Archimedes Model D-16 Calculating Macnine

This manually operated full-keyboard stepped drum calculating machine has a steel frame painted black and nine columns of color-coded black and white plastic keys, with nine keys in each column. There is a zeroing lever at the base of each column and a zeroing bar on the right side. A row of nine dials above the keys shows the number entered.

Behind this is the carriage with a row of 16 dials for recording results and nine dials for registering revolutions. All three registers have bars with sliding decimal markers. Ther operating crank is on the right. Zeroing levers for the two carriage registers are on the right side of the carriage. A bell rings when the result passes through zero. The lever for setting the machine for addition and multiplication or subtraction and division is on the left, below the carriage. The machine has two rubber feet at the back which hold it up at an angle. The case has no underside. The stepped drums are of brass, cut away to include only the gears. They wrap around black cylinders.

A mark on the front of the machine reads: „Archimedes”. A mark on the sloping face reads: „Archimedes” (/) Patent (/) Reinhold Pöthig (/) Glashütte, Sa. A metal tag attached to the right side reads: P-2066.

According to Martin, the Model D (key-driven) Archimedes was introduced in 1915. This example is from the collection of L. Leland Locke.

Reference:

E. Martin, The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen), trans. P. A. Kidwell and M. R. Williams, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 181–184.

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