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This section will feature the slide rules manufactured by the NIPPON SLIDE RULE CO. We currently don't know too much about this company or it's history, but what we DO know will be posted here for you to enjoy. And, thanks to fellow collector John Spivey, we now own the only Nikkei 510 known to exist, which we will show you. (As well as this rule, he has kindly provided information as well, especially about the comparison between the Nkkei rules and contemporary Hemmi's.)
This company was apparently a predecessor of RELAY, that is of the RELAY INDUSTRIAL CO., who marketed under the brand name "Relay" just as NIPPON marketed under the brand name "Nikkei". But, did one become the other? What do the two companies rules have in common? What's different? Let's find out....

We'll start out with the manuals which came with two NIKKEI rules. The manuals are seen above, and life size are rather small 7 page stapled pamphlets, about 6 inches tall by about 4 inches wide. The manual above, left came with a Nikkei 200, that at right with the above mentioned 510. Other than the front covers, the manuals are exactly alike. The rule on the right manual is actually a reversed image, that is it somehow got printed BACKWARDS on the manual. The rule shown is a NIKKEI 500. The manual at left shows a Nikkei 520, printed the right way. Note the difference in cursors. That at left seems very much like early Relay rules, whereas that at right is unlike any seen Relay OR Nikkei cursor! Note also the odd end brace, and equal length stators, again unlike anything else except the later Relay 252, which had equal length stators. And a similar scale arrangement.

Above, the back page of the manuals featured a catalog listing of available types. Not a huge line, but very competent, with a heavy emphasis on folded scale types. Some of these types seem as though they could be predecessors of later Relay types, or it is just a coincidence. After all, there are only so many scale arrangements. The 510 and 520 both look to be good scale sets though, quite powerful and competetive with contemporary types, assuming that these rules were being made in the late 40's and/or early 50's.