adding machine

Older adding machine. Action like car odometer.

 Invented in 1642 by Blaise Pascal, the adding machine is just like a slideruler An adding machine is a type of calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping calculations. 

In the United States, very old adding machines were usually built to read in dollars and cents. They required the user to pull a crank to add numbers. The numbers were input by pressing keys on a large keypad: for instance, the amount $30.72 was input using keys corresponding to "$30", "70¢", and "2¢", and then pulling the crank. Subtraction was impossible, except by adding the complement of a number (for instance, subtract $2.50 by adding $9,997.50). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1096, 303 KB) Summary Mechanical calculating machine. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1096, 303 KB) Summary Mechanical calculating machine. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1087x367, 198 KB) Summary age not know, probably 19th centruy Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1087x367, 198 KB) Summary age not know, probably 19th centruy Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... A modern basic arithmetic calculator For other uses, see Calculator (disambiguation). ... Accountancy (British English) or accounting (American English) is the process of maintaining, auditing, and processing financial information for business purposes. ... In mathematics and computing, the method of complements is a technique used to subtract one number from another using only addition of positive numbers. ...

A later adding machine, called the comptometer, did not require that a crank be pulled to add. Numbers were input simply by pressing keys. The machine was thus driven by finger power. A Comptometer is a type of mechanical (or electro-mechanical) adding machine. ...

Some adding machines were electromechanical -- an old-style mechanism, but driven by electric power. In engineering, electromechanics combines electromagnetism and mechanics. ...

Some "ten-key" machines had input of numbers as on a modern calculator -- 30.72 was input as "3", "0", "7", "2". These machines could subtract as well as add. Some could multiply and divide, although including these operations made the machine more complex. A modern basic arithmetic calculator For other uses, see Calculator (disambiguation). ...

These old machines could be difficult to maintain and might give wrong answers if the mechanism failed. It was probably better to learn to use an abacus. An abacus is a calculation tool, often constructed as a wooden frame with beads sliding on wires. ...

Modern adding machines are like simple calculators. They often have a different input system, though.

Note: Sometimes the adding machine will have a key labeled * instead of T. In this case, substitute * for T in the examples above. Alternatively, the plus key may continuously total instead of either a * or T key. Sometimes, the plus key is even labeled thus: +/=

Patent drawing for Burroughs's calculating machine, 1888.

William Seward Burroughs received a patent for his adding machine on August 21, 1888. The Burroughs Adding Machine Company evolved to produce electronic billing machines and mainframes, and eventually merged with Sperry to form Unisys. The grandson of the inventor of the adding machine is Beat author William S. Burroughs (best known for Naked Lunch.) Download high resolution version (838x1200, 207 KB)Drawing for a Calculating Machine, 08/21/1888. ... Download high resolution version (838x1200, 207 KB)Drawing for a Calculating Machine, 08/21/1888. ... Patent no. ... 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the twentieth century. ... Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) is a provider of information technology services and solutions with operations across the world. ... The term Beat Generation refers primarily to a group of American writers of the 1950s whose work strongly influenced the cultural transformations of the 60s. ... William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) William Seward Burroughs II (pronounced ) (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American novelist, essayist, social critic and spoken word performer. ...

The Adding Machine is also a 1923 expressionist play by the American playwright Elmer Rice. The play dramatizes The Adding Machine was a 1923 play by Elmer Rice, and is generally considered to be the first American Expressionist play. ... 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Elmer Rice photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1934 Elmer Rice (1892 - 1967) was an early 20th century Jewish-American playwright. ...

...the dreary life, death, and after-life of Mr. Zero, a white-collar drone who learns that, after twenty-five years, `the Boss' has fired him in favor of a machine. In the expressionistic spectacle depicting Zero's inner turmoil, the stage rotates, and overlapping sound effects screech as the one-dimensional Boss jabbers, `efficiency! economy! business! business! BUSINESS'. Tried and executed for the boss's murder.... Zero retreats to a dingy supernatural office, where he operates a celestial adding machine. Finally, `Lieutenant Charles' announces his plans to reincarnate him in order to operate `a super-hyper-adding machine, as far from this piece of junk as you are from God'.... Rice's stage directions call for a stream of adding machine tape that `climbs the walls and chokes the doorways.' In production, designer Lee Simonson had the inspiration to fill the stage with an immense adding machine... The increased visual importance of the adding machine in this final scene helps to make up for its largely tangential relationship to the rest of the play and reinforces its root message about the indifference of modern society towards the debased souls that it produces. (Dennis G. Jerz, Technology in American Drama, pg. 22, 28)