al@gtx.com (Alan Filipski) (12/13/88)
In article <327@tropix.UUCP> fad@tropix.UUCP (Frank A. DeWitt) writes: > >WANTED CURTA CALCULATOR > >also known as the "pepper mill". > >For the curios it is a pocket mechanical calculator built in the 60s before >the electronic calc. It was about 2 inches in dia. and had a small crank >on top. it had lots of knobs and levers and could multiply and divide >13 place numbers! Now it is only of intrest as a collectors item. > Yes, I remember the ads for these little things in either Popular Science or Scientific American in the 50's and early 60's. There is one advertised for sale in the Spring 1988 catalog from Historical Technology, Inc 6 Mugford st Marblehead, MA 01945 (617)631-2275 (the cost of the catalog is $6) they say it's the "large capacity" model (type II) with 11 input and 16 output digits. Some additional info from the catalog: "this calculator is a very clever and compact version of the Thomas de Colmar Arithmometer invented in 1820 based upon the step-gears of Leibniz' calculating machine of 1694. Although there were cicrular Leibniz machines which predated the de Colmar Arithmometer...it is most likely that the Curta itself is derived from later machines, Joseph Edmondson's crescent shaped, and somewhat larger calculator patented in 1883, followed by C Haemann's fully cylindrical version patented in 1902... descriptions of the Curta are to be found in Mathematical Machines v. 1, Digital Computers, by F. J. Murray (Columbia 1961) and Digital Calculating Machines, by G.A. Montgomerie, Van Nostrand, 1956" Here's the bad news: they want $375. I would have bought it myself if the price were closer to $100. Does anyone remember what the thing originally retailed for? Since I was a student at the time, all I remember is that it was more money than I had. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ( Alan Filipski, GTX Corp, 8836 N. 23rd Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85021, USA ) ( {allegra,decvax,hplabs,amdahl,nsc}!sun!sunburn!gtx!al (602)870-1696 ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) (12/15/88)
In article <835@gtx.com>, al@gtx.com (Alan Filipski) writes: > they say it's the "large capacity" model (type II) with 11 input and 16 > output digits. > Here's the bad news: they want $375. I would have bought it myself if > the price were closer to $100. Does anyone remember what the thing > originally retailed for? Since I was a student at the time, all I remember > is that it was more money than I had. I bought one (which I still have and don't want to sell) in about '64 or '65. It cost about $150. I bought it because it was the in thing for a navagational rally. I had (and still have) a VW but that was always close enough. The sucker still works fine. I like to show it to 20 year olds to explain not everything had batteries. -- Phil Hughes, SSC, Inc. P.O. Box 55549, Seattle, WA 98155 (206)FOR-UNIX uw-beaver!tikal!ssc!fyl or uunet!pilchuck!ssc!fyl or attmail!ssc!fyl
news@calgary.UUCP (Network News Manager) (12/22/88)
From: williams@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Mike Williams) Path: cpsc!williams