Object Details
patentee
Hart, William
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
Description
The instrument consists of three concentric brass discs, a brass marker, a steel stop, and a wooden handle (instrument must be removed from box to find handle). Each brass disc has the numbers from 0 to 99 stamped around the edge. The two inner discs both have a circle of 100 holes just outside the numbers. The inner holes are used to add the last two digits of a number by rotation. Any hundreds value in the sum carries to the second set of holes, which are used to add hundreds and thousands places.
The machine is in a cylindrical wooden case with cover.
According to the Kirksville [Missouri] Democrat for August 2, 1888, by then Hart had sold 3500 of these devices and “he lately ordered one thousand more.”
References: U.S. Patent #199289
P. Kidwell, "Adders Made and Used in the United States," Rittenhouse, 1994, 8:78-96.
Kirksville [Missouri] Democrat, August 2, 1888.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Robert T. Kerr
date made
1878
ID Number
1993.0510.01
accession number
1993.0510
catalog number
1993.0510.01
Object Name
adder with carry
Physical Description
steel (overall material)
brass (overall material)
wood (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 5.5 cm x 13.5 cm x 13.5 cm; 2 5/32 in x 5 5/16 in x 5 5/16 in
place made
United States: Connecticut, Waterbury
place patented
United States: Missouri, Kirksville
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_690274