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.

Search term: *:* Date: 1920s Clear All

Machine A Calculer Rébo

By the 1920s, companies in the United States, Germany, and France manufactured inexpensive notched band adders. A firm in Marseille, France, under the direction of engineer E. Reybaud, sold this device from 1922 until at least 1930. This example was from the collection of L.
Description
By the 1920s, companies in the United States, Germany, and France manufactured inexpensive notched band adders. A firm in Marseille, France, under the direction of engineer E. Reybaud, sold this device from 1922 until at least 1930. This example was from the collection of L. Leland Locke.
The metal adder and stylus fit into a red paper container. The adder has nine columns of digits and a zeroing bar at the top. Instructions indicate that the device came in two models that sold for 25 and 40 francs. This was sufficiently inexpensive that every member of a commercial firm could have such an adder.
Reference: “The Register,” Typewriter Topics, vol. 76 (September 1930), p.14.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1925
maker
Reybaud, E.
ID Number
MA.155183.25
catalog number
155183.25
accession number
155183

Pro Calculo! Adder

Adders like this one were designed to help consumers with addition, but did not actually add automatically. The surface of the metal instrument has seven slots that reveal part of seven flat notched metal bands below.
Description
Adders like this one were designed to help consumers with addition, but did not actually add automatically. The surface of the metal instrument has seven slots that reveal part of seven flat notched metal bands below. To enter a digit, one pulls down a band with the metal stylus. The hooked shape of the slots exposed a notch in an adjacent band, making it possible to carry or to borrow digits. This adder also has a zeroing bar at the base. It fits into a dark brown paper case.
Instruments of this type appeared as early as the 1600s, and sold commercially from the 1890s into the 1970s. They sold in Germany from the invention of the “Trick” in 1911. Otto Meuter patented a variation on this device that sold as the Arithma from 1920. Meuter received a fixed fee for each Arithma produced. With inflation, this sum soon was minute.
Meuter decided to form another company with J. Bergmann and to market adders known as the Pro Calculo! and the Correntator. These sold widely in the 1920s. For example, the trade magazine Typewriter Topics reported that 15,000 ProCalculo! adders sold in 1926. In 1928, the product was renamed the Produx.
References: Typewriter Topics, 59, February, 1925, p. 84. One model, offered by Pittsburgh Typewriter & Supply, sold for $3.00.
Typewriter Topics, 67 (November, 1927), p. 50-51. New style adders introduced.
Martin Reese, Historische Buerowelt, 43 (September 1995).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1925
maker
Pittsburgh Typewriter and Supply Company
ID Number
MA.155183.26
catalog number
155183.26
accession number
155183

Baby Calculator Adder

The orange, black, and tan paper box contains a black and gold-colored metal instrument, instructions on pink paper, and a metal stylus.
Description
The orange, black, and tan paper box contains a black and gold-colored metal instrument, instructions on pink paper, and a metal stylus. The device has seven columns for addition.
The Baby Calculator was a handheld adder manufactured by the Calculator Machine Company of Chicago from at least 1925 into the 1940s. The Tavella Sales Company of New York City distributed this example. According to the box, it sold for $2.50 in the United States and $3.00 in Canada and other foreign countries. It has hooks at the top of each column for carrying in addition, but none at the bottom to assist in borrowing in subtraction.
References:
Typewriter Topics (March 1925), 59:76.
Popular Mechanics (January, 1935), p. 128A; vol. 73 (March, 1940), p. 143A; vol. 83 (February, 1945), p. 192. A new design was introduced in 1945. See Popular Mechanics, April, 1945, p. 202.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1925
distributor
Tavella Sales Company
maker
Calculator Machine Company
ID Number
MA.155183.27
catalog number
155183.27
accession number
155183

The Little Adding Wonder

This notched band adder has a wooden framework. Six paper bands move in six columns, showing the result in six windows. A paper sheet glued to the front has numerals and the name of the device, as well as cutouts to create the columns.
Description
This notched band adder has a wooden framework. Six paper bands move in six columns, showing the result in six windows. A paper sheet glued to the front has numerals and the name of the device, as well as cutouts to create the columns. A sheet glued to the back gives instructions. The columns widen at the top for carrying in addition and at the bottom for borrowing in subtraction. The object came to the Smithsonian from the collection of Felt and Tarrant Manufacturing Company. The date assigned is quite arbitrary.
Reference: P. Kidwell, “Adders Made and Used in the United States,” Rittenhouse, 1994, 8:78-96.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1925
distributor
Adding Wonder Manufacturers
maker
Adding Wonder Manufacturers
ID Number
MA.323626
catalog number
323626
accession number
250163

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