Baldwin Calculator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1905
name: label: distributor
content: The Spectator Company
label: maker
content: Baldwin, Frank S.
notes: label: Description
content: In 1875 Frank S. Baldwin of St. Louis patented a pinwheel calculating machine. He manufactured a few of these machines, but they did not sell well. Baldwin went on to take out a number of other patents. By 1901, he had moved to Newark, New Jersey, where he designed an improved pinwheel machine. He obtained a patent the following year, Baldwin went on to invent other calculating machines, most notably those manufactured by the Monroe Calculating Machine Company.
label: Description
content: This non-printing machine has eight rings at the front that may be rotated forward to release pins and enter numbers. The zeroing bar for the rings is at the front and the operating crank to the right. The crank turns clockwise for addition and multiplication and counterclockwise for subtraction and division. Behind the rings is a movable carriage with a row of 16 result windows and a second row of nine windows for the revolution register behind this. Both of these registers have zeroing cranks and thin metal rods below them that move to serve as decimal markers. Lifting a metal hook on the left allows one to shift the carriage. The entire machine sits in a wooden case with lid with handle.
label: Description
content: A mark scratched on the front of the machine reads: 150. The museum number assigned by the Museum of the Peaceful Arts is: 27-94. A metal tag on the lid of the machine reads: BALDWIN (/) CALCULATOR (/) 150 (/) PAT. AUG. 5. 1902. Another metal tag in the same place reads: THE SPECTATOR CO (/) AGENTS (/) 95 WILLIAM ST. (/) NEW YORK.
label: Description
content: This example is from the collection of L. Leland Locke and was once in on deposit at the Museums of the Peaceful Arts in New York City.
label: Description
content: The Spectator Company of New York sold Baldwin’s calculator from at least 1903 through at least 1907. Their advertisements boasted of the reliability of the machine and its American manufacture. It cost $250.
label: Description
content: Compare MA.307384.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Frank S. Baldwin, “Calculating-Machine,” U.S. Patent 706375, August 5, 1902.
label: Description
content: Advertisement, <I>The Spectator</I>, vol. 76 #3 (Feb 1, 1904), p. 66.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Jersey, Newark
label: place distributed
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: 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.311954
label: catalog number
content: 311954
label: accession number
content: 155183
objectType: label: Object Name
content: calculating machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 19 cm x 29.8 cm x 21.5 cm; 7 15/32 in x 11 23/32 in x 8 15/32 in