Mercedes-Euklid Model 8 Calculating Machine
date: label: date made
content: 1920s
name: label: distributor
content: Coxhead, Ralph C.
label: maker
content: Mercedes-Bureau-Maschinen-Gesellschaft
notes: label: Description
content: This full-keyboard electric proportional rod calculating machine has an iron and steel frame painted black and 13 columns of plastic keys. Keys are colored according to the size of the digits, not by their place value. A metal rod in back of the keyboard holds four sliding rods that can be used for decimal divisions. At the bottom of each column of keys is a red key that zeros the digit in that column. Moving a lever to the left of the number keys clears the entire keyboard. The keyboard is painted green. Numbers entered on the keys appear in a row of windows under the keyboard that shows 13 number dials.
label: Description
content: At the front of the machine, a row of 16 windows shows the result. A row of eight windows shows the dials of the revolution counter, and another row of 16 dials may be used to accumulate totals. A thin metal piece painted black can cover this row. Finger knobs in front of the total windows alter the total and result dials simultaneously. A final set of knobs shows the multiplier in the machine’s automatic direct multiplication (small finger knobs in front of these dials are used to set up the number).
label: Description
content: These four rows of dials are on a movable carriage. All five rows of dials have movable decimal markers. The motor for the machine is under the mechanism and behind the carriage. The plug is on the right side. A set of levers on the left of the carriage, near the end of the result windows, releases the carriage. Handles for lifting are on both sides of the machine.
label: Description
content: A metal tag on the right of the machine reads: MERCEDES - (/) EUKLID. A metal tag next to the dials of the revolution counter reads: RALPH C. COXHEAD (/) MERCEDES-EUKLID (/) CALCULATING MACHINE (/) NEW YORK CHICAGO. A mark scratched in the base of the machine at the front reads: Property (/) Univ. Mich. A mark at the left front of the machine on the frame for the carriage reads: 9 [. . .]. A mark on the back of the machine reads: Made in Germany.
label: Description
content: Ralph C. Coxhead was the American agent for the Mercedes-Euklid during the 1920s. This model sold for $1,225.00 in 1928.
label: Description
content: This machine came to the Smithsonian from the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: E. Martin, <I>The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen)</I>, trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 156–164.
label: Description
content: J. H. McCarthy, <I>The Business Machines and Equipment Digest</I>, 1928, vol. 1, sec. 9, pp. 24–28.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany: Berlin, Berlin
label: place distributed
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: Calculating Machines
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of University of Michigan, School of Public Health
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.324280
label: catalog number
content: 324280
label: accession number
content: 256654
objectType: label: Object Name
content: calculating machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 33.6 cm x 47 cm x 32 cm; 13 7/32 in x 18 1/2 in x 12 19/32 in