Marchant Model B Pony Calculating Machine
date: label: date made
content: 1922
name: label: maker
content: Marchant Calculating Machine Company, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: This manually operated, lever-set and non-printing pinwheel calculating machine has a black steel housing and a wooden base. Nine levers rotate forward to set digits on the pinwheels, with color-coded digits marked on the spaces between the levers. A row of nine dials in back of the levers records the number entered. A bar in front of the levers can be raised to zero them, and a wing nut on the left side rotates to zero the entry register. The steel operating crank with its wood handle extends from the right side of the machine and rotates backward (clockwise) for addition and multiplication and forward (counterclockwise) for subtraction and division.
label: Description
content: A movable carriage at the front has 18 windows that show dials of the result register on the right and ten windows for the revolution register on the left. The digits in the revolution register are white for additions and red for subtractions. Decimal markers slide above all three registers. A metal box at the front of the machine holds two bars, one for moving the carriage in either direction. Wing nuts at the ends of the carriage zero the registers on it. A bell is on the left side of the machine.
label: Description
content: A metal tag to the left of the levers reads: The (/) Marchant (/) MANUFACTURED BY (/) MARCHANT CALCULATING (/) MACHINE CO., Inc. (/) OAKLAND, CAL. (/) PATENTED JUNE 6. 1911 (/) FEB. 22. 1916. A metal tag attached to the back reads: 81399. A mark on the back of the carriage to the left reads: A1216. A metal tag attached to the base reads: DONATED BY (/) BENHAM ENGINEERING COMPANY (/) CONSULTING ENGINEERS (/) OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA (/) USED BY FOUNDER (/) COL. WEBSTER L. BENHAM (/) PAST NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ASCE
label: Description
content: A layer of felt separates the machine and its wooden base. The base is not rectangular, but curved to follow the profile of the machine It has 3 rubber feet and fits inside a leather-covered, velvet-lined box.
label: Description
content: This calculating machine was used by consulting engineer Webster Lance Benham (1882–1952), a veteran of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in his work at Benham Engineering Company in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He founded that firm in 1909. The date of the machine is deduced from the serial number.
label: Description
content: Compare to the Marchant Model A Pony (MA.311952), which only will calculate 13-digit products.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: J. H. McCarthy, <I>The American Digest of Business Machines</I>, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, p. 549.
label: Description
content: Accession file.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Oakland
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Calculating Machines
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Benham Engineering Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.328417
label: catalog number
content: 328417
label: accession number
content: 272525
label: maker number
content: 81399/A1216
objectType: label: Object Name
content: calculating machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: felt (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 19.1 cm x 36.2 cm x 24.5 cm; 7 17/32 in x 14 1/4 in x 9 21/32 in