What does an adding machine look like? Material for the curious
who created the very first adding machine? and got the best answer
Answer from Mooncat[guru]
150-100 BC e. - Antikythera mechanism created in Greece
1623 - Wilhelm Schickard invented the "calculating clock"
1642 - Blaise Pascal invented "pascaline"
1672 - Leibniz's Calculator was created - the world's first adding machine. In 1672, a two-bit machine appeared, and in 1694, a twelve-bit machine. This adding machine was not widely used because it was too complex and expensive for its time.
1674 - Moreland machine created
1820 - Thomas de Colmar began serial production of adding machines. In general, they were similar to the Leibniz adding machine, but had a number of design differences.
50s XIX century - P. L. Chebyshev created the first adding machine in Russia.
1890 - serial production of Odhner's adding machines began - the most common type of adding machines of the 20th century. Odhner's adding machines include, in particular, the famous "Felix".
1919 - Mercedes-Euklid VII appeared - the world's first automatic machine, that is, an adding machine capable of independently performing all four basic arithmetic operations.
1950s - The rise of computers and semi-automatic adding machines. It was at this time that most of the models of electromechanical computers were released.
1969 - Peak production of adding machines in the USSR. About 300 thousand Felixes and VK-1s were produced.
late 1970s - early 1980s - Around this time, electronic calculators finally replaced adding machines from store shelves
Answer from Lemnobelos[guru]
Mathematics professor Wilhelm Schickard is the first certified six-wheel computing machine.
A more advanced binary arithmometer was created in 1673 by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. The first mass production of arithmothers with an accuracy of up to the 20th decimal place since 1821 by the creator Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar (answer from the user "Moon Cat" - not exactly...)
Answer from Vovan de Mort[guru]
Johann Sebastian Arithmometer
Answer from Odins[guru]
it was the car with wheels and numbers that appeared during the Porizhian revolution
and its earliest appearance was in ancient Greece when a certain copper device was found on one of the sunken galleries capable of calculating and showing many astronomical objects
Answer from 3 answers[guru]
Until a certain point in its development, humanity, when counting objects, was content with a natural “calculator” - ten fingers given from birth. When they became scarce, we had to come up with various primitive tools: counting stones, sticks, abacus, Chinese suan-pan, Japanese soroban, Russian abacus. The design of these instruments is primitive, but handling them requires a fair amount of skill. For example, for a modern person born in the era of calculators, mastering multiplication and division on an abacus is extremely difficult. Such miracles of “bone” balancing act are now possible, perhaps, only for a microprogrammer privy to the secrets of the operation of an Intel microprocessor.
A breakthrough in the mechanization of counting came when European mathematicians began racing to invent adding machines. However, it’s worth starting the review with a fundamentally different class of computers.
Dead end branch
In 1614, the Scottish baron John Napier (1550-1617) published a brilliant treatise, “Description of the Surprising Table of Logarithms,” which introduced a revolutionary computational method into mathematical use. Based on the logarithmic law, which, so to speak, “replaces” multiplication and division with addition and subtraction, tables were compiled that facilitate the work, first of all, of astronomers operating with large arrays of numbers.
After some time, the Welshman Edmund Gunter (1581-1626) proposed a mechanical device using a logarithmic scale to facilitate calculations. Several scales graduated according to the exponential law were accompanied by two measuring compasses, which had to be operated simultaneously, determining the sum or difference of the scale segments, which made it possible to find the product or quotient. These manipulations required increased care.
In 1632, English mathematicians William Oughtred (1575-1660) and Richard Delamain (Richard Delamain, 1600-1644) invented the slide rule, in which the scales are shifted relative to each other, and therefore, when calculating, there was no need to use such a burden, like compasses. Moreover, the British proposed two designs: rectangular and round, in which logarithmic scales were printed on two concentric rings rotating relative to each other.
The “canonical” design of the slide rule appeared in 1654 and was used throughout the world until the beginning of the era of electronic calculators. Its author was the Englishman Robert Bissaker. He took three graduated strips 60 centimeters long, fastened the two outer ones with a metal frame, and the middle one was used as a slider that slid between them. But this design did not provide for a slider that recorded the result of the operation performed. The need for this undoubtedly useful element was expressed in 1675 by the great Sir Isaac Newton (Isaac Newton, 1643-1727), again an Englishman. However, his absolutely fair wish was realized only a century later.
It should be noted that the logarithmic method of calculations is based on the analog principle, when numbers are “replaced” by their analogues, in this case, the lengths of segments. Such an analogue is not discrete; it does not increase by one in the least significant digit of the number. This is a continuous quantity, which, unfortunately, has a certain error that arises during its measurement and low accuracy of presentation. In order for a slide rule to be able to process, say, 10-digit numbers, its length must reach several tens of meters. It is quite clear that the implementation of such a project is absolutely pointless.
On the same ideological principle as the slide rule, analog computers (AVM) were created in the 20th century. In them, the calculated quantity was represented by an electric potential, and the computational process was modeled using an electrical circuit. Such devices were quite versatile and made it possible to solve many important problems. The undeniable advantage of the AVM compared to digital machines of that time was its high performance. An equally undeniable drawback is the low accuracy of the results obtained. When powerful computer systems appeared in the 1980s, the speed problem became less acute, and AVMs gradually faded into the shadows, although they did not disappear from the face of the earth.
Toothy arithmetic
At a superficial glance, it may seem that the court of history has dealt even more mercilessly with another type of computing mechanism - adding machines. Indeed, now they can only be found in museums. For example, in our Polytechnic, or in the German Museum in Munich (Deutches Museum), or in the Museum of Computer Science in Hannover (Ponton Computer-Museum). However, this is fundamentally wrong. Based on the operating principle of arithmometers (bitwise addition and shifting the sum of partial products), electronic arithmetic devices, the “head” of the computer, were created. Subsequently, they acquired a control device, memory, peripherals, and, in the end, were “embedded” in a microprocessor.
One of the first adding machines, or rather “adding machine,” was invented by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) around 1500. True, no one knew about his ideas for almost four centuries. A drawing of this device was discovered only in 1967, and from it IBM recreated a fully functional 13-bit adding machine, which used the principle of 10-tooth wheels.Ten years earlier, as a result of historical research in Germany, drawings and a description of an adding machine were discovered, made in 1623 by Wilhelm Schickard (1592-1636), a professor of mathematics at the University of Tübingen. It was a very “advanced” 6-bit machine, consisting of three nodes: an addition-subtraction device, a multiplying device, and a block for recording intermediate results. If the adder was made on traditional gears that had cams for transferring a transfer unit to an adjacent digit, then the multiplier was built in a very sophisticated way. In it, the German professor used the “lattice” method, when, using a gear “multiplication table” mounted on shafts, each digit of the first factor is multiplied by each digit of the second, after which all these partial products are added with a shift.
This model turned out to be workable, which was proven in 1957, when it was recreated in Germany. However, it is unknown whether Schickard himself was able to build his own adding machine. There is evidence contained in his correspondence with the astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) that the unfinished model was destroyed by fire in a workshop. In addition, the author, who soon died of cholera, did not have time to introduce information about his invention into scientific use, and it became known only in the middle of the twentieth century.
Therefore, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), who was the first to not only design, but also build a working arithmometer, started, as they say, from scratch. A brilliant French scientist, one of the creators of probability theory, the author of several important mathematical theorems, a natural scientist who discovered atmospheric pressure and determined the mass of the earth’s atmosphere, and an outstanding thinker who left behind such works as “Thoughts” and “Letters to provincial,” was in everyday life the loving son of the president of the royal chamber of fees. As a nineteen-year-old boy in 1642, wanting to help his father, who spent a lot of time and effort preparing financial statements, he designed a machine that could add and subtract numbers.
The first sample constantly broke down, and two years later Pascal made a more advanced model. It was a purely financial machine: it had six decimal places and two additional ones: one divided into 20 parts, the other into 12, which corresponded to the ratio of the then monetary units (1 sou = 1/20 livre, 1 denier = 1/12 sou). Each category corresponded to a wheel with a specific number of teeth.
During his short life, Blaise Pascal, who lived only 39 years, managed to make about fifty calculating machines from a wide variety of materials: copper, various types of wood, ivory. The scientist presented one of them to Chancellor Seguier (Pier Seguier, 1588-1672), sold some models, and demonstrated some during lectures on the latest achievements of mathematical science. 8 copies have survived to this day.
It was Pascal who owned the first patent for the Pascal Wheel, issued to him in 1649 by the French king. As a sign of respect for his achievements in the field of “computational science,” one of the modern programming languages is named Pascal.
Modernizers
It is quite clear that the “Pascal Wheel” prompted inventors to improve the adding machine. A very original solution was proposed by Claude Perrault (1613-1688), brother of the world-famous storyteller, who was a man of broad interests and unique abilities: doctor, architect, physicist, naturalist, translator, archaeologist, designer, mechanic and poet. The creative legacy of Claude Perrault contains drawings of a summing machine dated 1670, in which racks with teeth are used instead of wheels. When moving forward, they rotate the total counter.
The next design word - and what a one! - said Gottfried Leibniz (Gottfried Leibniz, 1646-1716), the enumeration of whose merits and activities can be replaced with two succinct words “great thinker”. He did so much in mathematics that the “father of cybernetics” Norbert Wiener (Norbert Wiener, 1894-1964) proposed to canonize the German scientist and “designate” him as a patron saint of the creators of computers.
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In the 17th century, of course, there could be no talk of mass production of Leibniz's adding machines. However, not so few of them were released. For example, one of the models went to Peter I. The Russian Tsar disposed of the mathematical machine in a very unique way: he gave it to the Chinese Emperor for diplomatic purposes.
A review of constructive ideas related to the improvement of mechanical calculating machines would be incomplete without mentioning the Italian mathematician Giovanni Poleni (1683-1761). He began his scientific career as a professor of astronomy at the University of Padua. Then he moved to the Department of Physics. And soon he headed the department of mathematics, replacing Nicholas Bernoulli (1695-1726) in this post. His hobbies included architecture, archeology and designing ingenious mechanisms. In 1709, Poleny demonstrated an adding machine that used the progressive principle of the "variable-toothed gear." It also used a fundamental innovation: the machine was driven by the force of a falling load tied to the free end of a rope. This was the first attempt in the history of arithmometer construction to replace a manual drive with an external source of energy.
And in the 1820s, the English mathematician Charles Babbage (1791-1871) invented the Difference Engine and began building it. During Babbage's lifetime, this apparatus was never built, but, more importantly, when funding for the project dried up, the mathematician came up with the "Analytical Engine" for general calculations, and for the first time formalized and described the logic of... a computer. But, however, this is a slightly different story.
Large-scale producers
In the 19th century, when the technology of precision metal processing achieved significant success, it became possible to introduce an adding machine into a wide variety of areas of human activity, in which, as they now say, it is necessary to process large amounts of data. The pioneer of serial production of calculating machines was the Alsatian Charles-Xavier Thomas de Colmar (1785-1870). Having introduced a number of operational improvements to Leibniz’s model, in 1821 he began producing 16-digit adding machines in his Paris workshop, which became known as “Thomas machines.” At first they were not cheap - 400 francs. And they were produced in not so large quantities - up to 100 copies per year. But by the end of the century, new manufacturers appear, competition arises, prices go down, and the number of buyers increases.
Various designers, both in the Old and New Worlds, patent their models, which differ from the classical Leibniz model only by introducing additional ease of use. A bell appears indicating errors such as subtracting a larger number from a smaller number. The typesetting levers are replaced with keys. A handle is attached to carry the adding machine from place to place. Ergonomic performance increases. The design is being improved.
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In 1875, Odhner designed his first adding machine, the production rights of which he transferred to the Ludwig Nobel engineering plant. 15 years later, having become the owner of the workshop, Vilgodt Teofilovich launched the production of a new model of adding machine in St. Petersburg, which compares favorably with the calculating machines that existed at that time in its compactness, reliability, ease of use and high productivity.
Three years later, the workshop becomes a powerful plant, producing more than 5 thousand adding machines per year. A product with the mark “V. T. Odner Mechanical Plant, St. Petersburg” begins to gain worldwide popularity, it is awarded the highest awards at industrial exhibitions in Chicago, Brussels, Stockholm, and Paris. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Odhner adding machine began to dominate the world market.
After the sudden death of the “Russian Bill Gates” in 1905, Odner’s work was continued by his relatives and friends. The revolution put an end to the company’s glorious history: V.T. Mechanical Plant. Odner was converted into a repair plant.
However, in the mid-1920s, the production of adding machines in Russia was revived. The most popular model, called “Felix”, was produced at the plant named after. Dzerzhinsky until the end of the 1960s. In parallel with the Felix, the Soviet Union launched the production of electromechanical calculating machines of the VK series, in which muscular efforts were replaced by an electric drive. This type of computer was created in the image and likeness of the German Mercedes car. Electromechanical machines had significantly higher productivity compared to adding machines. However, the roar they created was like machine gun fire. If about two dozen Mercedes were working in the operating room, then in terms of noise it was reminiscent of a fierce battle.
In the 1970s, when electronic calculators began to appear - first tube, then transistor - all the mechanical splendor described above began to rapidly move to museums, where it remains today.
Mathematical engineering dates back to the end of the 19th century with the invention of adding machines. Among them is Thomson's machine, as well as Odhner's machine. The latter is considered the prototype of all adding machines; it was one of the most popular. Odhner's adding machine at one time made a breakthrough in this industry.
The adding machine was invented in 1874. But the production of adding machines began later. At that time, its design turned out to be the most successful of similar devices known to the world at that time. The main element of the device was the so-called Odhner wheel, which was a wheel with a variable number of teeth.
Odhner's adding machine
Odhner's wheel had nine teeth, the angle between two of them was represented as one. The adding machine had one wheel, which was assigned to one digit. It worked like this: the number of teeth that were extended by the lever was equal to the set number.
When the handle was turned, the teeth meshed with the idler gears and turned the counting register wheel. The angle at which this wheel turned was proportional to the number set on the levers. Thus, the set number was transferred to the counter.
Odhner was not the only one who worked towards the development of such a wheel. Poleni and Baldwin had patents for similar inventions, but they were unable to implement them in a finished device. Therefore, Odner became the developer of the device.
Vilgoldt Teofilovich Odner
Odner was born in Sweden in 1869, and some time later he moved to Russia. He worked and lived in St. Petersburg, first at a factory, and then in the service of the Expedition for the Procurement of State Papers, which was at that time the largest enterprise in St. Petersburg. The expedition was engaged in the procurement of state papers; it was founded with the aim of controlling and eliminating the possibility of manufacturing counterfeit ones in factories, which was common before its appearance.
During his work, Odner showed himself to be an outstanding inventor with a creative approach. He was involved in the mechanization of production areas and was successful. Among other things, his adding machine was intended to mechanize the numbering of credit bills - an operation that had previously been carried out entirely manually. Thanks to him, we also received such inventions as turnstiles, which were later used on steamships, a ballot box, and tissue paper.
Adding machine
The device had a reliable design, which was so successful that after a long time there were practically no changes. In addition, the advantages of the calculating device were its physical parameters and convenient shape, which allowed it to be widely used and thereby facilitate the work of the calculator.
The characteristics of the device were as follows:
- the volume of the device was small, the area it occupied was only 5 by 7 inches;
- the device was highly durable, and its simple operating mechanism made it easy to repair;
- when changing work skills, the operation with the adding machine could be performed quite quickly;
- learning to work with an adding machine did not take much time and was not difficult; everyone could learn to work with it;
- The adding machine always produced a true result at the output, provided that all actions were followed correctly.
Since after the invention of his device Odhner did not have the funds to start production, he decided to transfer the rights to the invention to the company Königsberger and Co. Unfortunately, she only managed to build a batch of adding machines. They were produced at the Ludwig Nobel plant, and today it is believed that only one device from this batch has survived. This unique example is in the museum. The basis was taken from the first patents, which distinguished this adding machine from mass-produced ones by the following features:
- Unlike a conventional adding machine, the handle of this sample rotated in the opposite direction: clockwise when subtracting, and counterclockwise when adding;
- the results counter was located above the revolution counter;
- the numbers were written on wheels, and the adding machine had special windows for reading them;
- the digit capacity of the setting mechanism was eight, the results counter was ten, and the revolutions were seven, which was somewhat less than that of serial samples;
- The parts have the number 11 on them, which is assumed to be the serial number.
For several years Odhner worked on a new version of the adding machine, and later he invented a device whose design included intermediate mechanisms and allowed the handle to be rotated in a direction more familiar to humans. For the operation of addition and subtraction, it was now rotated clockwise, that is, away from itself. The setting numbers were placed on the front panel, and the counters were located nearby. The accuracy of calculations also increased because there were more registers.
The production of new and improved machines began already in 1886 in a small workshop. But there were some difficulties: it turned out that all rights were retained by the company Keninsberg and Co., so it was illegal for Odner to produce adding machines.
In 1890, he applied to the Department of Commerce with a request to grant him a ten-year privilege to produce improved machines. Thanks to this permission, he finally becomes the legal owner of the invention. The small workshop where the inventor and his partners began producing the first models of an improved design is gradually expanding and becoming a factory. In the first year of their work, they produced only 500 adding machines, and after six years their annual production amounted to 5,000 such devices.
Arithmometers are widely known and exhibited at international exhibitions. In 1893, they were presented at the World Exhibition in Chicago and received the highest award, followed by a silver medal at the All-Russian Industry Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod and gold medals in Brussels, as well as in Stockholm and Paris.
In 1807 he became the sole owner of the plant. And since 1897, the adding machine has been stamped with the “Odner mechanical plant” stamp. Odner himself continues to be engaged in design activities, gradually begins to invent new models, and the design of the mechanism is improved. The standard digits of the setting mechanism at that time were nine, thirteen for the result counter and eight for the revolution counter. In addition, the carriage becomes larger in capacity.
The adding machine is sold by the Trading House of Emmanuel Mitenets, and it costs 115 rubles. After the death of V. T. Odner from heart disease on September 2, 1905, his work was continued by friends and relatives. The new brand under which the devices are produced at the plant is called “Odner-original”. After the revolution, the plant was renamed and production of the adding machine ceased.
The production of mechanical calculating machines was revived in the 1920s at the Dzerzhinsky State Mechanical Plant in Moscow. Gradually, adding machines are improved and they begin to be produced under other brands: “Soyuz”, “Dynamo”, “Felix”. The latter were the most popular. Felix adding machines were distinguished by their smaller dimensions and improved mechanism transport. A lot of them were produced in the USSR, several million machines over 40 years without making significant changes to the design of the device.
Further development of the adding machine
Production and release of devices continued around the world. Among them, the most famous were “Facit”, “Voltaire”, “Merchant” and others. "Facit" was a direct descendant of the adding machine of the Odhner system. In 1932, the first keyboard adding machine was developed on its basis. The first electromechanical adding machines were developed under the Brunswi, Walter and Triumphator brands. A domestic similar machine “VK-1” was created at the Penza plant “Schetmash” in 1951.
Afterwards, it became the basis for the production of semi-automatic machines with ten keys “VK-2”, “VK-3”, which at one time became very widespread.
One of the most successful modifications of the Odner adding machine produced in the Soviet Union is the Felix machine. It worked reliably and was widely available.
Now adding machines are considered a rarity. They can be found mainly in museums and private collections. And the cost of the earliest and rarest models can be quite high.
Adding machine(from the Greek αριθμός - “number”, “counting” and the Greek μέτρον - “measure”, “meter”) - a desktop (or portable) mechanical computing machine designed for accurate multiplication and division, as well as for addition and subtraction.
Desktop or portable: Most often, adding machines were desktop or “knee-mounted” (like modern laptops); occasionally there were pocket models. This distinguished them from large floor-standing computers such as tabulators (T-5M) or mechanical computers (Z-1, Charles Babbage's Difference Engine).
Mechanical: Numbers are entered into the adding machine, converted and transmitted to the user (displayed in counter windows or printed on tape) using only mechanical devices. In this case, the adding machine can use exclusively a mechanical drive or perform part of the operations using an electric motor (the most advanced adding machines - computers, for example "Facit CA1-13", use an electric motor for almost any operation).
Exact calculation: Arithmometers are digital (not analog, such as a slide rule) devices. Therefore, the calculation result does not depend on the reading error and is absolutely accurate.
Multiplication and division: Arithmometers are designed primarily for multiplication and division. Therefore, almost all adding machines have a device that displays the number of additions and subtractions - a revolution counter (since multiplication and division are most often implemented as sequential addition and subtraction; for more details, see below).
Addition and subtraction: Adding machines can perform addition and subtraction. But on primitive lever models (for example, on the Felix) these operations are performed very slowly - faster than multiplication and division, but noticeably slower than on the simplest adding machines or even manually.
Not programmable: When working on an adding machine, the order of actions is always set manually - immediately before each operation, you should press the corresponding key or turn the corresponding lever. This feature of the adding machine is not included in the definition, since there were practically no programmable analogues of adding machines.
Charles Babbage's Difference Engine
Figure 9. Charles Babbage's Difference Engine
History of creation
Charles Babbage, while in France, became acquainted with the works of Gaspard de Prony, who served as head of the census bureau under the French government from 1790 to 1800. Prony, who was tasked with calibrating and improving logarithmic trigonometric tables in preparation for the introduction of the metric system, proposed that the work be divided into three levels. At the top level, a group of prominent mathematicians was engaged in the derivation of mathematical expressions suitable for numerical calculations. The second group calculated function values for arguments spaced five or ten intervals apart. The calculated values were included in the table as reference values. After this, the formulas were sent to the third, most numerous group, whose members carried out routine calculations and were called “calculators.” They were only required to carefully add and subtract in the sequence determined by the formulas received from the second group.
De Prony's work (never completed due to the revolutionary times) led Babbage to think about the possibility of creating a machine that could replace the third group - calculators. In 1822, Babbage published an article describing such a machine, and soon began its practical creation. As a mathematician, Babbage was familiar with the method of approximating functions by polynomials and calculating finite differences. In order to automate this process, he began to design a machine, which was called - difference. This machine had to be able to calculate the values of polynomials up to the sixth power with an accuracy of up to the 18th digit.
In the same 1822, Babbage built a model of a difference engine, consisting of rollers and gears, manually rotated using a special lever. Having secured the support of the Royal Society, which considered his work “eminently worthy of public support,” Babbage appealed to the British government to fund full-scale development. In 1823, the British government provided him with a subsidy of £1,500 (the total amount of government subsidies Babbage received for the project ultimately amounted to £17,000).
While developing the machine, Babbage did not imagine all the difficulties associated with its implementation, and not only did not meet the promised three years, but nine years later he was forced to suspend his work. However, part of the machine did begin to function and performed calculations with even greater accuracy than expected.
Figure 10. Difference engine No. 2
The design of the difference machine was based on the use of the decimal number system. The mechanism was driven by special handles. When funding for the Difference Engine ceased, Babbage began designing a much more general analytical engine, but then still returned to the original development. The improved project he worked on between 1847 and 1849 was called "Difference Engine No. 2"(English) Difference Engine No. 2 ).
Based on Babbage's work and advice, Swedish publisher, inventor and translator Georg Schutz (Swedish Georg Scheutz) starting in 1854, managed to build several difference engines and even managed to sell one of them to the British government office in 1859. In 1855, Schutz's difference engine received a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. Some time later, another inventor, Martin Vibreg (Swedish Martin Wiberg), improved the design of the Schutz machine and used it to calculate and publish printed logarithmic tables.
Between 1989 and 1991, for the bicentenary of Charles Babbage's birth, a working replica was assembled from his original work at the Science Museum in London. difference engine No. 2. In 2000, a printer, also invented by Babbage for his machine, began operating in the same museum. After eliminating minor design inaccuracies found in old drawings, both designs worked flawlessly. These experiments brought an end to the long debate about the fundamental operability of Charles Babbage's designs (some researchers believe that Babbage deliberately introduced inaccuracies into his drawings, thus trying to protect his creations from unauthorized copying).
The prototype of the calculator - the adding machine - existed more than 300 years ago. Nowadays, complex mathematical calculations can be done with ease by silently pressing the keys of the same calculator or computer, mobile phone, smartphone (on which the corresponding applications are installed). Previously, this procedure took a lot of time and created a lot of inconvenience. But still, the appearance of the first calculating device made it possible to save on the costs of mental labor, and also pushed for further progress. Therefore, it is interesting to know who invented the adding machine and when it happened.
The appearance of the adding machine
Who invented the adding machine first? This person was the German scientist Gottfried Leibniz. The great philosopher and mathematician designed a device consisting of a movable carriage and a stepped roller. G. Leibniz introduced it to the world in 1673.
His ideas were adopted by the French engineer Thomas Xavier. He invented a calculating machine to perform the four operations of arithmetic. The numbers were set by moving the gear along the axis until the required numbers appeared in the slot, with each stepped roller corresponding to one digit of numbers. The device was driven by the rotation of a hand lever, which, in turn, moved gears and toothed rollers, producing the desired result. This was the first adding machine put into mass production.
Device Modifications
The Englishman J. Edmondzon was the one who invented the adding machine with a circular mechanism (the carriage performs an action in a circle). This device was created in 1889 based on the apparatus of Thomas Xavier. However, there were no significant changes in the design of the device, and this device turned out to be just as bulky and inconvenient as its predecessors. Subsequent analogues of the device also committed the same sin.
It is well known who invented the adding machine with a numeric keypad. It was the American F. Baldwin. In 1911, he introduced a counting device in which numbers were set in vertical digits containing 9 digits.
The production of such counting devices in Europe was established by engineer Carl Lindström, creating a device that was more compact in size and original in design. Here the stepped rollers were already positioned vertically rather than horizontally, and, in addition, these elements were arranged in a checkerboard pattern.
On the territory of the Soviet Union, the first adding machine was created at the Schetmash plant named after. Dzerzhinsky in Moscow in 1935. It was called a keyboard (KSM). Their production continued until and then was resumed in the form of new models of semi-automatic machines only in 1961.
During these same years, automatic devices were also created, such as “VMM-2” and “Zoemtron-214”, which were used in various fields, while the work was characterized by great noise and inconvenience, but this was the only device at that time that helped cope with a large volume of calculations.
Now these devices are considered a rarity; they can only be found as a museum exhibit or in the collection of lovers of ancient technology. We examined the question of who invented the adding machine, and also provided information about the history of the technical development of this device and hope that this information will be useful to readers.