[AlArchie]

Down in the dungeon, below our house, I came across this little device, once owned by my mom. It is obviously some type of calculator, but I haven't the slightest idea of how it works. I checked on several sites that deal with old and antique office and adding machines but have only found others with the same question.

Sooooo....I'll ask here and hope that the vast scope of experience in this group may have some ideas.

How does this thing work, and does anyone have instructions for it?

Al

[GILLY]

Neat find, but, sorry I can't help. I still use my fingers and toes...LOL

[Kenny_S]

Do you suppose that the hands corrosponds to the number wheel above it? Are there little prongs on the end of the hands(upper part to put in the number holes?

Yep ALA, ya got a good one for someone to answer.
I have an Japanese adding bead machine and have had it for a number of years and it is to complicated for my old brain. I use to watch by grandmother use it and the quickness of her hand baffled me for years. Either she was snow jobbing me or she knew qqhat she was doing.
Neat though, eh?.
Edited- Well, the back side has hole to show the added numbers . However, I am no closer to any answer. I original thought that the last 2 red numbers wheels were the cents and the mide three were the hundreds and the first 2 red number wheels were the thousands, but again, I have no answer.
Have you tried adding simple numbers to see if you came up with the correct total? Hmmm, more question than answers.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Kind of based on an abacus I think....first numbers are 1...2nd are 10's....3rd are 100's etc... add your first numbers until you reach 10 and that becomes 1 on the next wheel etc etc......would like to see it closer but thats my quick opinion.....

[Petal]

Hi AlAchie
I found it! and it's worth 175.00 bucks

http://www.newbegin.com/html/scienti...detail_28.html
Hope it makes your day
Petal

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

LOL......they "collect" them, but thats the first one they have found ha ha.....like me and million dollar bills, I collect them, but haven't found one yet!!

[AlArchie]

Thanks, Petal! That looks just about like the one I have, except mine has a row of "carry-over" levers across the bottom. I did (sort of) figure out how it works. First there is an index hole at each "0" mark, and a cog that lifts the carry lever at each "10", revealing a red slash that shows you have to move the next wheel to the left, one digit up.

So, starting at the right wheel, you put a stylus in the hole at the first digit you want to add, then turn it clockwise untill the stylus drops into the index hole (say 8), then pick the next digint you want to add and do the same (say 9). When the stylus at the 9 drops into the index hole, the cog will have moved the carry lever, revealing a red slash that means to go to that wheel and advance the "1" digit to the index hole. If you flip the thing over now, and look in the window, there will be a 7 in the penny window and a 1 in the dime window.

Reset the lever and continue with either wheel, or add in whole dollars, tens, hundreds, etc.

It all seems a bit complex just to add money up, but it does work.

A hundred and 75 bucks, huh? think I'll just keep it as a memento!~

Thanks, again,

Al

[carver6]

Originally Posted by Hi_Ho_Sliver

LOL......they "collect" them, but thats the first one they have found ha ha.....like me and million dollar bills, I collect them, but haven't found one yet!!

That's too bad Dave!! I'm working on finding my second. (Gave up on the first.)
Garon