KIRAMEKI

Hemmi Slide Rule Manufacturing Process

The following stills were generated from an 8mm film apparently taken by a Hemmi employee, showing various steps in the slide rule manufacturing process. They were taken from a VHS tape of the movie I received from Hemmi in the early 1990s.


Movie Title


Bronze Bust of Hemmi Jiro


President Ohkura


Map of Kyushu showing Kagoshima, the source of bamboo for Hemmi slide rules


Close-up of bamboo source


Bamboo thicket


Measuring bamboo


Chopping bamboo


Carrying bamboo


Temporary storage


Trucking out of the mountains


Boiling


Outdoor drying


Outdoor drying


Route to the plant


Shirako Plant title


Plant gate


Fire perimeter description


Plant buildings


Truck loaded with bamboo


Bamboo entering plant


Unloading a truck load of bamboo


Raw bamboo inspection


Processing of raw bamboo pieces


Machine ejecting bamboo strips


Curing


Inspection Department


Inspection of blanks


Plant floor


Finished blanks are ejected


Varnishing blanks for simplex slide rules


Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (I)


Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (II)


Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (III)


Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (IV)


Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (V)


Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (VI)


Inspection of blanks for simplex slide rules


Cutting celluloid sheets


Cut celluloid sheets


Gluing on the celluloid sheets


Glue mixer


Hairline scribing


Cursor assembly


Production floor


Inking


Production floor


Grinding away excess ink


Final removal of excess ink


Insertion of conversion factor sheets (these appear to be 2664S slide rules)


Packaged rules ready for shipping


Slide rules loaded onto a truck


Dock