original early 20th century keuffel and esser unusually compact varnished oak wood fully adjustable chicago drafting table

refinished intact and fully adjustable well-built chicago office drafting table designed and fabricated by the keuffel & esser company, new york city, ny.

keuffel and esser began operations in new york selling drawing materials and drafting supplies. in 1876, k & e added surveying instruments. a four-story factory, located in hoboken, new jersey was completed four years later and k & e was incorporated in 1889. in 1892, the company commissioned a building for their showroom and offices at 127 fulton street in manhattan from the architecture firm of de lomos & cordes, who designed an 8-story brick and terra cotta building in the renaissance revival style. the building was completed in 1893 and the company occupied it until 1961. it was designated a new york city landmark in 2005.

in the first decade of the 20th century, keuffel and esser introduced another, new line of surveying instruments based on the work of john paoli, an italian immigrant in hoboken. a new keuffel and esser manufacturing complex was built in 1906. in 1918 k & e acquired young & sons of philadelphia and made it a department of the firm. in the 1920's, k & e started manufacturing slide rules. a special slide rule was designed in the mid-1930's by nelson m. cooke of the navy's radio materiel school; many thousands of the 4139 cooke radio slide rule were made by k&e.

the adjustable drafting table is comprised of solid oak wood with the uniform varnished wood finish intact. the curved cast iron brackets, stretcher bar and oversized spoked crank wheel are intact. the four-legged base is reinforced by wood stretchers. the compact drawing board is original to the table base. the height and tilt of the drawing board are achieved by turning the wheel and additional dials along the slotted or telescoping legs.