Troncet Arithmographe
date: label: date made
content: 1895
name: label: maker
content: Librairie Larousse
notes: label: Description
content: Louis-J. Troncet patented this instrument in his native France in 1889, and it was published by Larousse. The American scientist Daniel Draper purchased this example in 1895 for $2.50. It came in a small notebook with a set of multiplication tables.
label: Description
content: The Troncet arithmographe, like an instrument issued by the Russian E. Kummer in the 1840s, used flat metal bands with notched edges to represent digits. These bands were moved with the stylus to enter numbers. The instrument has seven crook-shaped columns that reveal the edges of eight notched bands. The crook at the top of each groove is designed to ease carrying or borrowing.
label: Description
content: Eight holes below the columns, labeled “ADDITION”, show the results of addition problems. Eight holes above the columns, labeled “SOUSTRACTION,” show the results of subtraction problems. There is no zeroing mechanism. Troncet’s design was widely adopted by later manufacturers.
label: Description
content: References: Mareschal, G., “Calculateur mecanique instante,” <I>La Nature</I>, 18 annee, 1890, pp. 307-308.
label: Description
content: P. Kidwell, “Scientists and Calculating Machines,” <I>Annals of the History of Computing</I>, 12 (1990): 31-40.
label: Description
content: P. Kidwell, "Adders Made and Used in the United States," <I>Rittenhouse</I>, 1994, 8:78-96.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: France: Île-de-France, París
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Adder
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of John William Christopher Draper and James Christopher Draper
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.335348
label: catalog number
content: 335348
label: accession number
content: 304826
objectType: label: Object Name
content: adder
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.6 cm x 11 cm x 14.2 cm; 5/8 in x 4 11/32 in x 5 19/32 in