Counters

Introduction

Some of the simplest computing devices made and sold are aids to counting. From ancient to early modern times, scribes performing calculations moved small stones or metal tokens along lines. More recently, mechanical counters have been widely used to count crowds and objects, and as parts of machines.

In the nineteenth century, several inventors patented mechanical counters. Patent models surviving in the Mathematics Collections at the National Museum of American History suggest the range of their concerns. Paul Stillman in 1854 and Daniel Davies and Edward Wright in 1876 patented improvements in rotary measures, such as were used in revolution counters for steam engines. In 1874, Alexander Atkinson patented a counting register to help track quantities of grain. As the amount of leisure time available to Americans increased, three inventors around 1880 saw fit to patent counters to keep score in games.

By the turn of the century, mechanical revolution counters were incorporated in laboratory apparatus, in factories using engines, in distance measures such as odometers, and in cash registers. Americans manufactured them and imported them from abroad. Government offices bought and made counters to compile statistics, and employers used them to figure out the bills and coins they needed to meet payroll.  Of course counters were incorporated in a wide range of vehicles and meters. Handheld counters are used to this day to count people entering and leaving buildings and on public transit.

References:

D. Baxandall, rev, J. Pugh, Calculating Machines and Instruments, London: Science Museum, 1975, p. 66.

Examples of counting tokens are in the Smithsonian's National Numismatics collection.

This roughly built wooden and metal device is the U.S. patent model for a counter patented by Alexander P. Atkinson of Vermont, Ill., on November 7, 1871. It has an open wooden frame, with a window at the front for viewing the registering wheels.
Description
This roughly built wooden and metal device is the U.S. patent model for a counter patented by Alexander P. Atkinson of Vermont, Ill., on November 7, 1871. It has an open wooden frame, with a window at the front for viewing the registering wheels. The three wheels are mounted on a crosswise shaft, along with a fourth wheel, which drives the others. Lowering a crank on the right side of the frame moves the driving wheel and the rightmost registering wheel one unit back. Returning the crank upright moves the driving but not the registering wheel.
The wheels are wooden. The registering wheels are covered with paper bands around the edge which have the digits marked from 0 to 9. Screws are used as gear teeth in much of the mechanism. The device carries. According to the patent, the machine was intended for use in counting the number of bushels or other measures of grain that passed a given point.
A mark on the front above the window reads: A.P. Atkinson (/) Vermont (/) Ill’s.
Alexander P. Atkinson (1840-1906) lived in Vermont, Ill., and founded the Vermont Loan and Building Association in 1889. He remained President of that bank into the 20th century.
References:
Alexander P. Atkinson, “Improvement in Counting-Registers,” U.S. Patent 120,609, November 7, 1871.
J. S. McCullough, Twelfth Annual Report of the Condition of Building, Loan and Homestead Associations Doing Business in Illinois, Springfield, Illinois: Phillips Brothers, 1903, p. 307.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1874
patentee
Atkinson, Alexander P.
maker
Atkinson, Alexander P.
ID Number
MA.309342
accession number
89797
catalog number
309342
This small U.S. Patent Office model for a counter has the shape of an old-fashioned door key, with a dial protruding from the middle. A screw attached to a nozzle links to a shaft and rotates the dial. The edge of this dial is divided into 100 parts, which are labeled by 10s.
Description
This small U.S. Patent Office model for a counter has the shape of an old-fashioned door key, with a dial protruding from the middle. A screw attached to a nozzle links to a shaft and rotates the dial. The edge of this dial is divided into 100 parts, which are labeled by 10s. A fixed pointer screwed to the middle of the dial indicates its reading. A second nozzle is tied to the object. The object illustrates the patent for “An Improvement in Rotary Devices” (#182,177) taken out by Daniel Davis Jr. and Edward Wright on September 12, 1876. There is no patent model tag.
Daniel Davis Jr. (1844-1919) was the son of Massachusetts instrument maker Daniel Davis (1813-1887). The elder Davis retired from Boston to his home town of Princeton, Mass., in 1852 to farm. Some time after 1870, the younger Daniel Davis moved to Worcester, where he worked as a brass founder and took out a patent for water filters with one Benaiah Fitts.
Edward Wright was born in New York around 1834. He patented an improvement in pickers for looms in September 1867. He received another patent for improvement in self-acting mules for spinning in February 1870. In September 1876 Wright and Davis received the U.S. patent for improvement in rotary measures for which this object is the model.. Both men were then living in Worcester.
References:
Daniel Davis Jr. and Benaiah Fitts, "Improvement in Water-Filters," U.S. Patent 146442, January 13, 1874.
Edward Wright, “Improvement in Pickers for Looms.” U.S. Patent 69880, 16 September 1867.
Edward Wright, “Improvement in Self-Acting Mules for Spinning.” U.S. Patent 99511, 1 February 1870.
Edward Wright and Daniel Davis Jr., “Improvement in Rotary Measures.” U.S. Patent 182177, 12 September 1879.
U.S. Census, 1860, 1870, 1880.
Web site of the Princeton, Mass., Historical Society, http://www.princetonmahistory.org/people-groups/residents/daniel-davis
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1876
date patented
1876-09-12
patentee
Davis, Jr., Daniel
Wright, Edward
ID Number
MA.308942
catalog number
308942
accession number
89797
In the spring of 1877, to pay the interest on the public debt, the state of Virginia passed a law suggested by State Senator Samuel H. Moffett of Harrisonburg.
Description
In the spring of 1877, to pay the interest on the public debt, the state of Virginia passed a law suggested by State Senator Samuel H. Moffett of Harrisonburg. Every liquor dealer and saloon in the state was to be equipped with a so-called Moffett register to record sales of liquor, allowing state tax collectors to know taxes due. This is an example of a Moffett register. Moffett and Otis Dean of Richmond received a patent for the device in 1877.
The counter has a black iron frame with a glass window in the front and a brass crank in the back. Two holes in the base allow the register to be fixed to a counter. Under the window are six dials, each of which can read any digit from 0 to 9. The dials are marked according to the decimal place of the digit. Turning the crank at the back an entire turn rings a bell and increases the setting on the tens dial (the rightmost). On the back is a covered keyhole. The case is locked and there is no key.
A mark inside the window above the dials reads: MOFFETT REGISTER. A mark on the outside of the front reads: ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS. Another mark there reads: No (/) 2872. The dials are labeled from left to right: 1 MILLION, 100 THOUSAND, 10 THOUSAND, 1 THOUSAND, 1 HUNDRED, TEN.
By 1878, use of the Moffett register reportedly was in decline.
References:
Samuel H. Moffett and Otis Dean, “Improvement in Alarm-registers for Use in Bar-rooms, &c.,” U.S. Patent 194,951, September 4, 1877.
“Virginia,” Appleton’s Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1877, ns, vol. 2, New York: Appleton, 1890., pp. 758-762.
“Virginia’s Novel Liquor Tax,” New York Tribune, September 15, 1877, p. 2.
“Decline of the Moffett Register,” Chicago Daily Tribune, December 3, 1878, p. 6.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1877
ID Number
MA.319732
catalog number
319732
accession number
235052
This U.S. patent model for a board for keeping score in the game of cribbage has a wooden base, with six small brass plates attached along each of the sides. Each plate has two rows of five holes.
Description
This U.S. patent model for a board for keeping score in the game of cribbage has a wooden base, with six small brass plates attached along each of the sides. Each plate has two rows of five holes. These two sets of sixty holes are used for keeping score in a single game between two players.
At each end of the base is a smaller plate with four holes. These holes might be used in keeping track of game points in a match of five games. Four brass pins that fit in the holes in the plates are stored behind the brass plates at each end of the base.
At the center are two discs, which represent the patented part of the board. One is numbered clockwise from 0 to 9, the other is numbered counterclockwise. Both rotate counterclockwise. A brass pointer reaches across both discs to point to a digit on each one. The discs are used to keep track of games won. One is probably mounted incorrectly.
Charles B. Wessmann of Newbridge, N.J., patented the invention. U.S. Census records do not list someone by that name living in New Jersey near the time of the patent. There was a Charles B. Wessmann (1843-1888) who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., lived there for much of his life, and worked as a brass finisher. He committed suicide May 31, 1888. Whether this is the same Charles B. Wessmann who took out the patent is unclear.
References:
Charles B. Wessmann, “Improvement in Game-Counters,” U.S. Patent 204404, May 28, 1878. The patent shows both number wheels mounted with digits increasing clockwise.
New York Times, June 1, 1888, p. 1.
U.S. Census records for 1880.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1878
patentee
Wessmann, Charles B.
maker
Wessmann, Charles B.
ID Number
MA.309333
accession number
89797
catalog number
309333
This U.S. Patent Office model consists of four instruments similar to a Russian abacus. Each has a rectangular open wooden box, with metal rods that extend across the box and carry differing numbers of wooden beads. Wooden pieces divide the box into two or more compartments.
Description
This U.S. Patent Office model consists of four instruments similar to a Russian abacus. Each has a rectangular open wooden box, with metal rods that extend across the box and carry differing numbers of wooden beads. Wooden pieces divide the box into two or more compartments. Across the middle of each compartment is a flexible spring. Beads may be moved easily over the spring, but retain their position once moved. Two of the counters are specifically for use with games, one with two players and one with six. Another is divided into two sections for counting dollars and cents. The five rods in this device are numbered 0, 10, 100, 1000 and 10,000. The fourth counter has no wooden divider, and is intended for tallying from 0 to 99999.
A mark on all four parts reads: UNIVERSAL TALLY MFG. Co. A second mark on all four parts reads: WILLIAMSPORT, PA. The first two counters have a mark that reads: RECORD OF GAME. The third part is marked: DOLLARS (/) CENTS. A mark on the final part reads: TALLY.
According to the 1880 U.S. Census, Phillip Orth was born in Germany in about 1847. By 1880 he was living in Williamsport, Pa., with his wife and two sons. He worked as a bookkeeper.
References:
Philip Orth, “Improvement in Game-Counters,” U.S. Patent 203,189, April 30, 1878.
U.S. Census, 1880.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1878
patentee
Orth, Philip
maker
Orth, Philip
Universal Tally Manufacturing Company
ID Number
MA.309320
accession number
89797
catalog number
309320
Counting the number of revolutions of a shaft allowed steamship owners to gauge the distance between ports, helped gas companies measure the quantity of their product sold, and aided engineers seeking to determine when a steam pump would require fuel.
Description
Counting the number of revolutions of a shaft allowed steamship owners to gauge the distance between ports, helped gas companies measure the quantity of their product sold, and aided engineers seeking to determine when a steam pump would require fuel. Combined with a watch, revolution counters allowed one to measure the velocity of any number of machines.
Eugène Deschiens, whose business was active in Paris from 1866 until 1894, was an eminent manufacturer of revolution counters and velocity meters (known also as tachometers). An 1884 article on tachometers reported that his instrument was “so well known we need not describe it.” His devices won prizes at national and international exhibitions. They were used on ships of both the French and the British navies, as well as by a range of other manufacturers.
This small cylindrical instrument has brass sides, a glass top, and a metal bottom painted black. Under the glass are five windows, which show digits. Steel or German silver rods extend from opposite sides of the cylinder. A section of the case contains eight steel pieces that may be used to turn these rods and hence cause the counter to count. One of these has an ivory handle. The pieces are in different shapes, so that they will link to different mechanisms.
A mark inside the glass top read: COMPTEUR (/) SYSTÈME BREVETÉ S.G.D.G. (/) No 701. Another in the same location reads: E. Deschiens (/) Constructeur (/) PARIS.
The wooden case is lined with satin and velvet and partly covered with leather. A mark on the lining of the lid reads: MÉDAILLES de MERITE VIENNE 1873 (/) OR, PLATINE & ARGENT PARIS 1875 (/) MÉCANIQUE de PRÉCISION (/) TÉLÉGRAPHIE & HOROLOGERIE (/) ÉLECTRIQUES (/) E. DESCHIENS (/) 123 Boulevard St Michel (/) PARIS.
References:
E. Deschiens, Compteur Totalisateur, [ca 1875]. This is a trade catalog.
J. E. Deschiens, “Système de compteur à mouvement alternatif ou à piston, dit: Compteur de poche,” Brevet d’invention 159,294, December 20, 1883. A copy is at: http://www.ami19.org/BrevetsFrancais/1883Deschiens/1883Deschiens.pdf.
“Compteur totalisateur de M. E. Deschiens,” Les Mondes, 32 #9, October 30, 1873, pp. 373–374.
“A New Tachometer,” Scientific American Supplement, 18, November 1, 1884, p. 7358.
J. Laffargue, “Les Compteurs et Indicateurs de Nombre de Tours,” La Nature, 22, December 2, 1893, pp. 45–46.
L’Industrie Française des Instruments de Précision, Paris: Syndicat des Constructeurs en Instruments d’Optique & de Précision, 1902. pp. 74–77. This is an advertisement by Deschiens’s successor, Alph. Darras.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1876
maker
Deschiens, Eugene
ID Number
MA.314905
catalog number
314905
accession number
212171

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