Tate's Arithmometer
date: label: date made
content: ca 1895
name: label: maker
content: C. & E. Layton
notes: label: Description
content: In 1881 the English engineer Samuel Tate applied for a British patent for an improvement in the arithmometer invented by the Frenchman Charles Xavier Thomas. This stepped drum manual non-printing calculating machine is built on Tate’s 1884 patent. The brass top and metal mechanism fit into a wooden case.
label: Description
content: Eight levers are used to set digits. An ADD MULT / SUB DIV lever is left of these levers. the machine has no windows for showing the number set up. The operating crank is on the right. Below it is a lever for zeroing the entry.
label: Description
content: Behind the entry levers is a movable carriage with a row of nine windows for the revolution register and a row of 16 windows for the result register. The zeroing crank for these registers is on the right side of the carriage. A handle for lifting the carriage is on its left.
label: Description
content: Digits in each window of the revolution register run from 0 to 9 and 8 to 1. This register has no no carry. The carriage has holes for decimal markers, but no decimal markers. Thumbscrews allow one to set numbers in the revolution and result registers. When the entry in the result register would become negative (as it might in subtraction or division), a bell rings. It rings again if a number is added so the result is once again zero or positive. The stepped drums are of brass.
label: Description
content: A chart of decimal equivalents of British currency is glued into the inside of the lid. There is a key. Handles at both ends of the case assist in lifting.
label: Description
content: A mark to the left of the digit levers reads: TATE’S (/) PATENT (/) ARITHMOMETER (/) C. & E. LAYTON (/) LONDON. A nearby mark reads: C.A. BAYNON (/) AGENT (/) NEW YORK. An engraved mark on the inside of the machine, below the carriage on the left side, reads: 140. This might be the serial number.
label: Description
content: This example is from the collection of L. Leland Locke.
label: Description
content: Compare MA.311,953, MA.323657, MA.323629, and MA.333922.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: S. Tate, "Improvements in Calculating Machines or Arithmometers," British Patent 1884 No. 65, January 1 & September 12, 1884.
label: Description
content: "The International Inventions Exhibition - XII," <I>The English Mechanic and World of Science and Art</I>, July 24, 1885, vol. 41, #1, pp. 444-446.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
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 L. Leland Locke
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.311953
label: catalog number
content: 311953
label: accession number
content: 155183
objectType: label: Object Name
content: calculating machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 17.8 cm x 66 cm x 24.7 cm; 7 in x 25 31/32 in x 9 23/32 in