Object Details
maker
Georg and Edvard Scheutz
Description
When the Scheutz difference engine was shipped to the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York, in 1857, all the instructions provided for its use were this set of drawings and a letter explaining the procedure for converting the machine from operation in one number system to another.
The frail tan paper sheet has a white cloth backing. On the sheet are 14 drawings labeled Fig. 1 through Figure 14. The figures are similar to but not identical with those in the final specifications for British Patent A.D. 1854, No. 2214, as reproduced in Merzbach. The numbering is somewhat different.
For a related object, see the Scheutz difference engine, MA.323659.
Reference:
Merzbach, Uta C., Georg Scheutz and the First Printing Calculator, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Adele and Erwin Tomash
date made
ca 1857
ID Number
1988.0798.01
accession number
1988.0798
catalog number
1988.0798.01
Object Name
drawings, set
Physical Description
paper (overall material)
cloth (backing material)
Measurements
overall: 26 in x 16 5/8 in; 66.04 cm x 42.2275 cm
place made
Sweden: Stockholm, Stockholm
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Calculating Machines
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1005138