum (GB), 1995;
J. Perfettini, Le galuchat, Ed. Vial, Dourdan 2018.

Cover Photo: Fabrizio Stipari