Object Details
maker
Beach-Kauffman Manufacturing Company
Description
This small black machine sits on an iron base with four short legs. Seven toothed semicircular discs, mounted on a single shaft, are used to enter numbers. Between the toothed discs are full discs with the digits from 0 to 9 marked around the edge of each disc 3 times. The face of the machine is a steeply sloped curve with a rounded top. The toothed discs protrude from slots in the face, and one digit on each disc is visible through a window. The handle is on the right side. Several parts of the machine are missing.
The machine is marked on the front: THE (/) BEACH (/) CALCULATING (/) MACHINE. It is stamped on the bottom: 2151. A mark scratched on the bottom reads: Geo. J.
The Beach calculating machine was manufactured, at least initially, by the Book-Keeper Publishing Company of Detroit, Michigan. The firm had previously manufactured a two-wheeled stylus-operated adding machine on the design of Lester C. Smith (a modification of the Webb adder), but discontinued this product after a patent dispute.
References:
Seal et al v. Bookkeeper Pub. Co., May 3, 1904, Case No. 1258, "Circuit Court of Appeals Reports", 64, Rochester: Lawyers’ Cooperative Publishing, 1905, pp. 651-657.
Elmer Henry Beach, Tools of Business, an Encyclopedia of Office Equipment and Labor Saving Devices, Detroit: Book-Keeper Publishing Co., Ltd., 1905, pp. 10-11.
The Thomas’ Register for 1907-1908 through 1912 list under Machinery - Adding, Calculating, etc. the Beach-Kauffman Mfg. Co. of Detroit, Michigan as the manufacturer of an adding machine.
Advertisement in Business, a Magazine for Office Store and Factory, vol 19 #1, (August 1906), p. 4, 63. The magazine was edited by Elmer Henry Beach. The advertisement indicates that the Beach-Kauffman Manufacturing Company was selling the machine.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of L. Leland Locke
date made
ca 1910
ID Number
MA.311945
accession number
155183
maker number
2151
catalog number
311945
Object Name
adding machine
Physical Description
steel (overall material)
iron (overall material)
brass (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 19 cm x 20.5 cm x 18 cm; 7 15/32 in x 8 1/16 in x 7 3/32 in
place made
United States: Michigan, Detroit
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Adding Machines
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_690301