Wizard Calculating Machine
- Description
- This notched band adder has a metal front and a black plastic back. There are eight bracket-shaped columns, nine display windows, a zeroing bar across the top, and a metal stylus that fits in the side (part of the plastic holder has broken off). Between each of the columns there are two rows of numbers, one for addition and the other for subtraction. The adder comes in a blue plastic case.
- According to documentation received with the device, it was distributed by Thoreson, Inc., of New York, N.Y. It is described as “the new 1959 WIZARD with the Magic Reckoner.” The Magic Reckoner was a multiplication table. The machine was made in West Germany.
- This example was given to the Museum by Joan Pearson Watkins, the wife of Smithsonian curator C. Malcolm Watkins. She held various honorary curatorial positions at the National Museum of American History from the 1960s through the 1980s. Compare this object to MA*336448.
- References: “Wizard Calculating machine,” 1987.0787.02.
- Popular Science, vol. 174, February, 1959, p. 18. Not identical to adder shown in that advertisement.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- adder
- date made
- ca 1960
- distributor
- Thorenson, Inc.
- Physical Description
- plastic (overall material)
- metal (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: .5 cm x 10.5 cm x 15.5 cm; 3/16 in x 4 1/8 in x 6 3/32 in
- place made
- Germany
- place distributed
- United States: New York, New York
- ID Number
- 1980.0787.01
- accession number
- 1980.0787
- catalog number
- 1980.0787.01
- subject
- Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Adder
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Adder
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Joan Pearson Watkins
- Additional Media
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