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Catalog Data

Maker:
American Can Company Adding Machine Division  Search this
Physical Description:
rubber (overall material)
steel (overall material)
wood (overall material)
aluminum (overall material)
Measurements:
overall: 23.5 cm x 20.4 cm x 24.2 cm; 9 1/4 in x 8 1/32 in x 9 17/32 in
Object Name:
adding machine
Place made:
United States: Illinois, Chicago
Date made:
1916
Description:
This lever-set non-printing adding machine has an etched steel case, painted black and resting on four rubber feet. Seven levers move in circular arcs between slots in the case. The case is painted along the edges of the slots with 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, the small ones in subtraction. The cover has a corrugation or depression for 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 no number has been entered, moving the knob zeros the machine. The result appears in seven windows above the levers. Another handle on the right side zeros digits set incorrectly.
The machine is marked on a plaque attached to the front: AMERICAN (/) ADDING MACHINE (/) AMERICAN CAN COMPANY (/) ADDING MACHINE DIVISION (/) CHICAGO, ILL. No 23096. It is also marked there: PAT. AUG. 27, 1912 (/) OTHER PATS. PEND.
Compare MA.323606.
By 1924, American adding machines were made by the American Adding Machine Company of Chicago.
Reference:
J. H. McCarthy, <I>The American Digest of Business Machines</I>, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, p. 27, 518.
Location:
Currently not on view
Subject:
Mathematics  Search this
Credit Line:
Gift of Colonial Life Insurance Company of America
ID Number:
MA.333921
Accession number:
304369
Maker number:
23096
Catalog number:
333921
See more items in:
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Adding Machines
Science & Mathematics
Data Source:
National Museum of American History
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-10c6-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmah_690304