The Penn's Grove record., 1886-05-15
A NOVEL BIT OF BRAIN WoRA
A Bookkeeper Patents a Ior
Adding up columns of Figures,

A B~OOkkeeper PaLcnts q MaClllilc AoE
Adding up columns of Figures
"a Springfield, Massachusetts,, book
keeper has perfected a machine that Is
designed to aid brother b~ookkeepers and
accountants in running up long lines
of figures. He has been at work on the
invention since 1873, and had the thing
patented something like a year ago.
The machine is cased in a light
wooden box about eight inches squale
and three deep, and lifting the cover,
the interior is seen to hold al enamelled
white surface, on which are two dialS,
and which shows the brass keyboard III
the lower left hand-hand corner. The
large dial of the two is OF ttie left of the
machine, and is divided into 100 sec
lions. The rim of the smaller dial is
likewise cut into twenty sections. The
hand which moves about the first dial
is called the unit pointer. That which
moves about the smaller n is called
the hundred pointer. A little finger
play on the brass keyboard makes the
object of the dials and the reason of the
pointers names quickly understood.
The nine keys on the board are num-
bered from one to nine and are placed
in regular order, but also in two rows,
2. 4. 6 and s being above, and the odd
numbers below. The key lisa brass up
right. and as the finger draws OF it a
spring allowsi it to slip back toward the
lower end of the box. The pulling OF
each key on the board sends the unit
pointer along on its journey around the
I'LL 80 manu- Y.nipfc nc fhopn nra nnitc
in the number of the key. Pull the 8
key, and the dial set at 0 goes to ..
Pull the same key again and the unit
pointer moves to IS. Pull the l, 2 and
3 keys now, and the pointer goes conse-
cutively with a hop, skip and jump to
"a. When the unit pointer, keeping up
its agile. athletics, has reached its
starting point again there is a quick
little motion on the right hand dial.
The pointer then has ''dotted and gone
| one.n The machines internal clock
work is more accurate than a human
head can hope to be. 1t isn't troubled
with malaria, nor is it ever larger in
the morning than it was the night be-
fore. All the accountant has to do is
10 run his eye up and down the col
INNS, FulliHg edCu IeSpeCtLNe hcg a. ilc
reaches the corresponding figure. a
day is sufficient i9 which to learn the
keyboard, and the motion of the hands
quickly becomes almost involuntary.
The expert can run the figures in his
head and on the keyboard simultan-
eously, thus proving" his work by one
trip up or down the column. Carrying
is performed by setting the pointer at
the number to be carried. To set the
unit pointer all that is necessary is to
hold down key /, and turn the point
forward to a number n less than the
one carried. On releasing the l key
the pointer is on the desired number,
The hundred pointer car be moved in
either direction. The hand easily oper'
ates the nine keys, thus: Nos. /, 2 and
8 with the first finger, 4 and . with the
second, 8 and Z with the third, s and 8
with the fourth. The inventor claims
for the machine unerring accuracy
and surprising rapidity. He says an eX-
pert can add $50 figures a minute with
il.