Mudd's Tax Calculator
date: label: date made
content: 1879
name: label: maker
content: Mudd, Robert Levin
notes: label: Description
content: Doing the calculations associated with tax collection has inspired inventors from at least the 1600s, when the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal invented an adding machine for that purpose. In 1879 Robert Levin Mudd (1837–1910), the county clerk in Bond County, Illinois, patented this tax calculator. It has sliding tables for calculating the tax due on property worth up to $10,000, at rates of 3 cents, 5 cents, and 25 cents per $100 value. Other columns give the total tax due if assessments are made at several rates for different projects. The instrument folds and fits neatly into a wooden case. This example is incomplete. Compare to U. S. patent 213234, dated March 11, 1879.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Bond
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Taxes
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Mathematical Charts and Tables
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Michael Lawrence
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2009.3027.01
label: nonaccession number
content: 2009.3027
label: catalog number
content: 2009.3027.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: mathematical table
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10.5 cm x 58.2 cm x 51.4 cm; 4 1/8 in x 22 29/32 in x 20 1/4 in