overall: 1.5 cm x 9.5 cm x 16.4 cm; 19/32 in x 3 3/4 in x 6 15/32 in
Object Name:
adder
Place made:
France: Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Marseilles
Date made:
ca 1925
Description:
By the 1920s, companies in the United States, Germany, and France manufactured inexpensive notched band adders. A firm in Marseille, France, under the direction of engineer E. Reybaud, sold this device from 1922 until at least 1930. This example was from the collection of L. Leland Locke.
The metal adder and stylus fit into a red paper container. The adder has nine columns of digits and a zeroing bar at the top. Instructions indicate that the device came in two models that sold for 25 and 40 francs. This was sufficiently inexpensive that every member of a commercial firm could have such an adder.
Reference: “The Register,” <I>Typewriter Topics</I>, vol. 76 (September 1930), p.14.
