Object Details
distributor
Tavella Sales Company
maker
Calculator Machine Company
Description
The orange, black, and tan paper box contains a black and gold-colored metal instrument, instructions on pink paper, and a metal stylus. The device has seven columns for addition.
The Baby Calculator was a handheld adder manufactured by the Calculator Machine Company of Chicago from at least 1925 into the 1940s. The Tavella Sales Company of New York City distributed this example. According to the box, it sold for $2.50 in the United States and $3.00 in Canada and other foreign countries. It has hooks at the top of each column for carrying in addition, but none at the bottom to assist in borrowing in subtraction.
References:
Typewriter Topics (March 1925), 59:76.
Popular Mechanics (January, 1935), p. 128A; vol. 73 (March, 1940), p. 143A; vol. 83 (February, 1945), p. 192. A new design was introduced in 1945. See Popular Mechanics, April, 1945, p. 202.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of L. Leland Locke
date made
ca 1925
ID Number
MA.155183.27
catalog number
155183.27
accession number
155183
Object Name
adder
Physical Description
paper (overall material)
metal (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 1.2 cm x 8.2 cm x 15.3 cm; 15/32 in x 3 7/32 in x 6 1/32 in
place made
United States: Illinois, Chicago
place distributed
United States: New York, New York City
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Adder
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_690239