Notched Band Adders

A collection of adders including a Magic-Brain Calculator, an Exactus Mini-Add, a Troncet Arithmographe, and a Locke Adder.

Building on ideas of Perrault and de Caze, in an instrument patented in Russia in 1847 Kummer replaced the wooden rods on an adder with metal bands notched on each side. Kummer’s idea was adopted by the Frenchman Troncet, who published what he called an Arithmographe in the 1890s. Adders with notched bands became the most common form of the instrument sold in the United States in the 20th century.

These stylus-operated instruments generally had a crook at the top of each column, to allow one to move adjacent bands in carrying (or, in some cases, borrowing) a digit. They were manufactured around the world. Occasionally, notched band adders were combined with a slide rule, to ease multiplication and division. A special form of the instrument, designed for computer programmers, aided calculations in base 60 rather than usual decimal arithmetic.

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Magic-Brain Calculator

This adder has a red plastic back and a gray steel front. There are six columns for entering numbers with a stylus, and a seventh notched band to record carries to a seventh digit. A set of seven openings above the bracket-shaped columns of the adder displays the result.
Description
This adder has a red plastic back and a gray steel front. There are six columns for entering numbers with a stylus, and a seventh notched band to record carries to a seventh digit. A set of seven openings above the bracket-shaped columns of the adder displays the result. A zeroing bar is across the top. The plastic is shaped to hold the steel stylus.
The object is marked: MAGIC-BRAIN [/] CALCULATOR; ADD + [/] SUBTRACT - [/] MULTIPLY X; and: JAPAN. Instructions are stored separately. Compare to 1987.0375.01.
References: Popular Science, February, 1962, vol. 180, p. 20. This ad indicates that the Magic-Brain Calculator cost $.98 and was distributed from the Sunset Building, Beverly Hills, California.
P. Kidwell, “Adders Made and Used in the United States,” Rittenhouse, 8, (1994): pp. 78-96.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960
distributor
Sunset House
ID Number
1993.3058.01
nonaccession number
1993.3058
catalog number
1993.3058.01

Magic-Brain Calculator

From at least the 19th century, people have been intrigued by the ability of computing devices to assist in mental processes.
Description
From at least the 19th century, people have been intrigued by the ability of computing devices to assist in mental processes. The name of the “Magic-Brain Calculator” suggests this enthusiasm, although the capabilities of the instrument were quite modest.
The Japanese-made notched band adder has a red plastic back, a silver-colored metal cover plate, and six fasteners around the edges that hold it together. Six bracket-shaped columns allow for borrowing and carrying. A row of seven holes above the columns shows the result. The bands fit rather loosely in the channels of the plastic back. A zeroing bar runs across the top and a stylus attahes to the side. The object is marked: MAGIC-BRAIN CALCULATOR. On the back It is marked: MADE IN JAPAN. For instructions, see 1987.0375.02.
References: Popular Science, February, 1962, vol. 180, p. 20. This ad indicates that at that time the Magic-Brain Calculator cost $.98 and was distributed from the Sunset Building, Beverly Hills, California.
P. Kidwell, “Adders Made and Used in the United States,” Rittenhouse, 8, (1994): pp. 78-96.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1962
date distributed
1962
distributor
Sunset House
ID Number
1987.0375.01
catalog number
1987.0375.01
accession number
1987.0375

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