Webb Adder
date: label: date made
content: 1868-1889
name: label: patentee
content: Webb, Charles H.
label: maker
content: Webb, Charles H.
notes: label: Description
content: This two-wheeled stylus-operated non-printing adding machine is in a wooden frame. The large brass wheel has a ring of holes and the numbers 00 to 99 stamped around the edge. The numbers 0 to 99 also are stamped around the window for the larger wheel. Numbers are added by rotation of the wheels. Answers are recorded on a pedometer-like dial that has separate windows for ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. The frame is screwed to the cover plate. There is a stylus. The large wheel is marked: C.H.WEBB. N.Y. It is also marked: “THE ADDER" PATD MARCH 10TH 1868. The back has the serial number: C1053. The dial is a modification of the instrument. It is marked on paper attached over the small wheel: N.Y.STANDARD WATCH COMPANY.
label: Description
content: Charles Henry Webb (1834-1905) was a journalist, playwright, poet, and roamer. He patented a second version of this device in 1889. This example was owned by the Draper family of New York.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: C. H. Webb, “Improvement in Adding Machines,” U.S. Patent 75322, March 10, 1868.
label: Description
content: “Machine for Addition,” <I>Journal of the Franklin Institute</I>, 60 (1870): pp. 8-9.
label: Description
content: P. A. Kidwell, “The Webb Adder,” <I>Rittenhouse</I>, 1 (1986), pp. 12-18.
label: Description
content: E. Martin, <I>The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen)</I>, trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, p. 63.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
label: place patented
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Adding Machines
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of John William Christopher Draper and James Christopher Draper
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.335359
label: accession number
content: 304826
label: catalog number
content: 335359
objectType: label: Object Name
content: adding machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass, nickel-plated (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2.5 cm x 17.3 cm x 12.2 cm; 31/32 in x 6 13/16 in x 4 13/16 in