Atkinson Counting Register, U.S. Patent Office Model
date: label: date made
content: 1874
name: label: patentee
content: Atkinson, Alexander P.
label: maker
content: Atkinson, Alexander P.
notes: label: Description
content: This roughly built wooden and metal device is the U.S. patent model for a counter patented by Alexander P. Atkinson of Vermont, Ill., on November 7, 1871. It has an open wooden frame, with a window at the front for viewing the registering wheels. The three wheels are mounted on a crosswise shaft, along with a fourth wheel, which drives the others. Lowering a crank on the right side of the frame moves the driving wheel and the rightmost registering wheel one unit back. Returning the crank upright moves the driving but not the registering wheel.
label: Description
content: The wheels are wooden. The registering wheels are covered with paper bands around the edge which have the digits marked from 0 to 9. Screws are used as gear teeth in much of the mechanism. The device carries. According to the patent, the machine was intended for use in counting the number of bushels or other measures of grain that passed a given point.
label: Description
content: A mark on the front above the window reads: A.P. Atkinson (/) Vermont (/) Ill’s.
label: Description
content: Alexander P. Atkinson (1840-1906) lived in Vermont, Ill., and founded the Vermont Loan and Building Association in 1889. He remained President of that bank into the 20th century.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Alexander P. Atkinson, “Improvement in Counting-Registers,” U.S. Patent 120,609, November 7, 1871.
label: Description
content: J. S. McCullough, <I>Twelfth Annual Report of the Condition of Building, Loan and Homestead Associations Doing Business in Illinois</I>, Springfield, Illinois: Phillips Brothers, 1903, p. 307.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Vermont
label: place patented
content: United States: Illinois, Vermont
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Counters
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Agriculture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.309342
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: catalog number
content: 309342
objectType: label: Object Name
content: counter
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 cm x 17.5 cm x 15.4 cm; 3 15/16 in x 6 7/8 in x 6 1/16 in