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Tim III Calculating Machine

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Ludwig Spitz & Co.
Description
This German stepped drum, manually operated non-printing calculating machine has a brass and iron case painted black. The eight digit setting levers link to both number dials and brass stepped drums. The number dials record digits entered. Levers in front of the dials zero the entry. An addition & multiplication / subtraction & division lever is on the left, and an operating crank on the right. The plate at the front is easily removed to show the levers and bell. The bell rings when the result changes sign (as in overdivision).
In back of the levers is the carriage, with nine revolution register dials and 16 result register dials. Both these registers can be set by hand. The revolution register dials have numbers in black (0 to 9) and in red (1 to 8). The zeroing bars for these registers are on the right of the carriage, and a knob for lifting the carriage is on its far left.
The machine has a metal tag attached to the front that reads: Ludwig Spitz & Co. G.m.b.H. (/) TIM (/) TIME IS MONEY (/) TRADE MARK. It also reads: TIM Calculating Machine Co (/) Chicago U.S.A. It is marked to the left of the entry levers: PATENT. A mark under the carriage on the right side reads: 03745. A mark under the carriage on the left side reads: 2549.
This model of the TIM was introduced in about 1909 and sold at least through 1924. This example was transferred to the Smithsonian collections from the Navy Memorial Museum at the Washington Navy Yard.
References:
E. Martin, The Calculating Machines (die Rechenmaschinen), trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 191–194.
J. H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, pp. 84–85. By this time, the American agent for the TIM calculating machine was the Times Into Company of Chicago, Illinois.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Transfer from US Navy Memorial Museum
ca 1911
ID Number
1979.0602.01
catalog number
1979.0602.01
accession number
1979.0602
maker number
03745
Object Name
calculating machine
Physical Description
steel (overall material)
brass (overall material)
rubber (overall material)
german silver (overall material)
iron (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 17 cm x 54.5 cm x 15 cm; 6 11/16 in x 21 15/32 in x 5 29/32 in
place made
Germany: Berlin, Berlin
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Calculating Machines
Science & Mathematics
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Record ID
nmah_690671
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-21de-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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TIM III Calculating Machine
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