The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-27
Calculating Box Works
 Amazing Feats In Figures
Cleared On Typewriter It Automatically Taps
 Answer To Intricate Problems

After passing the counters, the balls are returned automa tically to the tubes in which they are stored. The arrange ment of triggers, balls, counters, dials and return tubes is called slice, and there is one slice for each denomina- tion-one for units, one for tens, one for hundreds, etc.
 During the counting, ''carries" occur that is seven plus five makes 12 put down two and carry one." This is done by making slice give itself an extra ball when the counter of next lower denomination passes from 9 to 10.
 Just Like Brain
 In multiplicat tion, the process is analogous to our mental procedure when we obtain the product of two numbers. We have stored in our brains the multiplication. tables from 1 times 1 to g times 9, and we multiply by recalling the partial products and add ing them up in their proper ceeumns. The Barbel machine has stored in it partial products in the form of num- bers of balls in tubes ready to be re- leased by triggers. And when the product of two numbers is required the machine co-ordinates their respective digits in, pairs, and addsiup the. stored partial products as obtained.
 For example, take 3 multiplied by z: Item and will coordinate with the partial product 21. The machine de- livers two balls in the tens counter and one ball to the units counter, and prints the result, 21. The time required for this operation is one-tenth of second. This is simple operation. Here is a more complicated one:
 999% times 999 pounds, 19 shillings and 11A pence.
 Here are many pairs of digits to be co-ordinated, but the machine makes all the co-ordinatiops, . simultaneously, and prints the answer-requiring three seconds for the work.
 Does Foreign Exchange
 One of the heaviest loads which the machine will lift is the computation of foreign exchange Any sum in pounds, shillings and pence, fires, francs or marks may be instantly translated into it equivalent in United States currency by>merely typing the amount and the exchange rate. For instance, you may type:
 793 pounds, 17 shillings, 111a pence at 4S9% cents.
 As you finish the line and lift your fingers from the keyboard, the keys au- tomatlcalIy tap out, on the same line, $3,491.17. For this operation, the translation of sterling of decimal cur rency or vice-versa, the shifting of the translator" lever is necessary. No other operation is required.
 The above describes the general op- eration of the machine in invoice, and tabulation work. Addition, multiplica- tion or subtraction is performed by the machine as the typist writes a line, and the answer is written at the right, Then, at the finish, the right-hand columns are summed up, with credits subtracted from debits, and the final answer printed in red, if the result is credit. The entire process requires less time than that required for a typist to copy a pre-calculated invoice.
 The machine is electrically operated the entire apparatus having the ap' pearance of an ordinary desk, with the little black box in view by the type writer.
 The invention is one of a number which have been developed with the cooperation of the Research corpora. tion, including the important CottrelI process for the precipitation of smoke and chemical fumes by electricity. Dr. A. A. Hamerschlag is president of the corporation, having been president of of the Carnegie Institute of Technology for 19 years. He regards the Barbel machine as one of the great triumphs of inventive genius of recent years.
 If l were voting for Nobel prize for the best invention of the year, I think would award it to this device" he said