Arithmometer

Patented by Thomas de Colmar in 1820, the Arithmometer (or Arithmomètre since it's a French machine) was the first commercially successful mechanical calculator that could add, subtract, and multiply. It could also divide with some user intervention. Using principles from previous mechanical calculators of the period, Thomas’ calculator was the most reliable calculator yet and was in production for ninety years.

Contents 1 History 2 Evolution 3 Notes 4 References 5 External Links

History

Thomas started to work on his machine while serving in the French Army. He made use of the stepped cylinder invented by Gottfried Leibniz. He patented it on November 18, 1820.

The first machine was built by a Parisian clockmaker named Devrine, it took him a year to build it. But, in order to make it work, he had to modify the patented design quite substantially. The Société d’encouragement pour l’industrie nationale was given this machine for review and it issued a very positive report on December 26, 1821.^[1] The only known prototype of this time is the 1822 machine on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Evolution

Over the years, the design of the Arithmometer went through three different phases:

• Useful Reference Encyclopedia 1820 - 1851: The machine implements a direct multiplication, where the number inscribed on the sliders is directly multiplied by a multiplicateur number. The machine is complicated, very few machines are made. No machines were made in between 1822 and 1844. In 1848 Thomas restarts the development of the machine. Around 1850, as part of a marketing effort, Thomas builds a few machines with exquisite boxes that he gives to the crown heads of Europe.

• Useful Reference Encyclopedia 1851 - 1887: The multiplicateur is removed. This makes the Arithmometer a simple adding machine, but thanks to the moving result carriage it still allows for easy multiplication under operator control. The true industrial production starts with this period. This is when the machine becomes accepted in businesses like insurance companies, banks, engineering firms, observatories ... all over the world. Around 1872^[2], for the first time in calculating machine history, the total number of machines manufactured is greater than 1,000. The arithmometer is the only reliable mechanical calculator available, it is fairly stable in its form and design.

• Useful Reference Encyclopedia 1887 - 1914: Under the management of Louis Payen many improvements are made like an incline mechanism, removable top and an easier re-zeroing mechanism. Unfortunatly the fundamental design stays the same and, at the turn of the century, after 50 years at the top, the Arithmometer loses its supremacy over the mechanical calculator industry. While in 1890, the Arithmometer was the most produced mechanical calculator in the world, ten years later, by 1900, at least four machines, the Comptometer and Burroughs' adding machine^[3] in the USA, Odhner's Arithmometer^[4] in Russia and Brunsviga in Germany had passed it in volume of machines manufactured.

Over the years, the term Arithmometer has been used on many different machines like Odhner's arithmometer and some portable pocket calculating machines. It was also used by some corporations like Burroughs corporation which started as the American Arithmometer Company in 1886. By the 1920s it had become a generic name for any machine based on its design with about twenty independent companies manufacturing Thomas' clones like Burkhardt, Layton, Saxonia, Gräber, Peerless, Mercedes-Elid, XxX, Archimedes ... just to name a few.

Because it is the first mass marketed and the first widely copied calculator, its design marks the starting point of the calculator industry which eventually lead to early computers.

The genuine Arithmometer was manufactured as Thomas de Colmar from 1820 until 1887, it then became L. Payen until 1907 and finally Veuve L. Payen until the manufacturing operation ended around 1914.

Of the 250 Arithmometers currently inventoried half of them are in museums around the world, the other half are in private collections.

Notes

1. ^ Bulletin de la société d’encouragement pour l’industrie nationale, Feb 1822, page 36, scanned by www.arithmometre.org
2. ^ Martin, E: The Calculating Machines, page 54, Charles Babbage Institute, 1992
3. ^ Cortada, J: Before The Computer, page 34, Princeton University Press, 1993
4. ^ Trogemann, G: History of Computer Devices in Russia, page 43, GWV-Vieweg, 2001

References

• Stan Augarten (1984) "Bit by Bit". Ticknor and Fields, p 37-39
• Luc de Brabandere (1995) "Calculus". Mardaga, p 115-123

External Links

Arithmometre.org - Main page - Complete history and model information
Arithmometre.org - Clones - List of Arithmometer clone manufacturers
ami19.org - A great site for patents and articles on 19th century mechanical calculators
Making the Arithmometer count - An in-depth study of the machine
Rechenmaschinen-Illustrated - A large display of mechanical calculators