American Adding Machine Model 4
date: label: date made
content: 1920
name: label: maker
content: American Can Company
notes: label: Description
content: This lever-set printing adding machine is manually operated. It has a plain steel case painted black. Seven levers that move in circular arcs between slots in the front of the case. The case is painted along the edges of the slots with the digits from 0 to 9 (large and in black and white) and 9 to 0 (small and in red). The large digits are used in addition, and the small ones in subtraction. A corrugation or depression in the cover marks each digit. Digits are set by placing the index finger in the corresponding depression and raising the lever by the thumb until it is stopped by the finger. They are entered by moving down a metal handle with a wooden knob on the right side. If the red clear key to the left of the levers is pressed down, moving this knob zeros the machine.
label: Description
content: The result appears in eight windows above the levers. Another handle, on the left side, zeros digits set incorrectly (this handle is not screwed in). The printing mechanism at the back top of the machine prints up to eight digits by striking a black and red ribbon. There is no paper tape. A loose metal piece is painted black. There are four rubber feet.
label: Description
content: The machine is marked on the front: AMERICAN (/) ADDING MACHINE (/) MODEL 4 (/) AMERICAN CAN COMPANY (/) PAT. AUGUST 27, 1912 (/) OTHER PATENTS PENDING CHICAGO, ILL. It is marked below the levers: PAY ROLL DISTRIBUTION - SEE INSTRUCTIONS. It is marked below the windows, at the top of the machine; AMERICAN. It is marked on the bottom: MODEL FOUR (/) NO-43021.
label: Description
content: Compare 1986.0894.01. The American adding machine model 4 was made from September 1917 to May 1922, with serials numbers between 22,000 and 75,200.
label: Description
content: According to donor Homer A. Walkup, this machine was used by his father, also named Homer A. Walkup, when he was a physician in Mt. Hope, West Virginia. Dr. Walkup acquired it in about 1920 for use in a cooperative grocery store intended as an alternative to the coal company’s store. The store lasted only about six to eight months. Formation of the store came at a time of labor trouble in West Virginia, in the era of the Battle of Blair Mountain. Dr. Walkup was enjoined by court order from going on company property, including company-owned housing. He successfully fought the court order and resumed house calls.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: J. H. McCarthy, <I>The American Digest of Business Machines</I>, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, p. 27, 518. By 1924, American adding machines were made by the American Adding Machine Company of Chicago.
label: Description
content: Accession file.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Adding Machines
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charlotte A. and Homer L. Walkup
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.0894.01
label: accession number
content: 1986.0894
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0894.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: adding machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 29.5 cm x 26 cm x 45 cm; 11 5/8 in x 10 1/4 in x 17 23/32 in