Dactyle Calculating Machine
date: label: date made
content: ca 1909
name: label: maker
content: Chateau Frères of Paris
notes: label: Description
content: This pinwheel, lever-set, non-printing calculating machine was made by the French firm of Chateau Frères, sold under the name Dactyle, and constructed on the design of the Swede W. T. Odhner. Odhner-style machines were first made in Russia (as Odhners), then in Germany (as Brunsvigas) and then in France (as the Dactyle, from about 1905).
label: Description
content: In 1910, about a year after this machine was made, R. H. Marchant of San Francisco, the American agent for the Dactyle, decided to go into business himself, building a very similar machine. The Marchant Calculating Machine Company officially was incorporated in 1913, and made a wide range of calculating machines into the 1950s.
label: Description
content: The machine, painted black, has nine levers toward the top for setting numbers. The operating crank is on the right side. In front is the carriage, with ten numeral wheels on the left for counting revolutions and 18 numeral wheels on the right for recording totals. The numeral wheels of the revolution counter are numbered from 0 to 9 in white and then from 8 down to 1 in red. The result wheels have the digits from 0 to 9 around the edge. The zeroing screws for the registers are at the two ends of the carriage.
label: Description
content: A mark on the left front at the top reads: No. 5641.
label: Description
content: This machine came to the Smithsonian from the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.
label: Description
content: Reference:
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. 164.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: France: Île-de-France, Paris
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Calculating Machines
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Mathematical Association of America Objects
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from United States Naval Observatory
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0174.02
label: accession number
content: 2005.0174
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0174.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: calculating machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: iron (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13.9 cm x 47.8 cm x 20.5 cm; 5 15/32 in x 18 13/16 in x 8 1/16 in