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 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 small and incomplete model from the U.S. Patent Office well illustrates the technology used to store information about patent models. Attached to the knob by red tape are two labels. The smaller tag records the entry of the model into the office on March 17, 1881.
Description
This small and incomplete model from the U.S. Patent Office well illustrates the technology used to store information about patent models. Attached to the knob by red tape are two labels. The smaller tag records the entry of the model into the office on March 17, 1881. It indicates in pen the name of the inventor, Leroy B. Haff, the type of the invention (a game counter) and the date received. The front of the tag also is marked in pencil “issued.” The back of this tag also has the pen marks S 28482, 23 Div, and 84/1044.
A second tag, attached to the model by the same piece of red tape, is the patent tag. It has what appears to be a form number, as well as space for the patent number (242635), the patentee (here spelled Le Roy B. Haff), the subject of the patent (Game-Counter), and the date patented (June 7, 1881). Glued to the back of the tag is a printed summary of the drawing and claims. This is heavily damaged.
Haff’s invention was a small counter that recorded both points scored in a card game such as whist and the number of games won. Only the upper part of the model has survived.
The inventor, Leroy (or Le Roy) B. Haff of Englewood, N.J., was no doubt the silversmith Leroy B. Haff (1841-1893) who lived in Engelwood and was a partner in the New York firm of silversmiths, Dominick & Haff. He also took out a patent for a corkscrew in 1889.
References:
Le Roy B. Haff, “Game-Counter,” U. S. Patent 242,635, June 7, 1881.
Le Roy B. Haff, “Pocket-Corkscrew,” U S. Patent 356936, February 1, 1887.
U. S. Census, 1880.
“The Death of Leroy B. Haff,” The Jeweler’s Circular and Horological Review, vol. 22, #9, September 27, 1893, p. 13.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1881
patentee
Haff, Le Roy B.
maker
Haff, Le Roy B.
ID Number
1987.0107.02
accession number
1987.0107
catalog number
1987.0107.02

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