Webb Adder
date: label: date made
content: ca 1890
name: label: patentee
content: Webb, Charles H.
notes: label: Description
content: This two-wheeled stylus-operated non-printing adding machine is made of silver-colored metal. It has one large wheel with the numbers from 00 to 99 stamped around the edge. The second, smaller wheel has the numbers from 0 to 49 stamped evenly around its edge. A ring of holes is just inside each ring of numbers. A metal frame and plate cover the back and outer edges of the two wheels, revealing numbers in a small window between the wheels. Numbers are added by rotation of the wheels, up to sums of 4999. The frame is serrated around the edge. There is no stylus. The large wheel is marked: The Adder (/) C.H. WEBB. The plate is marked: PAT’D NOV 5TH 12TH 1889. The serial number stamped on the back is: 5136.
label: Description
content: Charles Henry Webb of New York first patented an adding machine in 1868. This improved version of the device is described in a patent he took out on November 12, 1889, and in one obtained by Lester C. Smith on November 5 of that year. This example was used by the civil engineer Chauncey B. Schmeltzer who taught at the University of Illinois.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: C. H. Webb, “Adding-Machine,” U.S. Patent 414959, November 12, 1889.
label: Description
content: Lester C. Smith, “Adding-Machine,” U.S. Patent 414335, November 5, 1889.
label: Description
content: P. Kidwell, “The Webb Adder,” <I>Rittenhouse</I>, 1 (1986) 12-18
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. 63.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
label: place patented
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: Adding Machines
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mrs. Chauncey B. Schmeltzer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.317925.01
label: accession number
content: 317925
label: catalog number
content: 317925.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: adding machine
label: Other Terms
content: adding machine; Stylus Operated, Non-Listing
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass, nickel-plated (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .7 cm x 16.1 cm x 11.1 cm; 9/32 in x 6 11/32 in x 4 3/8 in