Otis King
On the strange relation between a slide rule and carbide lamps.
Dick Lyon has listed a several addresses that occur on Otis King cylindrical slide rule manuals: 44 & 66 Bray's Lane, Coventry, used in Otis Carter Formby King's 1921 UK Patent GB 183,723
A: "Ashdene," Emscote Road, Stoke, Coventry, used in Otis Carter Formby King's 1922 UK patent GB 207,762
51 Holborn Viaduct, London
171 Seymour Place, London
54 Dundonald Road, London
51 Holborn Viaduct, Seymour Place and Dundonald Road are associated with Carbic Ltd..
This company was involved in the trade and/or manufacture of 'Carbide of Calcium' and carbide lamps.
The company applied for 'Agreed Charges' according to the Road and rail traffic act of 1933. Because these applications where listed in The London and Edinburgh Gazettes, they can help use to date Otis King slide rules.
So, Carbic Ltd was already located at 51 Holborn Viaduct in 1917, before Otis Kings where invented.
According to the National Museum of American History, 54 Dundonald Road is the last known address of the Carbic Ltd.
The company was part of a conglomerate founded by the Rt Hon Charles Cheers Viscount Wakefield of Hythe, who died on 15th January, 1941. His will lists his empire:
Carbic Ltd.
It is unclear what the relation was between Otis Carter Formby King and Viscount Wakefield. His first 3 UK patents (applied for in 1921 and 1922) were all personal, but the US patent US 1,645,009, which he applied for in 1923 and was granted in 1927, was assigned to Carbic Ltd.
The firm of Tuck and Blakemore, which appears on a 1921 Otis King manual, was a Coventry based tool manufacturer that existed from January 1906 to November 1959.
If you want to operate an Otis King, read the Manual and try the online Otis King K & Example 2×3
If you want to make an Otis King K yourself, print the reconstructed Scale 414 and Scale 423.