Reading and Writing Aids - Slate & Stylus: Taylor Slate

Artifact #42

Taylor Slate
 

Artifact Description:

Computational Aids for the Blind
1930s and early 1940s (Garvin 1994).
The Taylor slate was one of the earliest manipulative/tactile aids for visually impaired students of mathematics. It measures about 11 by 17 inches, has a tray to hold pegs and an array of holes to contain these pegs. There are 22 holes across and about 20 holes in a column. These holes are shaped similar to a plus sign overlying an "X" and the pegs have the same shape. Additionally, at each end of the one-inch pegs, to one side, is a bar and at the other end, two conical projections. The angle of insertion determines the numerical value, with the bar side up the positions run 1 through 8 and flipping the pegs over the values 9 and 0, with the remainder of the positions determining the operation.