Aristo Multilog Nr. 970

March 7, 2007

When I first began collecting slide rules, I made a list of the ones that interested me the most, and then started monitoring eBay and the local antique stores. The Aristo 970 was the first to come up that stayed within my price range, and was thus the first slide rule that I purchased.

This example of the 970 arrived in virtually mint condition, requiring only minimal cleaning to make it perfect. Included with the rule was the original hard plastic carrying case, and a thin plastic ruler with inch and centimetre scales, conversion factors, and some logarthmic scales whose purpose I have yet to determine. Here’s a scan of the front of the slide rule:

This is a duplex rule, with scales on both sides of the slide and stator. The front contains most of the “typical” scales, along with one pair of log-log scales. The remaining 3 pairs of log-log scales, as well as the folded scales and the mantissa scale, are on the back:

Notice the faint yellow stripe highlighting the CF and C scales. This stripe is actually more apparent in the scans than in the original rule. I’ve seen other images of 970s where this highlighting is more pronounced, and appears on both sides of the rule. I suspect that it has simply worn off or faded from the particular rule in my collection.

The 970 is one of Aristo’s high-end rules, having all the scales that one might need except for the hyperbolic and Pythagorean scales. This would probably have been an ideal slide rule for a mechanical engineer. Here’s an excerpt from Aristo’s catalog page for the 970:

ARISTO MultiLog

A double face slide rule with 8 part Log-log scale for mathematicians, physicists and chemists.

In comparison with the ARISTO Studio, in this rule the Log-log scale is further extended by two sections, LL0 and LL00. The trigonmetrical scales are arranged on the slide. The Log-log scales LL1—LL3, LL01—LL03 are placed, together with the folded scales, on one face of the rule. This is an advantage in many calculations, as is also the parallel setting of scales L and CI on the slide.

This slide rule has non-slip rubber “feet” on both sides, and they are thick enough to keep the cursor off the desk top, allowing the rule to be used one-handed. The two stators are connected by plastic end-pieces which are permanently glued in place, eliminating both the possibility and need for realignment. The cursor on the other hand can be aligned, the screws on the front face having some amount of wiggle room built in to allow for adjustment.

The Aristo 970 is the slide rule that I used for my first on-line slide rule simulator, but I took the liberty of enhancing the yellow highlight stripes on the images used in the simulator.

Specifications
Make and Model:	Aristo 970
Manufactured:	Germany, Year Unknown
Overall Dimensions:	33.8cm × 4.8cm × 0.4cm (13.3″ × 1.9″ × 0.16″)
Scale Length:	25cm (9.8″)
Construction:	All Plastic
Scales:	LL00 K A | B T ST S C | D DI LL0 LL01 LL02 LL03 DF | CF CIF L CI C | D LL3 LL2 LL1
Cursor:	Plastic with Extra Hairlines: HP↔kW, Diam↔Area, and 3.6x Hairlines
Date Acquired:	February 2007

Update 2011-Apr-04: My Aristo 970 also came with the English user manual, which I have now scanned and converted to Adobe PDF format. You can download it here (17MB).

                    

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