Keuffel and Esser

infobox company
company_name=Keuffel and Esser, Co.
company_
company_type=Corporation
foundation = 1867
location = New York, New Jersey
key_people = William J. D. Keuffel, Herman Esser
industry = Stationery and similar
products = Slide rules, surveying instruments, drawing materials
subsid = Young & Sons, purchased 1918

The Keuffel and Esser Co. (also known as K&E) was a drafting company founded in 1867 by German immigrants William J. D. Keuffel and Herman Esser.

Keuffel and Esser started out in New York and sold drawing materials and drafting supplies. In 1876, K&E (as the company was known) started selling surveying instruments. A three-story factory in Hoboken, New Jersey was completed four years later, and K&E was incorporated in 1889.

In the following decade Keuffel and Esser introduced another, new line of surveying instruments based on the work of John Paoli, an Italian immigrant in Hoboken.

K&E acquired Young & Sons in 1918 and made it a department of the firm. In the 1920s, K&E started manufacturing slide rules. However, with the advent of the electronic, transistorized calculator in the 1970s, slide rules became obsolete. Slide rules had never been very profitable for K&E, so it was not difficult to discontinue the line. K&E's market share shrank due to other technological advancements and shut down its slide rule engraving machines in 1975.Stoll, Cliff. "When Slide Rules Ruled". "Scientific American". May 2006.]

K&E was acquired by AZON Corp. in 1987.

External links

* [http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/surveying/maker.cfm?makerid=17 Information about Keuffel and Esser from National Museum of American History]
* [http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/ke-sliderule.html Information about various slide rule models from sphere]

References