Calcumeter

Object Details

Morse, H. N.

Description: This eight-wheeled stylus operated non-printing adding machine has wheels of brass and copper and a steel frame. Two metal supports on the back can be lowered so that the machine is at an angle rather than lying flat. The machine is marked on the front: THE CALCUMETER. It is marked on the right side: H.N.MORSE (/) TRENTON,N.J. It is marked on the left: 18143 (/) PAT’D DEC 17 ‘01. This is number 38 in the Felt & Tarrant collection.; The Calcumeter was invented by James J. Walsh of Elizabeth, N.J. who applied for a patent January 16, 1901, and was granted it December 17, 1901 (U.S. Patent 689,225). Walsh went on to patent a resetting device for the machine on September 1, 1908 (U.S. Patent #897,688). This example of the machine does not have that mechanism. The instrument was first manufactured by Morse & Walsh Company in 1903 and 1904, but by 1906 was produced by Herbert North Morse of Trenton. Morse was a native of New Jersey who attended the South Jersey Institute in Bridgeton, N.J. and then spent a year at Harvard College. By 1916, he not only owned the Calcumeter adding machine business, but was assistant commissioner of education for the state of New Jersey.; Compare MA.335352.; References:; Harvard College Class of 1896, "Report V," June, 1916, Norwood, Massachusetts: Plimpton Press, p. 192.; Bob Otnes, "Consider the Calcumeter. . ., ETCetera #8, Aug., 1989, pp. 6-7.
Location: Currently not on view

1901

Physical Description: brass (overall material); copper (overall material); steel (overall material)
Measurements: overall: 2 cm x 25 cm x 5.3 cm; 25/32 in x 9 27/32 in x 2 3/32 in

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Mathematics; Adding Machines; Science & Mathematics

National Museum of American History

GUID (Link to Original Record): https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-0565-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa