Computers & Business Machines

• 

  Pantograph Sold by the Frederick Post Company, Model 1495

  Description

  A pantograph is an instrument used to duplicate drawings, at different scales if need be. This example consists of four wooden arms held together with pins and a screw-eye with a wooden anchor support under one arm. Two metal screw-eyes are placed in holes which are numbered from 1 to 10. There is a tracer point in one arm, but there no longer is a pencil point.

  A mark stamped on one of the wooden bars reads: 1495 (/) POSTS. Below this is stamped an image of an eagle clutching a shield that is stamped P. This trademark appeared on the first page of the Frederick Post Company Catalog in 1903. By 1921, another trademark was used.

  The pantograph is number 1495 in the catalog of The Frederick Post Company. The company was started by Frederick Post (1862-1936), a native of Hamburg who emigrated to the United States in 1885 and soon settled in Chicago. By the time of the 1900 U.S. Census, he was a manufacturer of artist's materials there. Post imported drawing instruments and slide rules as well as manufacturing them. Whether his firm made this pantograph is not known.

  The instrument is from the estate of the American inventor of tabulating machines Herman Hollerith, Jr. In 1889, Hollerith introduced a device for punching cards for tabulating machines that was called a pantograph card punch. This pantograph dates from after that invention.

  For information about the pantograph card punch, see MA.312896.

  References:

  U. S. Census 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930.

  Catalogs of the Frederick Post Company.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1903-1922

  ID Number

  1977.0114.04

  accession number

  1977.0114

  catalog number

  335636

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Comptometer Model J With Operator's Lock

  Description

  This full keyboard key-driven non-printing adding machine has eight columns of keys. These are colored white and green, with digits and complementary digits. Keys for odd digits are concave, those for even ones are flat. Key stems become taller going from front to back. The mechanism has a steel cover painted brown. Decimal markers, number wheels, and subtraction levers are at the front of the machine, and a zeroing crank is on the right side. The holes showing the nine number wheels are covered with clear plastic. A red button above the keyboard on the right, and a black knob with an arrow on it is above the keyboard on the left.

  The machine is marked to the left of the keyboard with serial number J279,961. It is marked across the front of the machine: Comptometer. It is marked on a metal plaque on top of the machine in back of the keyboard: TRADE COMPTOMETER MARK. It is also marked there with a series of patent dates, the last of which is: NOV.2.20. It was received with a metal tag that reads: 14.

  The Model J Comptometer was introduced by Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company of Chicago in 1926. Improved design and construction reduced the effort of operating the keys, compared to earlier models. This model also featured a operator’s lock, which locked the Comptometer so that new data could not be entered when a calculation was entered. Rotating the black knob so that the arrow points to the front locked the machine. This example came from the collection of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company, and was given to the Smithsonian by the successor company, Victor Comptometer Corporation.

  References: U.S. Patent 1,927,856 (granted September 26, 1933).

  Felt & Tarrant, Accession Journal, 1991.3107.06.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1926

  maker

  Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company

  ID Number

  MA.323644

  maker number

  J279,961

  catalog number

  323644

  accession number

  250163

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Comptometer Study Model 520 Series (?) Adding Machine Section

  Description

  This is a model of a section of a Comptometer. It has a single column of white plastic numeral keys. Alternate keys are concave (odd digits) and flat (even digits). Left of the number keys are two red keys. One is marked: UNIVERSAL (/) KEY (/) DRIVE. The other is marked: INDIVIDUAL (/) KEY (/) DRIVE. The section of a metal case under the keys is painted brown. The mechanism is steel. The model has no numeral wheels, no zeroing lever, no base, and no cover.

  During the late 1920s, J. A. V. Turck of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company worked on inventing an adding machine that could either be driven by striking individual keys (have an individual key drive, in his language), or by setting keys and then driving them simultaneously (having a universal key drive, in his language). This object relates to that effort. Comptometers had traditionally used individual key drive.

  References:

  U.S. Patent 1869872, granted August 2, 1932.

  Felt & Tarrant, Accession Journal, #134, 135, 136, 150.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1927

  maker

  Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company

  ID Number

  MA.323640

  catalog number

  323640

  accession number

  250163

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Spectrometer

  Description

  According to the maker, this sturdy brass instrument on a black iron base was “designed to meet the demand for a high class spectrometer for use in college and technical laboratories.” The horizontal circle is 15 cm diameter, graduated on silver 1’ and read by verniers and microscopes to 20” of arc. A brass tag reads “WM. GAERTNER & CO. / MAKERS / CHICAGO.”

  Ref: Wm. Gaertner & Co., Optical Instruments (Chicago, 1920), pp. 1-2.

  Wm. Gaertner & Co. ad in Science 56 (Dec. 29, 1922): xiii.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1900-1920

  maker

  Gaertner

  ID Number

  PH.334638

  catalog number

  334638

  accession number

  312090

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Victor Adding Machine

  Description

  This full-keyboard, printing adding machine has a steel frame painted black and green There are eight columns of color-coded black and white metal keys with digits written on paper and covered with clear plastic (the keys resemble those on early typewriters). Complementary digits are indicated on the keys. The total appears in eight glass-covered metal windows over number dials at the front of the machine. There are total and non-add keys left of the number keys and a repeat key on the right. The total key also clears the machine. A metal crank with a wooden handle on the right of the machine operates it. Behind the keyboard is a two-colored ribbon, printing mechanism, and fixed narrow carriage. There are nine type bars, eight for digits and one for special characters. There is a serrated edge for tearing off the paper tape.

  The machine is marked on the front and behind the keyboard: VICTOR. It is marked on the back: PATENTED (/) JUNE 20,1919 - APRIL 13th,1920 (/) MFD. BY (/) VICTOR ADDING MACHINE CO. (/) CHICAGO, U.S.A. (/) OTHER PATENTS PENDING. The serial number, on a metal tag attached to the bottom of the machine, is 24843.

  This adding machine was purchased in 1922 and used until 1982 by Samuel Bernstein in his capacity as Secretary-Treasurer of Wilner Branch 367 of Workmen’s Circle. Workmen’s Circle was a fraternal organization organized about 1900 to promote self-help among Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Mr. Bernstein was 95 years old when he relinquished his position.

  This model sold for $100 in 1924.

  References:

  J. H. McCarthy, American Digest of Business Machines, 1924, p. 59, 543.

  Accession file.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1923

  maker

  Victor Adding Machine Company

  ID Number

  1982.0475.01

  catalog number

  1982.0475.01

  accession number

  1982.0475

  maker number

  24843

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Sheets, Response to an Inquiry about the Michelson Harmonic Analyzer

  Description

  This letter , written Apriil 7, 1928, is in response to one from Prof. James W. Glover of the University of Michigan requesting information about the Michelson harmonic analyzer.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1928

  maker

  Gaertner, William

  ID Number

  1987.0705.06

  accession number

  1987.0705

  catalog number

  1987.0705.06

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Dietzgen 736B Bow Compass with Pencil Point

  Description

  This steel and German silver instrument has a needle point on one leg and a holder for a pencil lead on the other. The handle has vertical ridges above a single line of raised metal dots. The width of the compass is adjusted with a pin through the legs and a wheel around the pin between the legs. Additional thumbscrews allow adjusting of the needle and pencil points. The instrument appears to be a Federal Bow Pencil, model number 736B, advertised in 1926 by the Eugene Dietzgen Company of Chicago.

  Reference: Catalog of Eugene Dietzgen Co., 12th ed. (Chicago, 1926), 60, 74.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1926

  maker

  Eugene Dietzgen Company

  ID Number

  1981.0933.21

  accession number

  1981.0933

  catalog number

  1981.0933.21

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  American Adding Machine Model 4

  Description

  This lever-set printing adding machine is manually operated. It has a plain steel case painted black. Seven levers that move in circular arcs between slots in the front of 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 in addition, and the small ones in subtraction. A corrugation or depression in the cover marks 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 the red clear key to the left of the levers is pressed down, moving this knob zeros the machine.

  The result appears in eight windows above the levers. Another handle, on the left side, zeros digits set incorrectly (this handle is not screwed in). The printing mechanism at the back top of the machine prints up to eight digits by striking a black and red ribbon. There is no paper tape. A loose metal piece is painted black. There are four rubber feet.

  The machine is marked on the front: AMERICAN (/) ADDING MACHINE (/) MODEL 4 (/) AMERICAN CAN COMPANY (/) PAT. AUGUST 27, 1912 (/) OTHER PATENTS PENDING CHICAGO, ILL. It is marked below the levers: PAY ROLL DISTRIBUTION - SEE INSTRUCTIONS. It is marked below the windows, at the top of the machine; AMERICAN. It is marked on the bottom: MODEL FOUR (/) NO-43021.

  Compare 1986.0894.01. The American adding machine model 4 was made from September 1917 to May 1922, with serials numbers between 22,000 and 75,200.

  According to donor Homer A. Walkup, this machine was used by his father, also named Homer A. Walkup, when he was a physician in Mt. Hope, West Virginia. Dr. Walkup acquired it in about 1920 for use in a cooperative grocery store intended as an alternative to the coal company’s store. The store lasted only about six to eight months. Formation of the store came at a time of labor trouble in West Virginia, in the era of the Battle of Blair Mountain. Dr. Walkup was enjoined by court order from going on company property, including company-owned housing. He successfully fought the court order and resumed house calls.

  References:

  J. H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, p. 27, 518. By 1924, American adding machines were made by the American Adding Machine Company of Chicago.

  Accession file.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1920

  maker

  American Can Company

  ID Number

  1986.0894.01

  accession number

  1986.0894

  catalog number

  1986.0894.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Comptometer Model J

  Description

  In 1927 officials at Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company of Chicago learned that rival Burroughs Adding Machine Company of Detroit had one of its recent machines on exhibit at the U.S. National Museum (as the Smithsonian’s museum was then called). They offered to supply the museum with an example of their latest adding machine, the Model J Comptometer, and to construct a section of the device for display. The museum accepted the offer, and received both this Comptometer and a related model.

  This machine has a brown metal case and eight columns of green and off-white color-coded plastic-covered keys. Odd numbered keys are concave, even numbered keys flat. Complementary digits are indicated on the keys. The first key pressed after the machine has been zeroed rings a bell. There are numbered decimal markers, subtraction levers, and a row of nine windows at the front to indicate the result shown on number wheels below. A zeroing crank is on the right. There is a red key at the back of the keyboard on the right.

  The machine is marked on the front and back of the case: Comptometer. It his serial number marked to the left of the keyboard near the front: J264527. A metal tag behind the keyboard reads in part: TRADE COMPTOMETER MARK. It also is marked with several patent dates. The last is: Nov.2.20.

  For a related object, see 309394.

  Reference:

  Accession file.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1926

  maker

  Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company

  ID Number

  MA.309393

  accession number

  98776

  maker number

  J264527

  catalog number

  309393

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Baby Calculator Adder

  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

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Adding Machine Section. Comptometer Model J

  Description

  In 1927 officials at Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company of Chicago learned that rival Burroughs Adding Machine Company of Detroit had one of its recent machines on exhibit at the U.S. National Museum (as the Smithsonian’s museum was then called). They offered to supply the museum with an example of their latest adding machine, the Model J Comptometer, and to construct a section of the device for display. The museum accepted the offer, and received both a Comptometer and this model.

  The section has three columns of keys with yellow (two right columns) and green keys. Complementary digits are indicated on the keys. There also is one red key. Two numeral wheels are at the front, and a zeroing crank with wooden handle is on the side. Part of the top is steel, painted brown, and the rest of the casing is glass and allows one to see the mechanism from the sides. The mechanism is metal. A bell rings when the dials are cleared. Four rubber feet are screwed in place.

  For related object, see 309393.

  Reference:

  Accession file.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1928

  maker

  Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company

  ID Number

  MA.309394

  catalog number

  309394

  accession number

  98776

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Dietzgen 738C Bow Compass with Pen Point

  Description

  This steel instrument has a needle point on one leg and a pen point on the other. A cross-hatched handle is attached to a ring, which in turn is attached to the legs. A screw goes through both legs, with the nut for setting the compass at a desired width outside the leg with the needle point. Additional thumbscrews allow adjusting of the needle and pen points.

  The instrument appears to be a Champion Bow Pen, model number 738C, advertised in 1926 by the Eugene Dietzgen Company of Chicago. The leg with the needle point has handwriting: P M LARSEN. Engraved on the other leg is the word EXCELLO and the Dietzgen logo.

  Reference: Catalog of Eugene Dietzgen Co., 12th ed. (Chicago, 1926), 59, 74.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1926

  maker

  Eugene Dietzgen Company

  ID Number

  1981.0933.22

  accession number

  1981.0933

  catalog number

  1981.0933.22

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Autopoint Mechanical Pencil

  Description

  This 5-3/4" black plastic and chrome-plated mechanical pencil is marked near its top: CHICAGO Autopoint USA (/) PATD AND PATS PEND. The word "Autopoint" is in script. The end of the pencil above the mark uncaps to reveal an eraser. A metal clip allows the pencil to be secured in a shirt pocket. The pen is stored in a rectangular gray cardboard box marked: Pencil Used by H H sr. (c[h]rome plated).

  Autopoint began manufacturing mechanical pencils in Chicago in 1918. Inventors assigned at least 30 patents to Autopoint between 1918 and 1929. One of the patents referred to on this pencil was taken out by Frank Deli of Chicago, for a metal pin that screwed into a threaded cylinder inside the pencil tip and thus acted to propel the lead. The diameter of the pin suggests the lead width was about 1 mm. The body of the pencil was to be made from bakelite or a similar plastic. Deli applied for his patent in 1921, although it was not granted until 1925. Bakelite, the plastics manufacturer, owned an interest in Autopoint from the 1920s to the 1940s. After several corporate acquisitions and reorganizations, Autopoint moved to Janesville, Wisc., in 1979, where it continues operations.

  His daughter-in-law reported that Herman Hollerith Sr. owned this pencil. Hollerith (1860–1929) trained as a mining engineer. He joined the U.S. Census Office in 1879, where he pioneered the development of punch cards for tabulating machines. These machines dramatically sped up the processing of data in the 1890 census. In 1896 he founded the Tabulating Machine Company, which merged with three other companies in 1911 and became the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1924. Hollerith retired in 1921 and raised cattle on a farm in Maryland until his death, so he presumably acquired the pencil during his retirement. For depictions and examples of Hollerith machines, see 1977.0503.01, 1977.0503.02, and 2011.3121.01, MA.312896, MA.335634, MA.335635, and MA.333894. See also the NMAH object group on tabulating machines, http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/tabulating-equipment.

  References: Autopoint, Inc., "About Us," http://autopointinc.com/about-us; Frank C. Deli, "Pencil" (U.S. Patent 1,552,123 issued September 1, 1925); Robert L. Bolin, "Web Resources Concerning the Mechanical Pencil Industry in Chicago," http://unllib.unl.edu/Bolin_resources/pencil_page/index.htm; William R. Aul, "Herman Hollerith: Data Processing Pioneer," Think, November 1972, http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/builders/builders_hollerith.html; United States Census Bureau, "Herman Hollerith," http://www.census.gov/history/www/census_then_now/notable_alumni/herman_hollerith.html.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1921-1929

  maker

  Autopoint, Inc.

  ID Number

  1977.0503.03

  catalog number

  336122

  accession number

  1977.0503

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Dietzgen 932S Excello Dotting Instrument

  Description

  This 2-1/4" German silver and steel metal drawing instrument consists of a teardrop-shaped plate to which is attached a mechanism that is supposed to hold a larger serrated wheel and a smaller pattern wheel. The mechanism links the wheels to a bar that holds a pen point. When the larger wheel is rolled along the edge of a T-square or straight edge, the pen point bounces up and down to make a dotted line that formed part of an engineering drawing.

  The larger wheel (5/8" diameter) is marked with one of the trademarks for the Eugene Dietzgen Co., the superimposed letters E and D inside a circle formed by the letters C and o. The six smaller wheels (9/16" diameter) also have this trademark and are numbered from 1 to 6, representing six possible dotting patterns. All the wheels are made of brass. The instrument also has the trademark and is marked: EXCELLO. The arm holding the pen point is marked: DIETZGEN (/) GERMANY. The instrument is in a rectangular wooden bar-lock case covered with black leather and lined with green velvet. The top of the case is marked: DIETZGEN (/) “EXCELLO”. The top is also marked: GERMANY.

  This dotting instrument was advertised as model 932S in the 1926 Dietzgen catalog and sold for $5.15. It was part of the Excello product line, Dietzgen's second-highest level of drawing instruments. This object was used in the physics department at Kenyon College. Compare to 1987.0788.02.

  Reference: Catalog of Eugene Dietzgen Co., 12th ed. (Chicago, 1926), 57–59, 84.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1926

  distributor

  Eugene Dietzgen Company

  ID Number

  1982.0147.01

  accession number

  1982.0147

  catalog number

  1982.0147.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Duo Comptometer

  Description

  This full-keyboard non-printing adding machine has a black metal case with six columns of black and white, octagonal keys, colored according to the place value of the digits entered. Complementary digits are indicated on the keys. Keys representing even digits are flat, those for odd digits are indented. In back of the keyboard is a movable carriage that contains a counter register and a result register above it. Numbers in the counter register can have up to seven digits. Those in the result register 13 digits.

  To the left of the number keys are two white keys, one for the key drive and one for the crank drive. To the right of the number keys is a white key that, when pushed, releases the keys. On the right side of the machine is a crank that may be rotated to enter numbers into the register when the “crank drive” key is pushed down. The machine is designed to combine key-driven addition and crank-driven multiplication. It is the first model of a “Duo” Comptometer, and comes from the collection of models at Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company. There is no provision for subtraction.

  A patent for the invention was filed July 31, 1923 and granted just over nine years later on August 2, 1932. It is patent 1,869,872. A metal tag stored with the object is marked: 134.

  Reference: Felt & Tarrant, Accession Journal 1991.3107.06.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1922

  maker

  Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company

  ID Number

  MA.323651

  catalog number

  323651

  accession number

  250163

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Dietzgen 1626 Triangular Open Divided Architect's Scale

  Description

  This 12-inch triangular boxwood rule has indentations along each side. On one side, one edge has a scale divided to 1/16" and numbered by ones from 0 to 12. The other edge has scales for 3/32" and 3/16" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 3/32", numbered from left to right by fours from 0 to 124, and numbered from right to left by twos from 0 to 62. This side is marked: 1626 DIETZGEN U.S. ST'D.

  One edge of the second side has scales for 1/2" and 1" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1/2", numbered from left to right by twos from 0 to 20 and from right to left by ones from 0 to 10. The other edge has scales for 1/8" and 1/4" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1/8", numbered from left to right by fours from 0 to 92 and from right to left by twos from 0 to 46.

  One edge of the third side has scales for 3/8" and 3/4" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 3/8", numbered from left to right by twos from 0 to 28 and from right to left by ones from 0 to 14. The other edge has scales for 1-1/2" and 3" to the foot. Between these scales is a scale divided to 1-1/2", numbered from left to right by ones from 0 to 4 and from right to left by ones from 0 to 2. Some of the numberings are inside the indentations, similar to 1981.0933.11.

  The Eugene Dietzgen Company sold model 1626 from at least 1904, when it cost 90¢, to at least 1926, when it cost $1.20. William J. Ellenberger (1908–2008), who donated this object, studied electrical and mechanical engineering at The George Washington University between 1925 and 1934. He then worked for the Potomac Electric Power Company and the National Bureau of Standards. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He was a civilian construction management engineer for the army from 1954 to 1968, when he became a private consultant.

  References: Catalogue & Price List of Eugene Dietzgen Co., 7th ed. (Chicago, 1904), 160; Catalogue & Price List of Eugene Dietzgen Co., 12th ed. (Chicago, 1926), 168; "The GW Engineering Hall of Fame 2006 Inductees," http://www.weas.gwu.edu/ifaf/hall_of_fame_inductees_2006.php.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1920

  maker

  Eugene Dietzgen Company

  ID Number

  1981.0933.13

  catalog number

  1981.0933.13

  accession number

  1981.0933

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Cenco Gas Volume Reduction Circular Slide Rule

  Description

  This yellow paper circular rule consists of two discs, one with a protruding tab for rotating the disc, held together with a metal grommet. The device reduces the observed volume of a gas to the corresponding volume under standard conditions (0°C, 760 mm pressure). Scales for temperatures from 10 degrees to 35 degrees centigrade and for pressures from 700 to 790 mm run along the lower edge of the rule. Setting the device for an observed temperature and pressure reveals a volume factor and the logarithm of the volume factor in the lower interior of the instrument. The factor is multiplied by the observed volume on the scale along the upper edge of the instrument to arrive at the reduced volume.

  The instrument is marked: CentralScientificCo. (/) CENCO (/) CHICAGO U.S.A. (/) GAS VOLUME REDUCTION CHART. It is also marked: Copyrighted 1921, by Central Scientific Co. An advertisement for the "new rotary CENCO hyvac pump," available from Central Scientific's Bulletin No. 92, appears on the back of the device. For another instrument made by Central Scientific Co., see 1982.0147.02.

  The front of the instrument indicates that Prof. E. M. Jones of Adrian College in Adrian, Mich., proposed its design. Jones also wrote "Laboratory Versus Recitation," School Science and Mathematics 8 (1923): 749–759. In 1920, he was appointed to the city of Adrian's first water board.

  Reference: "Adrian H₂O: Over One Hundred Years," http://www.ci.adrian.mi.us/Services/Utilities/History.aspx.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  after 1921

  maker

  Central Scientific Company

  ID Number

  1979.3074.02

  nonaccession number

  1979.3074

  catalog number

  1979.3074.02

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  The Portable Adding Machine

  Description

  This manual adding machine has seven columns of nine plastic keys each, and a steel case painted black. There is a repeat/error lever on the left, and total/subtotal, non-add and non-print keys on the right. Numbers are set by pressing keys, and entered by turning a handle on the right side of the machine. The printing mechanism, black ribbon, and paper tape are at the back. The machine prints seven-digit totals. It has four rubber feet.

  The machine is marked on the top: The (/) Portable. It is marked on the front: PORTABLE ADDING MACHINE CO. (/) CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A. It is marked on a piece of paper pasted to the bottom: Guarantee (/) The Portable Adding Machine is fully guaranteed (/) against defective material and workmanship for (/) a period of one year from date of sale. (/) PORTABLE ADDING MACHINE CO. (/) B.E.Harris (/) President.

  It was designed by Glenn J. Barrett, manufactured by the Corona Typewriter Company of Groton, New York, and sold by the Portable Adding Machine Company of Chicago. It was introduced in October 1924 and cost $65.00. By 1928, this machine was sold as the Corona by the Corona Typewriter Company.

  Compare 2000.0221.01.

  References:

  E. Martin, The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen), trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, p. 333.

  J. H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, p. 52.

  Business Machines and Equipment Digest,Chicago: Equipment Research Corporation, 1928, sec 3-2, p. 4.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1925

  distributor

  Portable Adding Machine Company

  maker

  Portable Adding Machine Company

  ID Number

  MA.323608

  accession number

  250163

  catalog number

  323608

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Cathetometer

  Description

  A cathetometer is an upright ruler equipped with a telescope that is designed to measure the vertical difference between two points with great accuracy. The form was introduced in Paris around 1815 and the name around 1847.

  This example was made by William Gaertner, a German immigrant who, in 1896, established a shop in Chicago for manufacturing astronomical and other instruments of precision. A quarter century later Gaertner would be honored for “having emancipated American educational and scientific institutions from their dependence on foreign made scientific instruments.”

  This is one of Gaertner’s heaviest and most accurate cathetometers. It was also one of the most expensive, costing $400 when new. The signature—WM GAERTNER & CO. CHICAGO, USA—indicates that it was made between 1896 when the firm began in business under that name, and 1924 when it became the Gaertner Scientific Corp.

  The silvered scale is graduated to 0.05 inches and read by vernier to 0.001 inches; it is also graduated in millimeters and read by vernier to tenths.

  Ref: D. J. Warner, “Cathetometers and Precision Measurement: The History of an Upright Ruler,” Rittenhouse 7 (1993): 65–75.

  Wm. Gaertner & Co., Instruments of Precision (Chicago, 1919), pp. 28–29.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1896 - 1923

  1896 - 1924

  maker

  Wm. Gaertner & Co.

  ID Number

  PH.336364

  catalog number

  336364

  accession number

  1978.0230

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Mathematical Tables for Use with a Comptometer

  Description

  The manufacture of computing devices has been associated with mathematical tables at least since the 17th century, when tables of logarithms were used in the manufacture of slide rules. In the mid-19th century, the need for new astronomical tables reportedly inspired the Englishman Charles Babbage to propose a difference engine, which was to print the tables it calculated. The Swedes Georg and Edvard Scheutz actually completed such a machine, and it was used to compute and print tables at the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York.

  The commercially successful adding and calculating machines introduced in the 19th and 20th centuries were used to produce a wide range of tables. At the same time, machine manufacturers supplied their customers with printed tables to assist in routine calculations. These often involved reducing non-metric measurements to decimal portions of a given unit, as these tables suggest.

  These six tables, printed on cardboard, were produced for Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company of Chicago, manufacturers of an adding machine called the Comptometer. The copyright dates range from 1913 to 1925. All the tables have a photograph of a Comptometer in the upper left corner. Two show the hand and wrist of an operator wearing a suit (presumably a man), and two show the hand and wrist of an operator with a woman’s ring on her finger.

  The first table, Felt & Tarrant’s Form No. 8, illustrates the enduring importance of nonmetric measures in American life. It assists in multiplying the number of lengths by a unit length in engineering calculations. The table gives 10, 100, and 1,000 times inches and fractions of an inch to eighths of an inch. Results are given in feet, inches, and fractions of an inch. The table has no copyright date.

  The second table, Felt & Tarrant’s Form No. 36, was prepared by one U. S. Edgerton, the only author mentioned on the tables. It was copyrighted in 1913 and is for computing interest, insurance cancellation and discounts, with months and days expressed in decimal equivalents of a year. One side shows a year of twelve 30-day months (360 days total). The other side has a table for days only, that runs from 1 to 364.

  The third table, copyrighted in 1914 and 1915, is Felt & Tarrant’s Form 38. It was designed for the textile industry. Entries allow one to reduce drams (of which there 16 to an ounce) and ounces (of which there are 16 to a pound) to decimal portions of a pound. The table has rows for 0 to 15 drams and columns for 0 to 15 ounces.

  The fourth table, Felt & Tarrant’s Form 26, was copyrighted in 1917. It indicates the decimal part of a year represented by each date of the month.

  The fifth table, Felt & Tarrant’s Form No. 368, shows the decimal equivalents of fractions from thirds to 26ths inclusive. It has no copyright date.

  The final table, Felt & Tarrant’s Form No. 386, has measurements in inches, to eighths of an inch, given as decimal portions of a foot. Copyrighted in 1925, it assisted in calculations relating to lumber, steel beams, and angles.

  For another table used with the Comptometer, see 2011.3049.01.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1913-1925

  maker

  Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company

  ID Number

  1979.3074.09

  nonaccession number

  1979.3074

  catalog number

  1979.3074.09

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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