Object Details
maker
Mudd, Robert Levin
Description
Doing the calculations associated with tax collection has inspired inventors from at least the 1600s, when the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal invented an adding machine for that purpose. In 1879 Robert Levin Mudd (1837–1910), the county clerk in Bond County, Illinois, patented this tax calculator. It has sliding tables for calculating the tax due on property worth up to $10,000, at rates of 3 cents, 5 cents, and 25 cents per $100 value. Other columns give the total tax due if assessments are made at several rates for different projects. The instrument folds and fits neatly into a wooden case. This example is incomplete. Compare to U. S. patent 213234, dated March 11, 1879.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Michael Lawrence
date made
1879
ID Number
2009.3027.01
nonaccession number
2009.3027
catalog number
2009.3027.01
Object Name
mathematical table
Physical Description
wood (overall material)
paper (overall material)
metal (overall material)
leather (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 10.5 cm x 58.2 cm x 51.4 cm; 4 1/8 in x 22 29/32 in x 20 1/4 in
place made
United States: Illinois, Bond
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Mathematical Charts and Tables
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Taxes
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1349895