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National Live-Keyboard Adding Machine

National Museum of American History

Object Details

National Cash Register Company
Description
This full-keyboard printing electric adding machine has a steel frame painted brown and green, ten columns of green and white plastic keys, four rubber feet, a green rubber-covered cord, and a paper tape. Keys for odd digits are concave, and those for even digits are flat. On the right side are keys for multiplication, subtraction, addition, clearance, S, and #. Inside these is a lever labeled REPEAT. Numbers appear in ten windows above the keyboard. Three decimal markers slide along the bottom of this register. The paper tape is 2-1/4” wide and on a carriage at the back of the machine. A serrated edge helps cut the paper tape. The spools for the ribbon are under metal covers, which are screwed down. A lever on the top left sets the print spacing at single space, double space or non-print. Of eleven columns of type; ten are for digits and one is for special characters. The on/off switch is near the bottom on the left side front. The machine has a black plastic cover.
A mark on the front reads: National. A tag attached to the base of the front reads: 11KN 379095. The machine was purchased second hand by optometrist Arthur Cowan in the 1950s and used regularly until about 1985.
National Cash Register began selling adding machines in 1944, when it acquired the Allen Wales Corporation. By 1952, when this machine was made, mention of Allen Wales had dropped from NCR adding machines.
Reference:
Accession File.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Arthur and Shirley B. Cowan
1952
ID Number
1996.0097.01
accession number
1996.0097
catalog number
1996.0097.01
Object Name
adding machine
Physical Description
rubber (overall material)
paper (overall material)
plastic (overall material)
steel (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 20.5 cm x 28 cm x 47.5 cm; 8 1/16 in x 11 1/32 in x 18 11/16 in
place made
United States: Ohio, Dayton
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Adding Machines
Science & Mathematics
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Record ID
nmah_690260
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-11c2-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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National Live-Keyboard Adding Machine
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