American Adding Machine, Model 0

Description:

This lever-set non-printing adding machine has an etched steel case, painted black and resting on four rubber feet. Seven levers move in circular arcs between slots in the case. The case is painted along the edges of the slots with digits from 0 to 9 (large and in black and white) and 9 to 0 (small and in red). The large digits are used in addition, the small ones in subtraction. The cover has a corrugation or depression for each digit. Digits are set by placing the index finger in the corresponding depression and raising the lever by the thumb until it is stopped by the finger. They are entered by moving down a metal handle with a wooden knob on the right side. If no number has been entered, moving the knob zeros the machine. The result appears in seven windows above the levers. Another handle on the right side zeros digits set incorrectly.

The machine is marked on a plaque attached to the front: AMERICAN (/) ADDING MACHINE (/) AMERICAN CAN COMPANY (/) ADDING MACHINE DIVISION (/) CHICAGO, ILL. No 23096. It is also marked there: PAT. AUG. 27, 1912 (/) OTHER PATS. PEND.

Compare MA.323606.

By 1924, American adding machines were made by the American Adding Machine Company of Chicago.

Reference:

J. H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, p. 27, 518.

Date Made: 1916

Maker: American Can Company Adding Machine Division

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: Illinois, Chicago

Subject: Mathematics

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Mathematics, Adding Machines, Science & Mathematics

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Gift of Colonial Life Insurance Company of America

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: MA.333921Accession Number: 304369Maker Number: 23096Catalog Number: 333921

Object Name: adding machine

Physical Description: rubber (overall material)steel (overall material)wood (overall material)aluminum (overall material)Measurements: overall: 23.5 cm x 20.4 cm x 24.2 cm; 9 1/4 in x 8 1/32 in x 9 17/32 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-10c6-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_690304

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