Maker Index

An image featuring several calculating machines from the collection.

Calculating machines were known by the names of inventor (Baldwin, Barbour, Bolleé, Grant), famous mathematicians (Archimedes), desired characteristics (Millionaire, Rapid), and investors (Monroe). The following list makes it easier to see related products.  Trade names are used instead of company names as these show up most frequently on objects.

Search term: *:* Date: 1880s Clear All

Thomas Arithmometer

This stepped drum manual non-printing calculating machine has a brass and steel mechanism held in a wooden case. A stepped drum is under each of ten levers that are pushed back to enter digits.
Description
This stepped drum manual non-printing calculating machine has a brass and steel mechanism held in a wooden case. A stepped drum is under each of ten levers that are pushed back to enter digits. The brass plate that covers the drums and top of the machine has slits in it to allow these and other parts to move. The edges of the slits next to digit levers are numbered from 0 to 9 to indicate the digit entered. A lever to the left of these is either pushed back for addition and multiplication or forward for subtraction and division. Further to the left is a compartment that holds the key to the machine. The lid is missing. Right of the digit levers is a crank for operating the machine. It has an ivory handle, which bends down to the left when not in use so that the lid closes.
Behind the levers is a movable carriage with 11 windows for the revolution register and 20 windows for the result register. Rotating a black knob on the right of the carriage zeros the revolution register, and rotating a knob on the left of the carriage zeros the result register. Rotating thumbscrews on the carriage enter numbers in both the revolution and the result registers. Decimal markers would fit in holes between the windows of the registers, but the markers are missing. The case is painted black and the lid is shaped so that it fits in holes in the sides of the case that allow for motion of the zeroing mechanisms in the carriage.
A mark at the center reads: THOMAS (...) INVENTEUR S’adresser (/) 44, RUE DE CHATEAUDUN, 44 (/) PARIS (/) No 1994 (/) EXPOSITION, 16. RUE DE LA TOUR DES DAMES. A mark under this reads: Imported by Jas W. Queen & Co. (/) PHILADA. A mark on the left reads: ADDON ET MULTON (/) SOUSTON ET DIVISON. The top of the case reads: Arithmomètre.
This machine came to the Smithsonian as a transfer from another U.S. government agency on March 5, 1968. It probably was from the National Bureau of Standards.
Compare to MA.335215, a very similar machine with serial number 1068 that dates from about 1873.
No references to the Thomas arithmometer appear in James W. Queen & Co. catalogs for 1874, 1877, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, or 1887.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1883
maker
Thomas, Charles Xavier
ID Number
1987.0857.01
catalog number
328869
accession number
1987.0857
maker number
1994

Grant Improved Calculating Machine Model

This is the U.S. Patent Office model for a lever-set non-printing barrel-type calculating machine patented by George B. Grant of Maplewood, Massachusetts on August 16, 1887. It represents an improvement on machines Grant had patented July 16,1872 (U.S.
Description
This is the U.S. Patent Office model for a lever-set non-printing barrel-type calculating machine patented by George B. Grant of Maplewood, Massachusetts on August 16, 1887. It represents an improvement on machines Grant had patented July 16,1872 (U.S. Patent 129,335) and April 29, 1873 (U.S. Patent 138245), and on the machine he exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.
The model has a rectangular wooden base. The frame is made up of two plates at either end of the base connected by metal shafts. The mechanism has a large upper cylinder and a small lower cylinder linked by gears of equal size. Fifteen centimeters (6”) of the upper cylinder has a metal collar that can be set at any of eight positions on the cylinder. This collar supports eight movable rings, each of which represents a digit entered. Each ring has an adding pin and a stud on it that may be set at any of 10 positions, labeled by the digits from 0 to 9.
The lower cylinder has ten recording wheels on it, each provided with 30 teeth. Paper loops numbered from 0 to 9 three times run around each wheel. On a bar between the cylinders is a row of ten spring claws, one for each recording wheel. If a claw is pushed down, it engages the gear of the recording wheel, causing it to rotate. Studs on the wheel lead to carrying by engaging the next claw over.
The model has no mechanism for displaying the multiplier or multiplicand.
This object was collected by L. Leland Locke and displayed at the Museums of the Peaceful Arts in New York City before coming to the Smithsonian.
George B. Grant (1849–1917) was born in Maine, studied for three terms at the Chandler Scientific School of Dartmouth College, and entered the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University in 1869, graduating in 1873. As an undergraduate, he became interested in computing devices, publishing an article on a new form of difference engine in 1871. During this time, he also took out two patents for calculating machines. Grant’s study of computing devices also led him to take a great interest in improved gears. He formed a total of five gear works in various American cities, and wrote treatises on the subject.
For a related object, see MA.310645.
According to L. Leland Locke, the models for Grant’s first two calculating machine patents were not preserved.
References:
George B. Grant, “Improvement in Calculating Machines,” U.S. Patent 138245 (April 29, 1873).
George B. Grant, “On a New Difference Engine,” American Journal of Science, ser. 3, vol. 2 (August 1871), pp. 113–117.
George B. Grant, “A New Calculating Machine,” American Journal of Science, ser. 3, vol. 8 (1874), pp. 277–284.
L. Leland Locke, “George Barnard Grant,” Dictionary of American Biography, vol. 7, New York: Scribners, 1931, pp. 487–488.
Robert K. Otnes, “Calculators by George B. Grant,” Historische Buerowelt, no. 19, October 1987, pp. 15–17.
George B. Grant, “Calculating-Machine,” U. S. Patent 368528 (August 16, 1887).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1887
inventor
Grant, George B.
maker
Grant, George B.
ID Number
MA.311940
catalog number
311940
accession number
155183

Payen Arithmometer

This stepped drum manual non-printing calculating machine has a brass and steel mechanism that fits snugly in a wooden case. Six levers, each with a stepped drum beneath it, move back to set digits.
Description
This stepped drum manual non-printing calculating machine has a brass and steel mechanism that fits snugly in a wooden case. Six levers, each with a stepped drum beneath it, move back to set digits. The brass plate that covers the drums and the top of the machine has slits in it to allow these and other parts to move. The edges of the slits next to digit levers are numbered from 0 to 9 to indicate the digit entered. A lever to the left of these is either pushed back for addition and multiplication or forward for subtraction and division. Further to the left is a glass-covered compartment. Right of the digit levers is the operating crank. It has an ivory handle, which bends down so that the lid would close. The lid is missing.
Behind the levers is a movable carriage that can be set in seven different positions. It has seven windows for the revolution register and 12 windows for the result register. The revolution counter register turns clockwise for subtraction and division and counterclockwise for addition and multiplication. Rotating a black knob on the right of the carriage zeros the revolution register, and rotating a knob on the left zeros the result register. Turning the thumbscrews enters numbers in both the revolution and the result registers. Between the windows are holes for decimal markers, although there are no markers. The bottom of the case is covered with red felt. Holes in the sides of the case permit motion of the zeroing mechanisms in the carriage.
A mark on the center front reads: ARITHMOMETRE (/) No 2345 (/) L. PAYEN (/) PARIS (/) 44, RUE DE CHATEAUDUN, 44. A mark to the left of this reads: 16. A tag on the inside of the bottom of the case reads: G.F. REDFERN (/) SOLE AGENT FOR (/) ENGLAND,AMERICA (/) AND THE (/) COLONIES (/) SOUTH ST FINSBURY LONDON.
Charles Xavier Thomas first envisioned a calculating machine in the 1820s, and by the mid-19th century was manufacturing commercial products. When Thomas died in 1870, his business was taken over by his longtime associate L. Payen. Payen continued to sell arithmometers under Thomas’s name until the mid-1880s. This is a relatively early example of a machine manufactured by Payen under his own name. Payen later introduced a rather different form of stepped drum machine.
This example was part of the collections of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company of Chicago and its successor firm, Victor Comptometer Corporation.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1887
maker
L. Payen
Payen, L.
ID Number
MA.323656
catalog number
323656
accession number
250163
maker number
2345

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