Groesbeck's Calculating Machine
date: label: date made
content: 1870
name: label: patentee
content: Groesbeck, John
label: maker
content: Ziegler & McCurdy
notes: label: Description
content: This stylus-operated non-printing flat adding machine has five cogged, linked wheels. Five windows at the bottom show sums of numbers entered. Five windows at the top show complementary digits and are used in subtraction. The outer casing of the instrument is nickel-plated brass, the mechanism is brass. The device lacks a stylus. It is marked: GROESBECK’S CALCULATING MACHINE (/) PATENTED MAR. 18 1870. It is also marked: ZIEGLER & McCURDY (/) PHILAPA.CINN.O.CHICAGO,ILL. (/) ST.LOUIS,MO.SPRINGFIELD,MASS.
label: Description
content: This machine is the invention of John Groesbeck (1834-1884), a consulting accountant, operator of the Crittenden Commercial College in Philadelphia, and author of several textbooks on commercial arithmetic. It apparently was his only invention. According to a review in the <I>Philadelphia School Journal</I>, it sold for $6.00 in 1871. The firm of Ziegler & McCurdy dissolved in 1872, suggesting that this object was made quite near the time of the patent. It was given to the Smithsonian in 1944 as a gift of Lt. John P. Roberts of the U.S. Naval Reserve.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: John Groesbeck, “Improvement in Adding-Machines," U.S. Patent 100,288, March 1, 1870.
label: Description
content: “Groesbeck’s Calculating Machine,” <I>Pennsylvania School Journal</I>, vol. 19 #7, January, 1871., p. 216.
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. 383.
label: Description
content: George P. Donehoo, editor. <I>Pennsylvania A History - Biographical</I>, Chicago/New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., 1928, 290 to291.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
label: place patented
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Adding Machines
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Lt. (j.g.) John P. Roberts, U.S.N.R.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.312824
label: accession number
content: 167256
label: catalog number
content: 312824
objectType: label: Object Name
content: adding machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass, nickel-plated (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .8 cm x 16.8 cm x 7.5 cm; 5/16 in x 6 5/8 in x 2 15/16 in