Burkhardt Arithmometer Model E
date: label: date made
content: ca 1925
name: label: maker
content: Vereinigte Glashuetter Rechenmachinenfabriken
notes: label: Description
content: In 1878 a German firm in Glashütte began making a stepped drum calculating machine with modifications on the design of the engineer Arthur Burkhardt. The company made various improvements in its products over the years. In 1920, not long after Burkhardt’s death, this firm merged with a company in the same city to form Vereinigte Glashütter, the manufacturers of this machine.
label: Description
content: The stepped drum, manually operated, non-printing calculating machine has ten levers covered with black and white plastic tops (one top is missing), which are moved upward to set a number. The number entered appears in a row of ten discs above the levers. Four levers do not reset to zero. Left of the levers is a key stem for addition and multiplication and another for subtraction and division. The second key stem has no top. At the front of the machine on the right is a round stem with no key on it.
label: Description
content: A crank on the top of the machine at the right has a wooden handle and is rotated clockwise to calculate. Behind the levers is a movable carriage with a row of nine small discs in the revolution register and a row of 16 larger discs in the result register. Zeroing levers for both of these registers are on the right of the carriage. Thin metal rods carry decimal markers for each register. The bottom of the machine has a hard rubber panel and one (of an earlier four) rubber foot.
label: Description
content: Marks on the front of the machine, on the left top, and in back read: BURKHARDT-ARITHMOMETER. A mark on the carriage reads: MODELL “E”. Stenciled in paint on the bottom is the mark: MADE IN GERMANY. Engraved on the back edge of the carriage on the right side is the mark: 12108 9564W. A mark below the levers on the front of the machine reads: VEREINIGTE GLASHÜTTER RECHENMASCHINENFABRIKEN - GLASHÜTTE i/SA.
label: Description
content: This machine came to the Smithsonian from the collection of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company.
label: Description
content: Compare MA.313158, MA.313519, MA.323624 and MA.323597.
label: Description
content: Reference:
label: Description
content: E. Martin, <I>The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen)</I>, trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 78–82.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany: Saxony, Glashütte
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 Victor Comptometer Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.323624
label: catalog number
content: 323624
label: accession number
content: 250163
label: maker number
content: 12108 9564W
objectType: label: Object Name
content: calculating machine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15.2 cm x 56.8 cm x 15.2 cm; 5 31/32 in x 22 3/8 in x 5 31/32 in