Marchant Model A Pony Calculating Machine

In 1917 the Marchant Calculating Machine Company introduced this compact, lightweight version of its lever-set, non-printing manually operated calculating machine. This is an early example of that “Pony” model.

The machine has a black steel housing and a wooden base. The case is missing. Nine levers rotate forward to set pinwheels. Color-coded numbers between the levers indicate digits set. There is no entry register. Rotating a bar in front of the levers upward zeros an entry. A steel operating crank with a wooden handle extends from the right side of the machine. It rotates backward (clockwise) for addition and multiplication and forward (counterclockwise) for subtraction and division.

A movable carriage at the front of the machine has the 13 windows of the result register on the right and the eight windows of revolution register on the left. The revolution register has no carry mechanism. Sliding decimal markers are above both the entry levers and the registers on the carriage. To move the carriage, one depresses two bars in a metal box at the front of the machine. Wing nuts at the ends of the carriage rotate to zero the registers on it. A bell on the left side of the carriage rings when the result passes through zero. A layer of felt separates the machine and its wooden base.

A metal tag attached to the front of the machine reads: The (/) Marchant (/) MANUFACTURED BY (/) MARCHANT CALCULATING (/) MACHINE CO., Inc. (/) OAKLAND, CAL. (/) PATENTED JUNE 6. 1911 (/) FEB. 22. 1916. The serial number, stamped on the left of the back of the machine, is: No30004. Another maker’s mark, on the back of the carriage at the left, is: 659. The mark of the Museum of the Peaceful Arts is: 27-87

Compare to MA.323602 (different shift control, standard model), MA. 314637 (standard model) .

This machine is from the collection of L. Leland Locke, and was at one time on deposit at the Museums of the Peaceful Arts in New York City.

References:

Accession File.

J. H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago: American Exchange Service, 1924, p. 549.

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