Stephenson Adding Machine
date: label: date made
content: 1873
name: label: patentee
content: Stephenson, Archibald M.
label: maker
content: Stephenson, Archibald M.
notes: label: Description
content: This U.S. Patent Office model for a stylus-operated non-printing adding machine has a rectangular wooden base. Four adjacent rotating wheels are inset in the base, with a metal cover that fits over them. The three small wheels on the right each have a metal arm pivoted at their centers and ten evenly spaced indentations around the edge. The digits from 0 to 9 are marked on the cover just outside each of these wheels. The numbers increase counterclockwise going around the first and third wheels and clockwise going around the second wheel. The two middle wheels also have ten pins arranged just inside the indentations. The pins of one wheel are linked to the arm of the wheel to the right of it. The fourth, leftmost, wheel is larger and has 20 indentations and 20 pins. The indentations are numbered from 0 to 19 going counterclockwise. A two-wheeled device was manufactured under this patent.
label: Description
content: A paper tag attached to the machine reads: No.137,107 (/) A.M. Stephenson (/) Adding Machines (/) Patented March 25th 1873. A second paper tag attached to the machine reads: A.M. Stephenson (/) Adding Machine (/) Received March 5th, 1872.
label: Description
content: This instrument was in the collections of the Museums of the Peaceful Arts in New York City before coming to the Smithsonian Institution as a gift of L. Leland Locke.
label: Description
content: Archibald M. Stephenson (1844-1913), the inventor of this instrument, was born in Indiana and spent most of his adult life in Illinois. He manufactured a version of this instrument in Joliet.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: U.S. Patent 137107, March 25, 1873.
label: Description
content: R. Otnes, “A.M. Stephenson and His Adder,” <I>Journal of the Oughtred Society</I>, vol. 13 #2 (Fall 2004): pp. 55-60.
label: Description
content: W. W. Stevens, <I>Past and Present of Will County, Illinois</I>, Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1907, pp. 348-349.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Manteno
label: place patented
content: United States: Illinois, Manteno
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Adding Machines
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of L. Leland Locke
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.311961
label: accession number
content: 155183
label: catalog number
content: 311961
objectType: label: Object Name
content: adding machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 cm x 26.6 cm x 9 cm; 25/32 in x 10 15/32 in x 3 17/32 in