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Produx Adder

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Description
This metal instrument is painted green and gold. It has eight metal bands that are painted red on the upper side. The plastic case is clear in front and green in back. It holds a metal stylus. Seven columns reveal the bands and eight holes show results. At the top, the columns are shaped for subtraction, at the bottom for addition. When numbers are entered, the bands extend beyond the base of the adder. They may be removed. There is no zeroing mechanism.
This adder was among those invented by Otto Meuter, a German. Meuter was first associated with various versions of the Addiator and then, in the early 1920s, formed a company with J. Bergmann to produce the ProCalculo! and the Correntator. In 1928, he began to sell the Produx. After World War II, the Produx was still manufactured in West Germany, while the East Germans sold a similar machine called the Record.This machine dates from after World War II.
References: Business Equipment Topics 83 (January, 1933), p. 67. This shows a version of the newly introduced Produx calculator. It features separate grooves for addition and subtraction.
Martin Reese, Historische Buerowelt 43 (September 1995).
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Elton L. Howe
ca 1955
ID Number
1989.0709.02
accession number
1989.0709
catalog number
1989.0709.02
Object Name
adder
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
plastic (overall material)
Measurements
overall: .5 cm x 8 cm x 12.2 cm; 3/16 in x 3 5/32 in x 4 13/16 in
place made
West Germany
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Adder
Science & Mathematics
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Record ID
nmah_690272
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-03e0-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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Adder - Produx - IMAGE INVERTED
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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