Science & Mathematics - Overview
The Museum's collections hold thousands of objects related to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Instruments range from early American telescopes to lasers. Rare glassware and other artifacts from the laboratory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, are among the scientific treasures here. A Gilbert chemistry set of about 1937 and other objects testify to the pleasures of amateur science. Artifacts also help illuminate the social and political history of biology and the roles of women and minorities in science.
The mathematics collection holds artifacts from slide rules and flash cards to code-breaking equipment. More than 1,000 models demonstrate some of the problems and principles of mathematics, and 80 abstract paintings by illustrator and cartoonist Crockett Johnson show his visual interpretations of mathematical theorems.
"Science & Mathematics - Overview" showing 3 items.
Burkhardt Arithmometer
- Description
- This German stepped drum, manually operated, non-printing calculating machine has a brass top painted black and a brass and steel mechanism that fit snugly in a wooden case. Ten German silver levers are moved to set numbers. The operating crank is right of the levers, and an addition & multiplication / subtraction & division lever is to their left. The operating crank folds down so that the lid closes. At the left is a compartment with a slate cover that holds a key and a small box of spare parts. The machine has space for an inkwell, but no inkwell is present.
- Behind the levers is a carriage with a ten-window revolution register and a 20-window result register. Both registers have thumbscrews for setting numbers. Each window of the revolution register shows the digits from 0 to 9 in black and from 1 to 8 in red. A knob on the right side of the machine clears the revolution register and another knob on the left side clears the result register. When these knobs are in use, brass bars extend out the sides of the carriage. Holes for decimal markers are between the levers and between the windows of the registers, but the machine has no decimal markers. A bell sounds when the crank has been turned too often in subtraction so that a negative number results. It is intended especially for use in division.
- Instructions for operating the machine are glued to the inside of the lid. A piece of wood hinged to the back of the machine allows it to be held at an angle. One may slide over a panel in the bottom of the case to reveal the stepped drums. A key fits the lock in the case.
- A mark on the top of the lid and on the center front of the machine reads: BURKHARDT (/) ARITHMOMETER. Another mark on the center front reads: Keuffel & Esser Co. (/) New York (/) Sole Agents. A mark to the left of this reads: GERMANY. The zeroing knobs on the carriage have the patent number: D.R.G.M. No78251. The National Bureau of Standards inventory number stamped on the right edge of the case is 1624 N.B.S. The back right edge of the carriage is marked: 5. This is the usual location of serial numbers for Burkhardt arithmometers, but does not jibe well with other serial numbers of machines in the collections.
- Compare MA*313158, MA*313519, MA*323624 and MA*323597.
- The date of 1903 is assigned on the basis of the accession file.
- References:
- Keuffel & Esser, Catalog, 1899, p. 190. Here Burkhardt machines are offered in 3 sizes (6x7x12, 8x9x16 & 10x11x20) at three prices ($193.25, $241.50, $338.25). This machine is the third type. The machine is not shown in the 1892 Keuffel & Esser catalog. By 1906, K&E was selling the Peerless calculating machine instead.
- Accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1903
- maker
- Erste Glashütter Rechenmaschininfabrik
- ID Number
- MA*313159
- catalog number
- 313159
- accession number
- 177275
- maker number
- 78251
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Brunsviga Model B Calculating Machine
- Description
- This lever-set, non-printing, and manually operated pinwheel calculating machine has a metal housing painted black, a brass and steel mechanism, and nine levers for entering numbers. A steel crank with a wooden handle that extends from the right side of the machine rotates backward (clockwise) for addition and multiplication, and forward (counterclockwise) for subtraction and division.
- A movable carriage at the front of the machine has 13 windows that show dials of the result register on the right, and eight windows for the revolution register on the left. The revolution register has no carry. The digits on the revolution register dial are white for additions and red for subtractions. Holes for decimal markers between digits of the result and revolution registers presently have no markers. Depressing a lever at the front of the machine releases the carriage for shifting. To zero the registers, one rotates wing nuts at the ends of the carriage. The left end of the carriage carries a bell.
- A mark on the front of the machine reads: BRUNSVIGA. A second mark there reads: No 4644. A third mark (part of the Brunsviga trademark) is: G.N.& C.C.a.A. A mark on the left side of the machine reads: Grimme, Natalis & Co.(/) Braunschweig - Brunswick (/) System W.T. Odhner. It includes a list of patents from Germany (64925), Belgium (91812), England (13700). Austria (45538), Hungary (69363); Switzerland (4578), and France (301119 and 303744). The United States is also listed, but no patent date is given. A fifth mark, on a property sticker attached to the back of the carriage reads: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (/) 10248-WB-Z.
- The case has a wooden base and a metal lid painted black, with a leather handle and a place for a lock at the front. A cloth bag with small loose parts is stored with the machine.
- The Weather Bureau of the United States Department of Commerce transferred this machine to the Smithsonian in 1958.
- Reference:
- E. Martin, The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen), trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 109–113.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1902
- maker
- Grimme, Natalis & Co.
- ID Number
- MA*315904
- catalog number
- 315904
- accession number
- 222974
- maker number
- 4644
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
TIM Unitas Calculating Machine
- Description
- By the early 20th century, Germans who had gained experience in the calculating machine industry were opening new companies of their own. In 1907 Ludwig Spitz, an attorney who had represented German calculating machine firms, founded Ludwig Spitz & Co. in Berlin. The company sold improved forms of the arithmometer, particularly using designs of the engineer Robert Rein. These machine sold as the “T.I.M.,” which the company said stood for “Time is Money.” A German firm's choice of an English motto associated with Benjamin Franklin is noteworthy. Spitz was particularly proud of the “Unitas” machine, which united two carriages in one, making it possible to compute both subtotals and grand totals.
- This relatively early example of the Unitas, made of brass and German silver, fits in a polished wooden case. It has eight levers for setting numbers, with windows behind the levers to show the number set up. Below these are the stepped drums, which are not complete cylinders, but only partial and hollow. They appear to be die–cast from a composite metal.
- Behind these is a carriage with a seven-digit revolution counting register and a 12-digit result register. Behind this is a second carriage with a second result register. Metal rods carry sliding decimal markers for each register. The two carriages are held together on the left by a mechanism that can detach the back carriage from the front one.
- Left of the digit levers is a lever for setting the machine to addition/multiplication or subtraction/division. When the lever and an adjacent smaller lever are both in the add position, both carriages show results of addition. When the lever is in the upper position and the adjacent lever is in the middle position, the first carriage shows addition and the back one subtraction. A crank for operating machine is at the right front. To the left is a small glass bottle for ink, held in its own compartment.
- In the lid of the case of the machine is a table for converting shillings and pence to decimal fractions of an English pound and another table of decimal equivalents. The case can be locked but the key is missing. The bottom of the machine is hinged at the front and may be lifted to sit on metal legs at the back.
- A mark on the left front of the machine reads: Ludwig Spitz & Co. (/) TIM (/) TIME IS MONEY (/) TRADE MARK. A mark in front of the setting levers reads: Rechenmaschinenfabrik LUDWIG SPITZ & Co., G. m. b. H., Berlin. A mark stamped on the right edge of the case reads: 0853. A mark stamped on the back edge of the case reads: 367. A mark on the front edge of the front carriage reads: 0724. A mark on the front edge of the back carriage reads: 0557.
- This machine comes from the collection of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company of Chicago.
- From 1909 the Unitas was produced with a metal stand rather than the wooden case.
- References:
- E. Martin, The Calculating Machines (die Rechenmaschinen), trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 194–196.
- The Unitas, New York: Oscar Muller & Co., 1908.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1908
- maker
- Ludwig Spitz & Co.
- ID Number
- MA*323616
- catalog number
- 323616
- accession number
- 250163
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center