American Adding Machine, Model 0
American Adding Machine, Model 0
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- This lever set non-printing manually operated adding machine has an etched steel case painted black. Seven levers move in circular arcs between slots in the case. The case is painted along the edges of the slots with the digits from 0 to 9 (large and in black and white) and 9 to 0 (small and in red). The large digits are used for addition, the small ones for subtraction. A corrugation or depression in the cover is found at the place of 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. The result appears in seven windows above the levers. Rotating a knob on the left side of the machine transforms the action of the handle from addition to zeroing. Another handle on the right side zeros digits set incorrectly. The machine has four rubber feet.
- The machine is marked on a plaque attached to the front: AMERICAN (/) ADDING MACHINE (/) AMERICAN CAN COMPANY (/) ADDING MACHINE DIVISION (/) CHICAGO, ILL. No 1153. It is also marked there: PAT. AUG. 27, 1912 (/) OTHER PATS. PEND.
- By mid-1922, American Adding Machines were made by the American Adding Machine Company of Chicago. Compare MA.333921.
- References:
- J. H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, pp. 27, 518.
- Jervis R. Harbeck, "Adding-Machine," U.S. Patent 1,036,614, August 27, 1912.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- adding machine
- date made
- 1914
- maker
- American Can Company Adding Machine Division
- place made
- United States: Illinois, Chicago
- Physical Description
- rubber (overall material)
- steel (overall material)
- wood (overall material)
- aluminum (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 20.2 cm x 19 cm x 24 cm; 7 15/16 in x 7 15/32 in x 9 7/16 in
- ID Number
- MA.323606
- accession number
- 250163
- maker number
- 1153
- catalog number
- 323606
- Credit Line
- Gift of Victor Comptometer Corporation
- subject
- Mathematics
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Adding Machines
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
Comments
I have this adding machine, so it is wonderful to read about it. It came from a local manufacturer here in Bristol, CT.
Lisa Dittman
Tue, 2018-09-04 08:20
Michael O'Brien
Wed, 2021-02-17 16:59