Produx Adder

This metal instrument is painted green and gold. It has eight metal bands that are painted red on the upper side. The plastic case is clear in front and green in back. It holds a metal stylus. Seven columns reveal the bands and eight holes show results. At the top, the columns are shaped for subtraction, at the bottom for addition. When numbers are entered, the bands extend beyond the base of the adder. They may be removed. There is no zeroing mechanism.

This adder was among those invented by Otto Meuter, a German. Meuter was first associated with various versions of the Addiator and then, in the early 1920s, formed a company with J. Bergmann to produce the ProCalculo! and the Correntator. In 1928, he began to sell the Produx. After World War II, the Produx was still manufactured in West Germany, while the East Germans sold a similar machine called the Record.This machine dates from after World War II.

References: Business Equipment Topics 83 (January, 1933), p. 67. This shows a version of the newly introduced Produx calculator. It features separate grooves for addition and subtraction.

Martin Reese, Historische Buerowelt 43 (September 1995).

Currently not on view