The Calculator
date: label: date made
content: 1920
name: label: maker
content: Calculator Corporation
notes: label: Description
content: This stylus-operated non-printing seven-wheeled adding machine is made of steel painted black. Below each wheel is a disc with the digits from 0 to 9 printed close to the center. Each wheel has ten holes, one of which has been cut large enough to reveal a digit on the disc below. Numbers are entered by rotating wheels. Clockwise rotation adds a digit, counterclockwise subtracts. The result appears in the large holes of the wheels. The two rightmost and the two leftmost wheels are painted black. The three center ones are unpainted. This makes it easy to distinguish cents, dollars up to $999, and larger amounts. The machine is marked: THE CALCULATOR CO. (/) GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. (/) PATD. The back of the instrument is covered with green felt. The silver-colored metal stylus resembles a nut pick. Documentation is stored separately.
label: Description
content: This example was donated to the Smithsonian by Richard J. De Prez, who inherited it from his father.
label: Description
content: Compare to Smallwood calculator (see MA.336184).
label: Description
content: Reference:
label: Description
content: <I>Popular Science Monthly</I>, July, 1920, vol. 97, p. 9 - advertising for agents - machine sold for $12.50. According to Robert Otnes, the Calculator Corporation was at the address in Grand Rapids given on 1982.0542.02 (trade literature relating to this object) in the 1917 Grand Rapids city directory. Before this it had a different name and afterward a different address. By 1920 it moved to a different building.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Michigan, Grand Rapids
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Adding Machines
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Richard J. DePrez
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.0542.01
label: accession number
content: 1986.0542
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0542.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: adding machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .5 cm x 26.7 cm x 6.3 cm; 3/16 in x 10 1/2 in x 2 15/32 in