Mechanical Slide Adders/Addiators

KEEP ISRM FREE!

J. Louis Troncet Arithomgraphe 1889

Here is a good paper on the history of the Addiators and the Magic Brain Calculator brand of slide adder made in the United States. (need author's name).

Slide Adders are a flat mechanical hand-held mechanical calculator that is used principally for addition and subtraction and for the most part were pocket-sized. They were sometimes assembled onto the back side of a closed body slide rule. The invention of the slide adder was described by Abaque Rhabdologique of Claude Perrault, a Parisian doctor, in about 1669. The Frenchman Caze (1720) and the Russian Kummer (1847) build the first commercial calculators based on this principle. Louis Troncet (1889) was one of later producers. J. Louis Troncet of France's first version was called the Arithmographe.

One of the most popular versions of the slide adder was the Addiator, which was newly designed by Carl Kübler (born 1875) and manufactured in Germany as Addiator GmbH. Küubler capitalized on the fact that the original patents by Otto Meuter had expired. Introduced in 1920, over 100,000 units were sold in the first year, and versions of this device remained in production as late as 1975. Featuring a novel carry mechanism, the Addiator could be used to add or subtract, but addition and subtraction required two different control panels. In early versions of these devices, the two panels were provided by flipping an overlay on the front or by having the addition function on the front and the subtraction function on the back (later models had two separate panels on the front). The addiator is comprised of three components, the body containing multiple slides used for calculation, a stylus, and a handle to reset the addiator. The calculations are performed by inserting the tip of the stylus in notches in the metal plates in the addiator. There are other variations involving dials or tables as shown in the gallery. The narrow versions of Addiators were incorporated on the back of some models of Faber-Castell slide rules, and others. Note, although there were many other manufacturer's of slide adders, the name Addiator (by the German firm of the same name) has become synonymous amongst collectors of these devices just like Xerox for a photo copy and Kleenex for tissues.


One of the best sources of history on Addiators is Friedrich Diestelkamp's website www.addiator.de in German and
Non-Decimal Calculators in English which descibes the above evolution of sizes.




Add-A-Mite Circular Pocket Calculator

ISRM 13.04.03.02
or
1.6MB PDF

Add-A-Mite Circular Pocket Calculator
Made in USA by Monogram of California, 2500 18th ST. San Francisco 10, Calif.
Aluminum and steel construction, circa 1940-1950, Patent Pending
Front Scale: Mechanical Adder (+ / -) $0-$25
Note: Knob zeros dollar digits. Rotating indexing lever CCW adds cents, CW subtracts cents


P266 Alco Personal Calculator
Alco Personal Calculator
Made in Japan - Aluminum Addiator and Slide Rule
Front Scale
Mechanical Addiator (+ / -)
Back:
A [ B, CI, C ] D


P154 Faber-Castell 63/98R
Elektro with Addiator
Faber-Castell 63/98R Elektro
with Addiator Hybrid

Made in Germany
Front Scale
14cm // LL2, A(KW) [ B(PS), CI, C ] D, LL3 \\ 5.5in
Back scale: [ Sin, Lg, Tg ]
Well scale: Dynamo/Motor n=%, Volt
Original Owner/Location: M.Bachmann/Germany

ISRM Ve-Po-Ad
Adding Machine

Atticus Cleo
Shadburn
ISRM Ve-Po-Ad Adding Machine
Marked as Distributed by Lyons Associates, Chicago, Illinois. Sold for $2.95 c1925

Belonged to Atticus Cleo Shadburn (1889-1954) US Navy Lieutenant Commander. Buried at the Golden Gate National Cemetary, San Bruno, California.
Donated by granddaughter Dorthy Cobb and husband Dick Cobb.



Addiator Calculex

Addiator Calculex
This is basically a multiplication table.used to obtain percentages.of values.


Lightning Adding Machine

ISRM A04 (display case)
Lightning Adding Machine c1953
Size: 3/8 x 12 x 2-1/2 in
Made by the The Lightning Adding machine Company in Los Angeles, California. This U.S. dollar oriented analog adding machine adds up to $99,999.99 using 7 dials. As a dial crosses over from 9 to 0 the digit to the left rotates one increment. Results are seen in the little round windows above the dials. The calculator is set to zero by pulling on the slide on the left side.


Addometer Model C (Feet & Inches)

ISRM A12 (display case)

Addometers were made in 3 models (as listed in Nov 1928 Popular Science Ad on left).
  • Fractional Decimal Model A counts to 99,999.99 7/8. Ideal for general use.
  • Standard Decimal Model B counts to 999.999.99 (no fractions). Designed for folks who deal in very larg numbers.
  • Lineal Measure Model C counts up to $999,999 feet 11-7/8 inches. Particularly valuable to architects, etc
  • Addometer Model C (Feet & Inches) c1928.
    "The Portable Adding Machine For Home Or Office"
    Size: 296 x 50 x 15 mm (11.75" x 2.0" x 0.6").
    Made by the Reliable Typewriter and Adding Machine Co., Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., 1900s - 1960s.
    In this feet and inches version, there are 5 decimal wheels for feet plus two for inches. The wheel second from the right has numbers to 11 for dealing with inches. The wheel on the right deals with eigths and quarters of an inch. As a dial crosses over to 0 the digit to the left rotates one increment. Results are seen in the little round windows at bottom inside each dial. The calculator is set to zero by pulling on the slide on the right side.

    Internals, photo courtesy of vintagecalculators.com

    Model B and Model C Instructions courtesy of reliquarie.com

    ISRM Magic Brain Calculator (Generic)

    Made in Japan

    ISRM Compact Calculator

    (Same as Magic Brain) Made in Japan

    ISRM Chadwick Magic Brain Calculator

    Made in Japan

    ISRM Addfeet Junior Addiator


    ISRM PIC German Calculator

    Archive photo

    ISRM Midget Adding Machine, in Cardboard Folder

    12 x 7,7 x 0,3 cm, USA (Missing Stylus). This was a low-cost version of Ve-Po-Add.

    ISRM Addiator Adding Machine



    ISRM Ve-Po-Ad Adding Machine

    Reliable Typewriter and adding machine
    company. Chicago, Illinois.

    A07 Arithma Addiator

    ISRM Addiator Universal Standard Model

    Archive photo

    A09 Addiator Universal S

    ISRM Addimult


    ISRM Produx Addiator


    ISRM Tasco Pocket Arithmometer

    13,6 x 7,5 x 0,5 cm, Bright Metal

    A01 Sterling 565 Adding Machine


    REF Picma Unis Elpe' France
    Archive photo

    REF Soviet Addiator
    Archive photo

    REF Accurator Pocket Calculator (Hong Kong)
    Archive photo

    REF Soviet Addiator
    Archive photo

    ISRM Kesling Pocket Adder

    The Hart Vance Company
    Made in USA, St. Louis,
    Missouri. US Patent #2,450,668
    Donated by Shell Thuet

    Addiator Factory Visit (Addiator Besuch)

    Promotional brochure for Addiator customers. Gray box, 1x folded, with a photo insert card. (reproduced here from rechnerlexikon.de)