Payroll Counter or Denominator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1921
name: label: maker
content: Denominator Adding Machine Company
notes: label: Description
content: At a time when employers paid workers in cash, knowing the combination of bills and coins needed to meet a payroll was a challenge. The Denominator, a device for counting items in classes, eased that task and similar cash payments. It consists of a set of eleven counters, each with a separate operating key. Six keys are for values of cents, and five for dollar values. Behind each key are three wheels; the value shown by the wheels increases by one each time the key is pressed. The keys are marked: $20; $10; $5; $2; $1; 50¢; 25¢; 10¢; 5¢; 3¢; 1¢.
label: Description
content: A steel wing nut on the left side zeros when rotated. On the right side is a space for a sheet of forms.
label: Description
content: A mark on the top behind the wheels reads: DENOMINATOR (/) PATENTS PENDING. A mark in front of the keys reads: DENOMINATOR ADDING MACHINE CO. (/) 224-226 SHEPHERD AVE. BROOKLYN, N.Y. A mark on the wing nut reads: 2249.
label: Description
content: The Denominator Adding Machine Company of Brooklyn, N.Y. is listed in Thomas’s <I>Register of American Manufacturers</I> from 1916 through at least 1928. According to Martin, it originated in 1915. William A. Cook of Hollis, N.Y, and Joseph Levine of Brooklyn, N.Y., applied for a patent for a “denominating apparatus” March 9, 1921. Their invention closely resembles this product. When the patent was granted in 1923, they assigned it to the Denominator Adding Machine Company. The date of this patent application is taken as the approximate date of the object.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: W. A. Cook and J. Levine, “Denominating Apparatus,” U. S. Patent 1,444,586, February 6, 1923..
label: Description
content: J. H. McCarthy, <I>American Digest of Business Machines</I>, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, pp. 42-43.
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. 290-291.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Brooklyn
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Business
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Counters
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Pratt-Read Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1988.0795.01
label: catalog number
content: 1988.0795.01
label: accession number
content: 1988.0795
objectType: label: Object Name
content: counter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: felt (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 cm x 32.1 cm x 11 cm; 2 3/4 in x 12 5/8 in x 4 11/32 in