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Dactyle Calculating Machine

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Chateau Frères of Paris
Description
This pinwheel, lever-set, non-printing calculating machine was made by the French firm of Chateau Frères, sold under the name Dactyle, and constructed on the design of the Swede W. T. Odhner. Odhner-style machines were first made in Russia (as Odhners), then in Germany (as Brunsvigas) and then in France (as the Dactyle, from about 1905).
In 1910, about a year after this machine was made, R. H. Marchant of San Francisco, the American agent for the Dactyle, decided to go into business himself, building a very similar machine. The Marchant Calculating Machine Company officially was incorporated in 1913, and made a wide range of calculating machines into the 1950s.
The machine, painted black, has nine levers toward the top for setting numbers. The operating crank is on the right side. In front is the carriage, with ten numeral wheels on the left for counting revolutions and 18 numeral wheels on the right for recording totals. The numeral wheels of the revolution counter are numbered from 0 to 9 in white and then from 8 down to 1 in red. The result wheels have the digits from 0 to 9 around the edge. The zeroing screws for the registers are at the two ends of the carriage.
A mark on the left front at the top reads: No. 5641.
This machine came to the Smithsonian from the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.
Reference:
E. Martin, The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen), trans. P.A. Kidwell and M.R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, p. 164.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Transfer from United States Naval Observatory
ca 1909
ID Number
2005.0174.02
accession number
2005.0174
catalog number
2005.0174.02
Object Name
calculating machine
Physical Description
iron (overall material)
steel (overall material)
brass (overall material)
wood (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 13.9 cm x 47.8 cm x 20.5 cm; 5 15/32 in x 18 13/16 in x 8 1/16 in
place made
France: Île-de-France, Paris
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Calculating Machines
Science & Mathematics
Mathematical Association of America Objects
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Record ID
nmah_1291209
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-98f0-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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Dactyle Calculating Machine
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