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    Time for a look at one of the many distributors of Relay/Ricoh manufactured slide rules sold here in the United States of America, the Scientific Instruments Co. Examples from this company prove that R/R was willing to heavily modify its rules to get them sold over here. We've already seen all the custom jobs done for the Eugene Dietzgen Co., but the slide rules sold by this company go a step farther. If you like rules made by R/R, then you can consider these "hot rods" of the Relay/Ricoh world! (They also sold CONCISE rules, and one matching the Dietzgen 1771/Bruning2401, but thats another story.)
     From what we know, SIC started selling R/R rules in or about 1960. Early SIC rules have minimal or no re-labelling, being marked "Relay" only, which is in common with several other early US distributors. Some have double markings, that is both "Relay" AND "SIC", or even "Scientific Instruments Co." unabbreviated on them. Early rules as well used the standard R/R date codes. Later rules, probably 1961 and after, drop the codes in favor of an actual year stamped on the edge of the rule. These year stampings are preceeded by a copyright symbol. Known years are 1961, 1962, and 1964 for rules marked this way. We can safely assume that not all the rules we see were made in only those years, though. These rules also bear the SIC name, not abbreviated, on the rule edge. Again, a unique feature in re-branded R/R rules. By the way, SIC merely added a zero to the end of the already established R/R model number, as you'll see in the list below, to get the model numbers seen on their rules. The earliest rules lack these extra zeros, though.
     Another feature, one most often noticed by collectors, is the cursors of these rules. Early rules simply used the standard cursor unchanged, but rules about 1961 and later have the scale names engraved into the cursor faces (which are plastic) and filled with black. Very different from other US sold rules, and unique among Relay/Ricoh rules. These also have a copyright SIC marking on one cursor bar. Very old Relay rules had "Relay" on one cursor bar, such as my 1953 model 150, but otherwise the cursor bars are blank. Thus, another unique SIC feature.        ALSO SEE THE IMAGE/SCAN GALLERY FOR ADDITIONAL INFO!!

KNOWN S.I.C RULE TYPES

1020, 1050, 4030, 4500, 5050, 5500, 5510, 1510, 1520, 1530, 1530-A, 1570, 1580

(listing only re-branded Relay/Ricoh slide rules)

At left and above, we see scans of an SIC 1530-A, which was a modified RICOH 154. Note the edge markings, on both rule body and cursor. SIC rules do not have the usual date codes, but have years instead. Of special interest are the cursor markings, totally unique to Relay/Ricoh's SIC rules. These are stamped or molded into the cursor plastic faces and inked black. Also note the range markings for the log-log scales. Range markings are also provided for the trig scales.
This rule has the "standard" SIC markings, both face and edge, adopted after early transitional types.

    Here we see two scans from very early SIC rules. The rule above is a dual marked 550. Note that in all respects it is simply a standard 550 to which has been added the "Scientific Instruments Co." name. Also note that the case is a standard (for the time) Relay "Ideal Bamboo Slide Rule" case, without any additional markings. This rule is typical of early SIC rules, and in fact several other distributor's rules started off this way, that is with minimally re-badged rules. This would have enabled Relay to quickly fulfill orders, by simply adding the appropriate markings to already manufactured rules.
     At left, we have a LIFE SIZE scan of the markings on the edge of my Relay 551 pocket log-log rule. This rule is in all respects a normal, but very early, 551. The ONLY marking added, on either case or rule, is that seen at left on one edge. As on the above 550, the cursor is plain as well.
     Finally, at lower left, we see the front of an SIC manual, listing the types covered in that manual. No years later than 1964 have been seen, and this manual was with a 1962 dated rule. Did SIC only import from about 1960 to 1964? Were many of the 1964 dated rules actually made later than that? I don't know. But I DO know that the SIC Relay/Ricoh rules are quite unusual in the R/R re-branding world, and that certainly there's more to research about this brand!

RELAY/RICOH ARCHIVES