Marchant Model KC Calculating Machine
date: label: date made
content: 1925
name: label: maker
content: Marchant Calculating Machine Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This full-keyboard, non-printing manually operated pinwheel calculating machine has a metal frame painted black and nine columns of plastic keys, with three columns black, three columns white, and three more columns black. At the base of each bank of keys is a red clearance key. The underlying keyboard is painted green. Metal rods between banks of keys serve as decimal markers.
label: Description
content: Right of the number keys is a red keyboard clearance key, a multiply/divide key, and an addition/subtraction key. The operating crank on the right rotates backward (clockwise) for addition and multiplication and forward (counterclockwise) for subtraction and division.
label: Description
content: Behind the keyboard is a movable carriage with the 18 windows of the result register. A lever at the front of the machine shifts the carriage, a button on the right side releases it, and a crank on the left end of the carriage clears it. Behind and above the carriage are nine windows showing digits entered, a lever that can be set for multiplication or division, and nine windows for the revolution register. Rotating a small crank on the right side clears this register.
label: Description
content: Decimal markers slide on metal rods above all three registers. A metal flange below the result register helps the user place the carriage correctly. The machine has four rubber feet. At the back, two wooden cylinders have been attached to the base at the corners, so that the machine sits at an angle.
label: Description
content: Plates attached to the right and left side read: MARCHANT. A metal plate right of the keyboard reads; MARCHANT (/) CALCULATORS (/) SIMPLICITY (/) ACCURACY (/) SPEED. A maker’s mark under the carriage on the right reads: 2097. A stamp on the bottom of the machine reads: KC 2097.
label: Description
content: The Model KC, introduced in 1923 with initial serial number 1000, was one of Marchant Calculating Machine Company’s first three keyboard machines. It sold in 1924 for $350.00. By 1928 it was replaced by the model H-9.
label: Description
content: Calvin Lieberman, the donor of this object, was associated with the steel recyling business in Toledo, Ohio, from at least 1937 through 1980.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: J. H. McCarthy, <I>American Digest of Business Machines</I>, 1924, pp. 75–76, 549.
label: Description
content: <I> Business Machines and Equipment Digest</I>, 1928, vol. I, p. 9–23.
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 Calvin Lieberman
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1980.0805.01
label: catalog number
content: 1980.0805.01
label: accession number
content: 1980.0805
label: maker number
content: KC 2097
objectType: label: Object Name
content: calculating machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 23 cm x 35 cm x 32.5 cm; 9 1/16 in x 13 25/32 in x 12 25/32 in