Dear Orchidians, Long time listener. First time caller. A friend of
mine who teaches art asked me if I knew where she could purchase a
Golden Mean divider/compass. She showed me a drawing of one
mentioned in an art book she has. Any leads or takers? Thanks in
advance for any help on this one.
Mike Campbell
I think she means a proportional divider see:
http://www.bridgecitytools.com/pages_framework/frameset_stage.asp?primary=0&secondary=0&tertiary=-1
They are not inexpensive. I have one pair I bought in Japan during
the Korean war which were very cheap, and another pair a little
larger US made that were well over $100 in about 1975.
I think the quality Bridgecity tool ones may be being discontinued.
Jesse
I posted a source for an exceptionally fine proportional divider. The
site may be a little harder to use than Ithought. The item is
1101-157 proportional divider. sneak preview 56. I have made a pdf
of this and of some other info on the golden mean that I will send
to any one who wants it off list. Phi the golden mean ratio is a
irrational number as is pi to circles. You don’t need fancy numerical
math to use it to. The tool does for the golden mean what a
compass does for a circle. The tool does a lot of other things as
well. Before CAD systems it was a regular drafting tool for PAD
(pencil aided design).
jesse